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University Village is a neighborhood on the Near West Side of Chicago. It’s mostly residential with some retail and decent restaurants.
University Village is bordered by the Dan Ryan Expressway to the east, Racine Avenue to the west, Harrison Street to the north, and 16th Street to the south. The Little Italy neighborhood is often included within its boundaries, and I’ve included it in this post.
Getting to University Village and Little Italy
If you don’t have your own transportation, the UIC/Halsted Blue Line stop is the closest to UIC and University Village. The closest stops to Little Italy are the Pink Line stop at Polk and the Blue Line stop at Racine.
UIC
University Village can’t be talked about without mentioning the University of Illinois at Chicago. I wrote in my entry on Little Italy about thousands of people of different ethnic groups being displaced in the 1960s by the construction of the university. Homes and businesses from Halsted to Racine and Harrison to Roosevelt were razed to make way for the university, including the Hull House (see below).
Community activists were furious at Mayor Richard J. Daley (1902-1976) for the plan, which some believed was racist against the “undesirable” southern European and Mexican immigrants who lived there. Many people thought that using the abandoned Dearborn Station area around Printer’s Row would have been a better option than displacing thousands and destroying an important ethnic neighborhood. On the map below, you can see how much land was taken for the university.
The university doesn’t have a very attractive campus. The buildings were designed by Walter Netsch (1920-2008) using Brutalist architecture. The tallest building is University Hall. It’s 338 feet tall and is actually 20 feet wider at the top than at its base. Also on campus is the UIC Pavilion, a 9,500 seat arena used for a variety of events, including basketball, boxing, rallies, and concerts.
Hull House
No institution was more instrumental to social reform in Chicago than the Hull House. The secular and progressive organization, founded by Jane Addams (1860-1935) and Ellen Gates Starr (1859-1940) in 1889, was located along Halsted Street. At the time, it was in the center of one of the dirtiest and most densely populated slums in the world. Over 60% of the population in the area was foreign-born. Dozens of nationalities were represented and dozens of languages could be heard in the streets, many of them recent working-class European immigrants. The goal of the Hull House was to aid these people in empowerment, education, finding employment, and recreation. They also provided residence to many who worked tirelessly toward its mission.
The complex had 13 buildings by 1911 and offered many innovative programs and concepts. It closed in the 1960s after the University of Illinois at Chicago was given eminent domain on the property. The entire complex except for the original Hull House was razed. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark on June 23, 1965.
Hull House Museum
The Hull House Museum now occupies the last remaining building. Admission is free with a suggested US$5 per person donation (as of January 2024). It’s open daily except Monday and Saturday.
The first floor of the museum talks about the history of the Hull House and the important women who played a role in its success. A scale model of the complex is on display along with the keys to all the buildings and other artifacts.
Upstairs is Jane Addams’ bedroom. Her 1931 Nobel Peace Prize is located there. She was the first American woman to win the award, doing it at a time when she was considered by many to be “the most dangerous woman in America” because of her progressive ideas. Her death mask is on display in the hallway along with several pictures from the old neighborhood. A room with maps of nationalities and pay scales of people living in the area shows the extent and detail of the research done by the association.
Little Italy
Italian immigrants settled in several different parts of Chicago, but no enclave was bigger than Little Italy. With years of drastic changes beginning in the 1960s, it’s only a shell of its former self, but the neighborhood still maintains an Italian flavor.
Little Italy is bounded by Ashland Avenue to the west, the UIC campus to the east, Harrison Street to the north, and Roosevelt Road to the south.
History of Little Italy
In the late 1800s, the Near West Side was one of the biggest, dirtiest, and most overpopulated slums in the world. Over 60% of the residents were foreign-born. The majority of people in the area were of Italian, Greek, and Jewish descent, but the latter two and dozens of other ethnic groups slowly moved out to other areas leaving it overwhelmingly Italian.
