Where did the Uptown Appalachians disperse? (Chicago, Skokie: apartment, public schools, living in)

[Tex?Il?]

In the 50s and 60s Uptown was known as a Appalachian/hillbilly ghetto. (My father actually spent his high school years around that area during the height during that era)

However later they mostly dispersed and today there is very little today from those days, save Carols Pub, etc.

Where did they disperse to?

Did they disperse throughout Chicagoland?
Did they leave the metro area entirely?
Was there some sort of suburban flight pattern the way that Rogers Park area Jews moved to Skokie and later to Northbrook/Buffalo Grove, or South side Irish moved to Tinley/Orland Park?
Combination of all three?

I know some areas along the lower Des Plaines: Lyons, Summit, Hodgkins, Lemont are areas that can come across as being a bit "hillbyish"

Does anyone know?

[Irishtom29]

I've pondered that myself. In many cases their children assimilated into the mainstream. And many of the first generation Hillbillys made good and moved away from Uptown.

Note also that many older Hillbillys move back south upon retirement; I've known quite a few that did that.

[gardener34]

yeah all those old southerners move back down south to die. They hate the cold...

[tonythetuna]

The far south suburbs.

[williepotatoes]

I think, some assimilated and many dispersed to outlying suburban areas in no organized manner. The influx of white southerners died off probably because the economic atmosphere in the south improved over the last 30+ years.

After WWII, people came from all over the country (my family included)because the city had jobs. Chicagoland was a manufacturing and industrial giant at that time. Americas "smokestack city". It's no coincidence that the city recorded some of it's highest population numbers during this period.

Incidentally, white southerners were hardly limited to Uptown. They were well represented thruout the city. We had many living in Humboldt/Logan Square/Avondale/Wicker Park.

[Irishtom29]

Shouldn't the thread have been titled "To where did Uptown Appalachians disperse?"

Some southerners I know that worked up here in the building trades are now retired and living high on the hog down south on their pensions and the dough they saved.

[Chi-town Native]

I would go with assimilation, for the ones who stayed. Reading this book "Uptown, Poor Whites in Chicago" (dated 1970) is a real trip - realizing I lived around a considerable amount of these folks in Lake View is a real trip. There's actually a line where one guy reminisces his first apartment in Uptown, on Wellington Ave (!).

But the Lake View kids at least grew up like I did, in a mish-mosh of white ethnics and latinos in flux, and sans the extremely noticeable southern accent some of the adults had. We had a lot of Spanglish going on in the early 80s at least.

Highly recommend this book btw, took me over 3 years to finally have Amazon track a copy down for me, it appears to be long out-of-print which is a shame, as it's largely first-person testimonials of these southern whites trying to organize for better housing and work conditions & I've never read anything like it for that time period.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

Incidentally, white southerners were hardly limited to Uptown. They were well represented thruout the city. We had many living in Humboldt/Logan Square/Avondale/Wicker Park.

Absolutely. Being poor and white (and that accent) meant you'd get some raised eyebrows, but my friends had family all over the city. I think Uptown gets the attention as they were clustered in fairly high-density housing & also were attracted to the social services. I swear to god that the description one of these fellas has of visiting the Uptown free medical clinic was identical to the experience I had at that clinic in 1994 trying to get a checkup so the Chicago Public Schools would process my work application.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

I would go with assimilation, for the ones who stayed. Reading this book "Uptown, Poor Whites in Chicago" (dated 1970) is a real trip - realizing I lived around a considerable amount of these folks in Lake View is a real trip. There's actually a line where one guy reminisces his first apartment in Uptown, on Wellington Ave (!).

But the Lake View kids at least grew up like I did, in a mish-mosh of white ethnics and latinos in flux, and sans the extremely noticeable southern accent some of the adults had. We had a lot of Spanglish going on in the early 80s at least.

Highly recommend this book btw, took me over 3 years to finally have Amazon track a copy down for me, it appears to be long out-of-print which is a shame, as it's largely first-person testimonials of these southern whites trying to organize for better housing and work conditions & I've never read anything like it for that time period.

I was reading your response just now at the computer at my local public library, and I decided to check to see if they had it, and they did! It was on the shelf and I'm checking it out and reading it.

[williepotatoes]

One of my first and biggest impressions of southern culture came from the many little diners, grills and greasy spoons that I grew up eating in. These places were abundant in Chi then, and they were most often staffed by fry cooks and waitresses with Dixie roots.

This is where I learned country music from the jukebox and discovered that these folks had normal names, not Jed, Jethro or Otis.