Italians in Chicago
[1] As of 2023, this figure had increased to 573,170, making the Italian community in Chicagoland the 3rd largest in the US after New York and Philadelphia, and just slightly larger than that of Boston.
On Jan. 7, 1682, Tonti met La Salle at Chicago, and together with a group of 21 additional Frenchmen and 30 Indians they used the portage on their way to the Mississippi, the mouth of which they reached on April 9, 1682.
[citation needed] In 1697, Henri Tonti, Michel Accault, and François de la Forêt received permission from Governor Frontenac to establish a fortified trading post at Chicagou managed by Pierre de Liette, Tonti's cousin, a Franco-Italian, which lasted until c.1705.
In Chicago, he ran a trading post in partnership with François Daupin de la Forêt, Michel Accault, and Henri de Tonti [located probably near today's Tribune Tower] which he had to close, leaving in 1705 after the king revoked his trading license; continued as French commander and trader in the Illinois country until 1720.
From Liette's memoirs: "Most beautiful, you begin to see its fertility at Chicago, unwooded prairies, requiring only to be turned up by the plow, most temperate climate.
As of 2014, most Italian Americans in Chicago were descended from this immigration wave,[3] which consisted mainly of young men, mostly illiterate and low-income.
By 1970, a majority of the ethnic Italians in the Chicago area lived in suburban communities such as Berwyn, Cicero, and Oak Park.
[3] The area at the intersection of 24th Street and Oakley Avenue, southwest of the Chicago Loop, had a group of people from Tuscany, with many from Bagni di Lucca, Montecatini Terme, and Ponte Buggianese.
[6] The first Italian American community in Chicago was located near what is now the Merchandise Mart in the Near North Side and had residents from Genoa and Lucca.
The community around Santa Maria Addolorata Church in the near northwest side had residents from Bari, Sicily and elsewhere in Italy.
The Taylor Street neighborhood in the Near West Side had residents from Abruzzo, Bari, Basilicata, Calabria, Lucca, Marche, Messina, Naples, Palermo and Salerno.
Most of the Chicago Heights Italians originated from Amaseno, Lazio; Caccamo, Sicily; Castel di Sangro; and San Benedetto del Tronto, Marche.
In 1952, it was replaced by the Italian American Civic Committee, an umbrella organization which sponsors the annual Columbus Day parade.
[3] Italian Chicago native Ralph C. Capparelli was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and served for 33 years (13th and 16th District) from 1971 to 2004.
[7] The religious institutions in the West Side of Chicago serving Italians included a hospital (founded by Mother Cabrini) and the Our Lady of Pompeii and Holy Guardian Angel Churches.
The order operated the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia,[1] located in Stone Park,[10] the Sacred Heart Seminary in Melrose Park,[11] and the Villa Scalabrini Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (formerly Villa Scalabrini Home for the Aged),[1] located in Northlake.
[14] The fire was one factor that caused existing residents to leave, and in the 1960s the Italian American population of the area around the church and school began to decrease.
[15] Paper Fish, a novel by Tina De Rosa, is set in Little Italy, the Italian community of the Near West Side of Chicago.