The Italian population of the neighborhood peaked in the 1950s but the decision to build the new University of Illinois at Chicago, the Eisenhower Expressway, and the Medical District meant that many people would be displaced. Since then, gentrification has occurred. Many condos and townhouses have sprung up and the neighborhood is completely unrecognizable to those who knew it in the 1950s.
Today’s Little Italy is centered around Taylor Street, the historic heart of the Italian enclave. A few popular Italian restaurants are located there.
National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (Relocated)
The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is the biggest cultural attraction in Little Italy. It was founded in 1977 as the Italian American Boxing Hall of Fame but just a year later expanded to include all sports. It moved from suburban Elmwood Park to Arlington Heights in 1988. In 1998, Chicago area native Jerry Colangelo donated funds to build a new facility in Little Italy. It opened in 2000 and displays countless important artifacts from Italian American athletes. (Note: the museum closed in Little Italy in 2019 and reopened at 3417 N. Harlem Avenue in 2021.)
The main gallery on the first floor is divided by sport, including American football, baseball, boxing, Olympic sports, and more. The most prominent athletes are featured on the first floor while famous but lesser-known athletes are honored on the second floor.
In the center of the gallery on the first floor are a few of the most priceless artifacts in the museum. Matt Biondi’s Olympic medals, Louis Zamperini’s running shoes, and Alan Ameche’s 1954 Heisman Trophy are just a few of the items. Mario Andretti’s Indianapolis 500 race car hangs from the ceiling.
Piazza DiMaggio
Across the street from the hall of fame is Piazza DiMaggio. This small plaza has fountains and a statue of New York Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999).
Arrigo Park
Arrigo Park was established in 1857 as Vernon Park. In 1974, it was renamed in honor of Victor Arrigo, a prominent Italian-American community leader. The western end of the park featured a fountain with a statue of Christopher Columbus by sculptor Moses Ezekiel (1844-1917). The statue was removed in 2020 following protests.
Our Lady of Pompeii
The history and diversity of what is now Little Italy can be seen in its churches. The Italian community built Our Lady of Pompeii in 1911. On October 10, 1994, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (1928-1996) proclaimed the church a shrine. It can be visited daily.
Notre Dame de Chicago
Notre Dame de Chicago is a bit older. It was built between 1889 and 1892 as the successor to St. Louis Church, the city’s first French church. The church was designed by French-Canadian architect Gregoire Vigeant. The numbers of the French congregation dwindled but the church remains the best-preserved French immigrant monument in Chicago.
Holy Family Catholic Church
Holy Family Catholic Church is the second oldest surviving church in Chicago. It was founded by Irish immigrants, completed in 1860, and survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Ironically, the O’Leary family who started the fire were parishioners of the church. They lived only a few blocks to the east. Holy Family has the oldest stained glass windows in Chicago.
St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church
Finally, St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church has represented two of the vibrant communities that lived in the area. It was built in 1910 as the Anshe Sholom Synagogue by the Jewish community and in 1927 was sold and converted into a Greek Orthodox church. It was the first Greek church to be designated a cathedral in Chicago.
Walking Through the Neighborhood
The rest of the neighborhood is pleasant to walk through. There are several beautiful homes in the area north of Taylor Street to Harrison Street. The homes along Bishop Street just north of Piazza DiMaggio and Lexington Street caught my eye.
Starting Point of the Great Chicago Fire
Let’s detour out of University Village east across the Dan Ryan. In the South West Loop neighborhood, at Jefferson and DeKoven, is the Robert J Quinn Fire Academy of the Chicago Fire Department. Ironically, this was the exact spot where the Great Chicago Fire started.
Around 9pm on October 8, 1871, a small barn owned by the O’Leary family became engulfed in flames. 2 days later, over 3.3 square miles had burned, almost 300 people were dead, and more than 100,000 people were left homeless. Many factors, incidents, and errors turned this small blaze into a raging inferno. The cause was never determined, but popular legend says that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire. A memorial in the shape of a flame stands on the exact spot where the fire started.
