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Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago)
Encyclopedia
Milwaukee Avenue is a major diagonal street in the city of Chicago
and the northern suburbs..jpg)
True to its name, it once led (as an Indian trail) to the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. Starting with a short section at N. Canal and W. Lake
Streets, it begins in earnest at the corner of N Desplaines and W. Kinzie Streets and heads northwest for about 40 miles (64.4 km) before joining Skokie Highway (U.S. Route 41
) in Gurnee, Illinois
which continues on to the city of Milwaukee. From Harlem Avenue northwards it is Illinois Route 21
.
Milwaukee Avenue is a popular route for bicyclists. The southeastern end of Milwaukee Avenue is the most heavily bicycled stretch of road in Chicago, with cyclists accounting for 22% of all traffic there on a randomly selected day in September.
Through most of the city the street is lined with storefronts, restaurants and the occasional art gallery http://www.womanmade.org/history.html.
The CTA's Blue Line
runs beneath or alongside of Milwaukee Avenue from its beginning at Canal and Lake Streets out to Logan Boulevard, with stations at Grand
Avenue, Chicago
Avenue, Division
Street, Damen
Avenue (in the Wicker Park neighborhood), Western
Avenue, California
Avenue and Logan Square
. The Kennedy Expressway
(Interstate 90) roughly parallels Milwaukee Avenue as well.
Just north of Armitage it passes the Chicago Landmark
Congress Theater
and at Addison Street
it passes the Chicago Landmark Schurz High School
. Past Irving Park Road it turns more northerly and the Blue Line crosses again at the Jefferson Park station passing the Gateway Theatre
. It exits the city at about Albion Avenue and enters Niles, Illinois
. (A very brief stretch later reenters the Chicago city limits, located southwest of the intersection of Harlem & Howard avenues; the street is in Niles on either side of this stretch). At Golf Road it passes the Golf Mill Shopping Center
. It crosses the Des Plaines River
just south of the Chicago Executive Airport, formerly known as Palwaukee Municipal Airport
(whose name is formed from its location at the intersection of Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue). From thence it roughly follows the Des Plaines River north to the Skokie Highway in the Gurnee Woods.
for various ethnicities, it is particularly associated with Chicago's Poles who have dominated vast areas of the city which Milwaukee Avenue cuts through. Numerous Polish Patches dotted the cityscape in its vicinity, from Polish Downtown near Polonia Triangle
through the Polish Village in Avondale. The street was once used as part of the route for the Polish Constitution Day Parade
as well as Pope John Paul II
's 1979 visit to Chicago. Numerous Polish churches, shops, and cultural organizations such as the Copernicus Foundation
, the Chopin Theatre
and the Polish Daily News still make their home along Milwaukee Avenue, continuing its Polish presence to the present day.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and the northern suburbs.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. Starting with a short section at N. Canal and W. Lake
Lake Street (Chicago)
Lake Street is an east-west arterial road in Chicago and its suburbs. Part of Lake Street is designated as U.S. Route 20. Lake Street begins in the city of Chicago and travels west and slightly north to the Chicago suburbs. It ends at the eastern terminus of the Elgin Bypass around Elgin, where...
Streets, it begins in earnest at the corner of N Desplaines and W. Kinzie Streets and heads northwest for about 40 miles (64.4 km) before joining Skokie Highway (U.S. Route 41
U.S. Route 41
U.S. Route 41 is a north–south United States Highway that runs from Miami, Florida to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, was U.S...
) in Gurnee, Illinois
Gurnee, Illinois
Gurnee is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 28,834 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 30,772 in 2005. The village borders the city of Waukegan and is considered a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Gurnee is perhaps best known for being the location of...
which continues on to the city of Milwaukee. From Harlem Avenue northwards it is Illinois Route 21
Illinois Route 21
Illinois Route 21 is an arterial north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 43 in Niles to U.S. Route 41 north of Gurnee. Illinois 21 is 28.13 miles long....
.
Milwaukee Avenue is a popular route for bicyclists. The southeastern end of Milwaukee Avenue is the most heavily bicycled stretch of road in Chicago, with cyclists accounting for 22% of all traffic there on a randomly selected day in September.
Route description
The CTA's Blue Line
Blue Line (Chicago Transit Authority)
The Blue Line consists of a long trunk line in the Chicago Transit Authority's rapid transit system which extends through Chicago's Loop from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway, and across the West Side to its...
runs beneath or alongside of Milwaukee Avenue from its beginning at Canal and Lake Streets out to Logan Boulevard, with stations at Grand
Grand (CTA Blue Line)
Grand is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line.-Station history:Grand/Milwaukee Station opened in 1951 as part of the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway...
Avenue, Chicago
Chicago (CTA Blue Line)
Chicago is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. The station is located at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue on the Near West Side of Chicago...
Avenue, Division
Division (CTA)
Division is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. The Division street station is at Polonia Triangle, the corner of Milwaukee, Ashland, and Division Street and serves the Wicker Park area of West Town, Chicago...
Street, Damen
Damen (CTA Blue Line)
Damen is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. It serves the popular and growing Bucktown and Wicker Park neighborhoods...
