Pilsen Welcomes National Council of La Raza
Published: July 24, 2009
One corner of El Zócalo, the heart of Pilsen at 18th Place and Paulina.
With 20,000 conventioneers coming to McCormick Place West July 25-28 for the Annual Conference of the National Council of La Raza, we expect things will be busy in Pilsen this weekend and early next week. The conference is the largest gathering of its kind in the Hispanic community, and gives a forum for people in the business of social change to learn about ongoing and emerging issues, connect with key community leaders, and partner with Hispanic community-based organizations
We hope visitors will come over to visit Pilsen, which is not only the premier center of Mexican culture in metropolitan Chicago and a living testimony to the power of community-based organizations. It’s also a vibrant, truly “Chicago” neighborhood with history and architecture that is unlike anywhere else in the country.
A Pilsen Primer
Pilsen is just a few miles south and west from Chicago's Loop, and easily accessible by car or the CTA Pink Line. Here's a nice map of Pilsen, with main streets and sights as recommended by Wikitravel.
More than 44,000 people live in the neighborhood, of which 89 percent are Latino—mostly Mexican-American. Pilsen is one of Chicago’s oldest communities (in 2006 it was designated an official historic district): The first homes in Pilsen were built in the late 1850s from the era before Chicago’s streets and sidewalks were raised to reduce flooding. You can still see the sunken front yards and ornamental stonework in the homes of the area.
Pilsen has always been a community of immigrants, mostly workers on the nearby lumber docks on the Chicago River and other industry. Before the Mexicans, there were first German and Irish, then the Czechs who named the community after the Bohemian city of Pilsen. Our community has been home to labor activists since the 1877 Battle of the Viaduct at 16th and Halsted, and has continued this tradition of activism.
A mural on 18th Street.
Arts and culture are also longstanding traditions. Thalia Hall at 18th and Allport includes a 114-year-old theater, and our churches that were built generations ago still hold annual kermeses (festivals). Our Latino culture is immediately apparent from the community’s many beautiful murals, including those that have decorated local walls for three decades or more. At the end of July, the 37-year-old Fiesta del Sol brings out thousands, dancing and movies take place on our always busy Zócalo, and local arts programming by community groups serves children and adults alike.
Our culture is also reflected along 18th Street, one of the first areas in Chicago with a strong Mexican business cluster. Between Halsted and Damen are tortilla factories, supermercados, restaurants, craft shops, a book and record store and sidewalk vendors of corn, fresh fruit and paletas. At the intersection with Blue Island, there’s a branch library, a youth-run radio station and busy food markets. Farther west near Damen is Harrison Park, the National Museum of Mexican Art, and Orozco School with its wonderful mosaic façade.
Pilsen is also a great example of how community organizing and community development can make a difference. Take a minute to look at the Pilsen Planning Committee’s quality-of-life plan, Pilsen: A Center of Mexican Life, to learn about the many successes residents and local organizations have had in affordable housing, schools, economic development and other issues, and to see where we’re going next.
Local kids having fun outside the National Museum of Mexican Art.
Pilsen and NCLR
Visitors to the NCLR Conference will be experiencing a bit of Pilsen’s culture even if they never make it to 18th Street. Many of the performers during the conference are local artists who were suggested by Álvaro Obregón, the New Communities Program director at The Resurrection Project.
Pilsen is very excited by the opportunity to showcase what a great city Chicago is for Latino culture. If you’re in town for the conference, we hope you come to Pilsen and see why we are so proud of our community. And if you’re a Pilsen resident and you meet someone in for the NCLR Conference, give them a big welcome—and thank them for all the good work they’re doing on behalf of the Latino community.
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