Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Poles in Chicagoland make up the largest population of Poles anywhere outside of Poland.
Chicago, and the Midwest in particular, is the center of Polish life in the country, with roughly 800,000 ethnic poles, and hundreds of thousands more of Polish decent.
New York is up there, but nowhere near the sphere of influence Chicago, or arguably even Milwaukee and Cleveland are in terms of Poles. Nor does the metropolitan area have the shear number of Poles as Chicago.
And what was that you were saying about no part of the city w/ Polish restaurants and/or signs?
Norwood Park, Jefferson Park, and Portage Park, to name a few all have significant Polish influence.
There are numerous cultural Polish events unique to Chicago not found anywhere else in America.
The Pulaski Day Parade In NYC is an amazing Polish event, but things like that are felt year round in Chicago and in the burbs.
Have you ever been down Milwaukee on the northwest side of the city?
Yes, I have been. Have you been to Greenpoint New York? I am not talking about the lack of polish language signs but the fact that Chicago lacsk a particular area that has prevalence of Polish language signs hence lacks a real Polish town. The historically Polish Milwaukee or Belmont Central are not really Polish anymore and a few signs will not change that. The entire Greenpoint area of Brooklyn (zip code 11222) is Polish, some 43.6% of the residents claimed Polish ancestry there http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpo...n#Demographics and walking Greenpoint streets you realize you are in Polish town right away.... Check it out next time you are in New York... More info: Home - Polish Cultural Institute
Also, New York Poles have not one or three but five daily color newspapers in Polish:
Buffalo has a strong Polish community. It was centered around neighborhoods on it's East side like Kaisertown and Polonia, and there still is a presence there. Sloan, a suburb just outside of the East side is 46.3% Polish. Cheektowaga, Lancaster and Lackawanna also have relatively high Polish percentages too. Polish-Americans in Western New York, Buffalo, Niagara
That's Polish-Americans. Now, throw in Polish immigrants who aren't necessarily Americans, of which Chicago has received a huge wave ever since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, and I wonder what the comparative numbers would look like.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