Avenue (in the Wicker Park neighborhood), Western
Western (CTA Blue Line O'Hare branch)
Western is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. From Western, trains run at intervals of 2-7 minutes during rush-hour periods, and take 10 minutes to reach the Loop.-History:...
Avenue, California
California (CTA Blue Line)
California is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. From California, trains run every 2-7 minutes during rush-hour periods, and take 12 minutes to reach the Loop.-History:...
Avenue and Logan Square
Logan Square (CTA)
Logan Square is a subway station in USA on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line. It was the terminus of the Blue Line until it was extended along the Kennedy Expressway to the Jefferson Park stop in 1970 and to O'Hare Airport in 1984. From Logan Square, trains run at...
. The Kennedy Expressway
Kennedy Expressway
The John F. Kennedy Expressway is a long highway that travels northwest from the Chicago Loop to O'Hare International Airport. The expressway is named for the 35th U.S. President, John F. Kennedy. The Interstate 90 portion of the Kennedy is a part of the much longer I-90...
(Interstate 90) roughly parallels Milwaukee Avenue as well.
Just north of Armitage it passes the Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark is a designation of the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council for historic buildings and other sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artistic, cultural,...
Congress Theater
Congress Theater
The Congress Theater in Chicago, built by Fridstein and Company in 1926 for the movie theater chain of Lubliner and Trinz, is a surviving example of a movie palace. It features ornate exterior and interior design work, in a combination of the Classical Revival and Italian Renaissance styles.The...
and at Addison Street
Addison Street
Addison Street is a major east west street on the north side of Chicago. It is most associated with Wrigley Field, located at 1060 West Addison Street, which is the home of the Chicago Cubs.- Chicago communities :From east to west:...
it passes the Chicago Landmark Schurz High School
Schurz High School
Carl Schurz High School is a public secondary school located in the old section of the Irving Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.This school is named after German–American Carl Schurz, a statesman, soldier, and advocate of democracy in Germany....
. Past Irving Park Road it turns more northerly and the Blue Line crosses again at the Jefferson Park station passing the Gateway Theatre
Gateway Theatre (Chicago)
The Gateway Theatre is a 2,000-seat former movie palace that is now part of the Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center in the Jefferson Park community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located at 5216 W...
. It exits the city at about Albion Avenue and enters Niles, Illinois
Niles, Illinois
Niles is a village in Maine and Niles Townships, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The 2010 population from the U.S. Census Bureau is 29,803.The current mayor of Niles is Robert M. Callero.-History:Niles was first settled in 1827....
. (A very brief stretch later reenters the Chicago city limits, located southwest of the intersection of Harlem & Howard avenues; the street is in Niles on either side of this stretch). At Golf Road it passes the Golf Mill Shopping Center
Golf Mill Shopping Center
Golf Mill Shopping Center is a super-regional shopping mall located on 239 Golf Mill Center in Niles, IL, United States. The mall has a gross leasable area of 1,057,000square feet . It is managed by Milwaukee Golf Management Corporation...
. It crosses the Des Plaines River
Des Plaines River
The Des Plaines River is a river that flows southward for through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in the U.S. Midwest, eventually meeting the Kankakee River west of Channahon to form the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi River....
just south of the Chicago Executive Airport, formerly known as Palwaukee Municipal Airport
Palwaukee Municipal Airport
Chicago Executive Airport , formerly known as Palwaukee Municipal Airport, is a public airport located 18 nautical miles northwest of Chicago, in the village of Wheeling in Cook County, Illinois, United States...
(whose name is formed from its location at the intersection of Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue). From thence it roughly follows the Des Plaines River north to the Skokie Highway in the Gurnee Woods.
Chicago's Polish Corridor
While Milwaukee Avenue has been a route of chain migrationChain migration
Chain migration has multiple meanings. It refers to the social process by which immigrants from a particular town follow others from that town to a particular city or neighborhood, whether in an immigrant receiving country or in a new, usually urban, location in the home country...
for various ethnicities, it is particularly associated with Chicago's Poles who have dominated vast areas of the city which Milwaukee Avenue cuts through. Numerous Polish Patches dotted the cityscape in its vicinity, from Polish Downtown near Polonia Triangle
Polonia Triangle
Polonia Triangle , also known as the Polish Triangle, is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown area of Chicago. It is bound by Division, Ashland and Milwaukee Avenue. A single-tiered fountain made of black iron with a bowl about nine feet in diameter is installed...
through the Polish Village in Avondale. The street was once used as part of the route for the Polish Constitution Day Parade
Polish Constitution Day Parade
The Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago is the largest Polish parade outside of Poland, and celebrates the anniversary of the ratification of the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which historian Norman Davies calls "the first constitution of its kind in Europe".For 115 years, Polonia's...
as well as Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
's 1979 visit to Chicago. Numerous Polish churches, shops, and cultural organizations such as the Copernicus Foundation
Copernicus Foundation
The Copernicus Foundation is a 501 not for profit organization based in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by Poles in Chicago in 1971 in order to raise funds towards raising a monument for the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus to be set in front of the Adler...
, the Chopin Theatre
Chopin Theatre
Chopin Theatre is an American for-profit cultural organization located along Polonia Triangle in Wicker Park within the West Town community area of Chicago...
and the Polish Daily News still make their home along Milwaukee Avenue, continuing its Polish presence to the present day.