Where did the chicago italians come from? (Pana, Manhattan: home, neighborhood)

[3blindmelons]

I have a question on the italian population in chicago.
knowing that chicago was not a port of immigration, did the italians in chicago originally come from new york city?
anyone know what port city in the usa that the Italians came from?
Thanks.

[Master Jay]

3blindmelons, I would think SOME Italians may have come to Chicago via other entry points besides Chicago. I do not have proof pf any specifics at this time.

I do know that Italians from different regions of Italy tended to settle in different parts of the city from their same hometown....

[glenninindy]

My grandparents landed on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, gave birth to their children in New York, worked there, and then in time, most of their children moved on to Chicago, where I grew up. More than 12 million immigrants landed on Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954 and many of them were Italians.

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

The Bridgeport neighborhood where I was born had its share of Italian families, I remember one older lady in our building telling me "Vasha Lorda" (or some phonetically-similar sounding phrase). I was told it meant "Wash your face", which would likely have been appropriate given my age.

My paternal Great-grandparents came in through Ellis (I imagine) in the late 1800's, and settled in Iowa and Wisconsin, they were farmers and timbermen, and it took a few generations before any of us got to Chicago - NYC was only the entry port. My maternal side came in much earlier (I've heard the 1700's), and likely went through Appalachia and Pennsylvania before emigrating to Utah via the Mormon Trail. Mom and Dad met in San Diego courtesy of the U.S. Navy in WWII.

With any luck, I'll spend my golden years somewhere else (Kansas? Idaho?) before Going Off to See the Spirit in the Sky. It would be interesting to know how many people stay within twenty miles of where they are born their entire lives, or even have several generations live in one area (Chicago or New York City would be likely places for that). My guess is that geographic mobility has greatly increased over the last several decades due to greater options in transportation.

[recycled]

Prior to Ellis Island (opened 1892), most immigrants from Europe to the US after 1854 arrived at the Castle Garden immigration station at Battery Park (south end of Manhattan in NYC). This is where my great grandparents from Germany arrived in the 1870s. Most passenger ships full of immigrants from northern and southern Europe arrived at Castle Garden and discharged passengers for immigration processing. From there, the new immigrants went to their destination in the USA.

A high percentage of arriving immigrants knew someone in America and had their initial destination planned, prior to leaving their home country. This was often family or a close friend, perhaps a spouse or intended spouse. If the destination was beyond New York City or the immediate surrounding area, the arriving immigrant often had a train ticket that was pre-purchased with the ship passage. The steamship lines all had deals with railroads to sell combined through tickets. Often, the passengers had the train tickets fastened around their neck when they arrived at the immigration station, so they could carry luggage, and allow the authorities to direct them to the proper departure area.

After clearing immigration at Castle Garden, and after 1892, Ellis Island, most newly arrived immigrants with outbound train tickets heading west took a ferry across the Hudson to Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, NJ. That end of line train station is still used today for PATH and NJ Transit commuter trains and is full of historic photos. It oozes history. Hoboken Terminal had trains headed west throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and beyond. The train station employees would look at the train tickets around the neck of the immigrants, and guide them to the correct train platform since many did not understand English. This is how millions of immigrants arrived at distant points of the USA without ever spending any time in New York City aside from passing through the immigration station.

[Nearwest]

Some members of the Sicilian branch of my family came to Chicago via New Orleans.


They landed by boat in New Orleans, which at the turn of the 20th Century was a magnet for immigrants from Sicily.


After completing the immigration and health inspection processes, they boarded The Panama Limited, which was the train operated by the Illinois Central Railroad. This service is now known by its Amtrak name as The City of New Orleans.


The terminal in Chicago of the Illinois Central was the Central Station. This station was located at the southern end of Grant Park, near Roosevelt Rd. and Michigan Ave.

[joe from dayton]

Chicago was an industrial center, a rail center, and a growing major metro area. It simply made sense to go there for work, so I imagine that Italians in Chicago came from multiple ports of entry. New Orleans was also a large port of entry for Italians.

[Vlajos]

All of my immigrant Italian relatives came to Chicago after arriving at Ellis. That's four separate individuals.

[Drewjdeg]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

All of my immigrant Italian relatives came to Chicago after arriving at Ellis. That's four separate individuals.

Same with my relatives from Poland. I don’t think it was very common to arrive in the US through Chicago.

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Originally Posted by recycled

Prior to Ellis Island (opened 1892), most immigrants from Europe to the US after 1854 arrived at the Castle Garden immigration station at Battery Park (south end of Manhattan in NYC). This is where my great grandparents from Germany arrived in the 1870s. Most passenger ships full of immigrants from northern and southern Europe arrived at Castle Garden and discharged passengers for immigration processing. From there, the new immigrants went to their destination in the USA.

A high percentage of arriving immigrants knew someone in America and had their initial destination planned, prior to leaving their home country. This was often family or a close friend, perhaps a spouse or intended spouse. If the destination was beyond New York City or the immediate surrounding area, the arriving immigrant often had a train ticket that was pre-purchased with the ship passage. The steamship lines all had deals with railroads to sell combined through tickets. Often, the passengers had the train tickets fastened around their neck when they arrived at the immigration station, so they could carry luggage, and allow the authorities to direct them to the proper departure area.

After clearing immigration at Castle Garden, and after 1892, Ellis Island, most newly arrived immigrants with outbound train tickets heading west took a ferry across the Hudson to Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, NJ. That end of line train station is still used today for PATH and NJ Transit commuter trains and is full of historic photos. It oozes history. Hoboken Terminal had trains headed west throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and beyond. The train station employees would look at the train tickets around the neck of the immigrants, and guide them to the correct train platform since many did not understand English. This is how millions of immigrants arrived at distant points of the USA without ever spending any time in New York City aside from passing through the immigration station.

Reminds me of the old joke, "Why are so many Italian guys named Tony?"

"Because they had "To N.Y." stamped on their foreheads".

Sorry, couldn't resist.