Residents of German and Irish descent began to move into the area from the Back of the Yards and Englewood neighborhoods.

Most new residents belonged to various Protestant denominations, but Chicago Lawn also was home to many Roman Catholic churches and schools.

Chicago Lawn was a thriving urban neighborhood as the Depression hit the nation and by 1940 its population had reached 49,291.

In 1941, the National Biscuit Company announced plans to build a huge bakery in Chicago Lawn.

In 1966, as part of the Chicago Freedom Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. led a march into Marquette Park, where the marchers met a violent reaction.

Violence also erupted in the neighborhood when Gage Park High School attempted to integrate after Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

In the 1950s, Palestinians with families moved out of their boardinghouses and shops and into apartments and homes just west of Chicago's "Black Belt."

By the 1970s, they formed a concentrated residential community in Gage Park and Chicago Lawn, on the South Side, and had established a business district with stores catering to Arab clientele.

[7] The Chicago Lawn community area has supported the Democratic Party in the past two presidential elections.