Univ 101 Project

1. PILSEN
By Taylor Neubeck, Alyssa
Ochwat, Zindy Marquez, and
Cesar Mireles

2. DEMOGRAPHICS
 Population: 44,337 (Males-24,423; Females-20,471)
 -82.43% Latino (predominately Mexican heritage)
 -12.43% White
 -3.10% Black
 -1.04% Asian
 -1.00% Other
 Median Age: Males-32.8 years Females-32.4 years
 Average Household Size- 2.9 people
 Percentage of Family Households- 50.7%
 Percentage of married-couple families (among all households)-
34.6%
 Percentage of married-couple families with children (among all
households)-21.1%
 Percentage of single-mother households (among all households)-
10.5%
 Percentage of adults that have not completed ninth grade-70%

3. MEDIAN INCOME
$40,553

4. HISTORY
 Pilsen is located on the lower west community area of Chicago. In
the 1840’s, a major trading route was being built which attracted
many Irish and German immigrants to the area. After the 1871 fire,
thousands of unskilled jobs were created in companies such as
lumber mills, sweatshops, and railroad yards. These jobs attracted
Bohemian immigrants. One of the bohemian immigrants opened a
restaurant by the name of “At the City of Plzen” and since then the
city has been referred to as “Pilsen”. During WWI, many different
immigrant groups started to settle in Pilsen due to labor shortage.
This included a large number of Mexicans. There was a drastic
change in culture and ethnicity. Colorful murals and mosaics made
by Mexican artists became extremely popular in Pilsen along with
other cultural things such as the Mexican cuisine. The
neighborhood now remains working class and the people of the
neighborhood use the community as a gateway for Hispanic
immigrants.

5. ATTRACTIONS
 National Museum of Mexican Art—Open daily from 10-5, the museum is
totally free and features Mexican, Latino, and Chicano art and culture. It is is
the only Latino museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
 18th Street Station—This Pink Line CTA stop is covered in some of the most
amazing murals you will find in Chicago.
 St. Adalbert Church—A church that was built in 1914 for the Polish resident
of the community but now features a mural of Our Lady of San Juan de los
Lagos that is enjoyed my many Mexican Catholics living in the community.
 St. Procopius Church—This huge, stone church was built for the Czech
Catholics in the area in 1883. Masses today are held in English, Spanish, and
Croatian.
 Biblioteca Popular del Barrio--Biblioteca Popular is an autonomous
community operated library and art space. As well as providing access to
underground, radical, and self-published literature, it is meant to be a safe
space for the young and elderly, families, people of color, womyn, queer and
trans folk, undocumented immigrants, and working class peoples.

6. TRANSPORTATION
Take the Red Line from Loyola toward 95th Street and get
off at Jackson.
Transfer to the Pink Line toward 54/Cermak at Harold
Washington Library and get off at 18th Street.

7. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART

8. TAQUERIA TAYAHUA

9.  When we received Pilsen as our
neighborhood for this project I was
honestly really excited. I have been to
Pilsen quite a few times and I always
look forward to going back. I am from a
primarily Hispanic south Chicago
suburb, and have always been very
interested in Latino culture. I love to try
different Mexican foods, see Mexican
art, and really just experience new
things. Pilsen is definitely a great place
to take someone who wants to receive
and authentic Chicago experience; it
completely defines the idea of Chicago
being a “Second City”. When you
arrive in Pilsen, Hispanic culture
immediately comes to life. There is
street art, museums, and taquerias
everywhere. Many of my friends have
told me that calling Pilsen “Little
Mexico” is actually very accurate, as it
reminds them a lot of their hometowns
in Mexico. In my opinion, one of the
best things about Chicago is that we
have places like Pilsen, Greek Town,
and Little Italy in which you can
experience a totally different county
without even leaving the city.
REFLECTION: TAYLOR

10.  On receiving Pilsen as our neighborhood for our
group project, I had no idea on what to expect.
Everyone else in my group seemed to know a lot
about the location, even some of them visiting on
multiple occasions, but to be perfectly honest, I had
never heard of Pilsen beforehand. Coming from
DuPage County, I have also not had much
experience with the Latino culture. I was excited to
see all that Pilsen had to offer. After a long train ride
followed by what seemed to be a million blocks of
walking, we arrived. We went to National Museum of
Mexican Art and it was absolutely incredible. I was
able to immerse myself within the richness of the
Mexican art and culture. There were so many
interesting and colorful paintings and sculptures to
catch my eye around every turn. I had no idea how
beautiful Mexican art was. Not to my surprise, skulls
and skeletons were a central theme, but that did not
take away from how breath taking everything was.
After the National Museum of Mexican Art, we went
to a local Taqueria where I had the best tacos of my
life. The Taqueria had an extraordinary atmosphere
that clearly screamed “Latino”. A Spanish soap opera
was playing on the television and Hispanic music was
in the background. This without a doubt, gave me a
new perspective on the “Second City”. I saw that
different cultures, specifically the Latino culture with
my experience, enriches the city as a whole. The
“Second City” would not be the same without all
these various cultures. This was in fact an authentic
Chicago experience and I can’t wait to have the
opportunity to share this neighborhood with someone
else and hopefully open their eyes to the Latino
culture.
REFLECTION: ALYSSA

11. REFLECTION: ZINDY
 Growing up in the Hispanic culture, I
had visited Pilsen on various
occasions prior to the group project.
My sister and I used to go street art
hunting and Pilsen was one of our
favorite locations. There couldn’t
have been a more perfect choice.
Arriving in Pilsen and instantly
smelling the delicious Mexican food
and seeing all of the art reminded
me much of my childhood. My group
members and I got to look at some
beautiful art and dine at a delicious
taqueria. This experience has really
shaped my opinion about the
“Second City” because it really
brings to one’s attention that
Chicago truly is a melting pot. There
are so many different towns located
in one large city full of different
cultures and different people. I do
believe that this was an authentic
Chicago experience because there
was so much rich variety in the
people, cuisine, lifestyles, and art.

12. REFLECTION: CESAR I very much enjoyed the trip to Pilsen. It
was a different experience for me since I
have never taken the subway to get to
any other part of Chicago. I have visited
Pilsen before on random occasions with
my family. I am used to visiting the
neighborhood and recognized some old
restaurants and buildings with Latino art
on their sides. The residents of the
neighborhood are majorly Mexican. In the
neighborhood they have the museum of
Mexican art and many popular Mexican
restaurants such as Nuevo Leon. I
personally love going to Pilsen to hear
and see the people and to enjoy the food.
It is a neighborhood where you can truly
indulge yourself into the Mexican/Latino
American culture. While walking through
the streets of Pilsen I noticed that many
residents did not just have Mexican flags
on their flagpoles but they also had the
flag Chicago with their native flag. I
realized that the many Latino Americans
in the city do not just identify as Mexicans
or some other Latino, but also as
Chicagoans. They express their pride for
their city whenever given the opportunity.
Many of the people in Pilsen live in lower
scale style homes but they don’t seem to
mind because they are part of the great
city of Chicago.

13. WORKS CITED
 Gellman, Erik. Encyclopedia of Chicago. N.p., 2005. Web. 9 Oct.
2014.
<http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2477.html>.
 http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Lower-West-Side-
Chicago-IL.html