Avondale
Located 7 Miles Northwest of The Loop.
Neighborhoods include: Avondale, Belmont Gardens, Kelvyn Park, West Logan Square
Zip Codes Include: 60618, 60639, 60641,60647
Avondale’s main borders are the North Branch of the Chicago River, Diversey Avenue, Addison Street, Pulaski Road and the Union Pacific/Northwest rail line; bisecting the community are Belmont and Milwaukee Avenues along with the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate 90/Interstate 94).
Avondale began as an early racially-integrated village in rural Jefferson Township. The area’s initial growth started in earnest after the opening of a rail stop along the “Milwaukee Road” railway thanks in part to the clout of Michigan Senator Thomas W. Ferry, who owned land in the vicinity. However, it was not until Jefferson Township was annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889 that the area underwent its first true dense urban development.
Factories and other industries sprang up around the start of the 20th century thanks to Avondale’s dense network of transportation corridors, both through rail as well as the North Branch of the Chicago River. The plentiful jobs available in the area was responsible for drawing the initial wave of European immigrants, mostly Poles and other East Europeans, as well as Scandinavians and Germans. A small but noticeable group of Italians would later settle in Avondale as well.
Beginning in the 1980s, Latino settlement began in Avondale. A multiplicity of other diverse Eastern European ethnicities came to the area following the End of Communism in 1989, leading to Avondale’s nickname as the neighborhood “Where Eastern Europe meets Latin America”.
Avondale was the site of one of Chicago’s “Seven Lost Wonders”, the Olson Park and Waterfall complex at Diversey and Pulaski.
Transportation
Avondale is serviced by the Chicago L Rapid Transit system at two stops along the CTA’s Blue Line to O’Hare Airport. The Belmont CTA Station on its northeastern edge next to the Kennedy Expressway at the intersection of Kimball Avenue and Belmont, less than three blocks away from St. Hyacinth’s former mission of Our Lady of Lourdes, while the Addison CTA Station is located in the median of the same expressway adjacent to the neighboring Villa District.
Avondale is also accessible by a number of bus routes run by the CTA.
Running Northwest/ Southeast:
Milwaukee Avenue #56
Running North/ South:
Pulaski Road #53
Kimball Avenue #82
California Avenue #52
Western Avenue #49
Running East/ West:
Addison Street #152
Belmont Avenue #77
Diversey Parkway #76
Demographics
Population (2010)
• Total 39,262
• Density 20,000/sq mi (7,600/km2)
Demographics (2010)
• White 28.44%
• Black 2.52%
• Hispanic 64.43%
• Asian 3.04%
• Other 1.57%
Neighborhood Links
• The Avondale Neighborhood Association
• 8th Ward& Alderman
