Belmont Cragin, Hermosa

These two Northwest Side neighborhoods form part of Chicago’s “bungalow belt,” a swath of sturdy one-story homes constructed before World War II. The bungalows in Hermosa and Belmont Cragin originally housed many first-generation Americans of Eastern and Southern European extraction.

Today, a majority of the neighborhoods’ residents trace their ancestry to Mexico and Puerto Rico. The commercial hub at Belmont and Central avenues displays both Eastern European and Latin American influences.

Read, Learn, Discover at the Chicago Public Library. Search programming and event information at your neighborhood branch (North Pulaski, Portage-Cragin).