A cholera outbreak that killed hundreds, eventually led the German and Irish residents to move in search of better living conditions.

[3] The population also included smaller numbers of other ethnic groups from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, such as Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Austrians, as well as immigrants of Polish and Lithuanian heritage.

[3] This was due to the displacement of Latinos from the neighborhood UIC currently occupies,[5] south of Hull House,[6] and from other urban revitalization projects.

[9] Some local advocacy groups have formed, urging the neighborhood's alderman to curtail gentrification to preserve the Mexican-American culture.

In 1890, the McCormick Reaper factory at Western Avenue and the south branch of the river recruited skilled machine operators from Northern Provinces of Italy (Tuscany, Torino, Milano), offering them salaries twice that available in Italy and a paid transatlantic ship ticket.

According to the results of a 1978 survey which asked residents the name of their neighborhood and its boundaries, the approximate borders for Pilsen neighborhood are West 16th Street to the north, the Dan Ryan Expressway to the east, the Stevenson Expressway to the south, and South Ashland Avenue to the west.

Seventeen buildings once occupied the site when the brewery reached maximum capacity in 1910 at 1,200,000 barrels a year.

[14] Two of the remaining buildings demonstrate the change in architectural styles that occurred at the turn of the century in the United States.

The brewery district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 27, 1978, and the Administration Building and Powerhouse were later designated Chicago Landmarks on July 13, 1988.

[10] According to a 2015 analysis by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, there were 34,410 people and 11,958 households on the Lower West Side.

The United States Postal Service operates the Pilsen Post Office on 1859 S Ashland Avenue.

The Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago has become a hub for muralists and street artists to convey their identity, passion, and activism.

The most recent update has images of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton drawn as snakes and battling each other.

[22] In 2016, Sam Kirk and Sandra Atongiori created Weaving Cultures to highlight women of different backgrounds.

According to Rick Bayless, the chef and owner of Frontera Grill, this is because Mexican-Americans in Chicago do not encounter a substantial Chicano community in the United States that prefers a Tex Mex-style of cuisine, so the immigrants use the same frame of reference that they had in Mexico.

The Canal Street railroad bridge, a Chicago landmark, is located on the Lower West Side.

[26] At the local level, the Lower West Side is located in the 25th ward, which is represented on the Chicago City Council by Alderman Daniel Solis.

The building was converted into a junior high school in 1933 due to a decision by the Chicago Board of Education.

[32] Froebel served as a branch for Harrison Tech due to overcrowding on the main campus; it was originally an elementary school.

[32] Teresa Fraga, Mary Gonzales and Raquel Guerrero are the three founding mothers of Benito Juarez Community High School.

Finally, in June 1974, Chicago's Board of Education approved $8.9 million in funding to build a high school in Pilsen.

The school is decorated with murals and statues that portray Mexican culture and famous leaders such as Benito Juárez.