Bridgeport

The birthplace of five Chicago mayors, including one of our most recent, Mayor Richard M. Daley, Bridgeport is a working-class neighborhood on the near South Side. Its former Irish and Eastern European makeup has diversified in recent decades with the influx of Chinese- and Mexican-Americans from adjacent neighborhoods. This cultural kaleidoscope is mirrored in the many fashionable eateries appearing alongside old-school Italian spots and hidden gems, like Schaller’s Pump, Chicago’s longest-operating tavern.

One of Chicago’s Oldest Neighborhoods Becomes New Again

Written by Alan Solomon, with research assistance from the Chicago Neighborhood Tourism Project.

Bridgeport is a neighborhood that for generations has been defined by the White Sox (who, as will surprise even lifelong Chicagoans, actually play their baseball in Armour Square, the next neighborhood over) and mayors (five came from here -- including two Daleys -- but 40 didn't).

At its heart, it has long been a working-class area of modest brick cottages and two-flats, and of ethnic enclaves, enclaves built around churches built to reinforce that sense of community.

That sense remains, though the ethnicities -- once largely Irish, Italian and eastern European -- have expanded to include Hispanics and, increasingly, Chinese, as well as a new group of immigrants: young people from all over.

For sure, no longer does Bridgeport resemble its original name, Hardscrabble.

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