Jefferson Park

This Northwest Side neighborhood was settled by immigrants from Poland, Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Sweden, and boasts one of the largest Polish-American communities in Chicago. The Polish Cultural Center on Lawrence Avenue offers films, plays, seminars and concerts in the renovated 2,000-seat Gateway Theater, one of Chicago’s early movie palaces. The exterior of the building has been modified to resemble the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

In the late 19th century, this area was known as Chicago’s Garden Gateway, the place where truck farmers would sell their produce. Today, it’s still a major gateway because of the transportation center on the Kennedy Expressway near Lawrence Avenue, which links CTA buses and trains, as well as Metra commuter trains.

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