Local Landmarks & Heritage
Local Landmarks & Heritage
- Marquette Park
- Darius and Girėnas Monument (1935)
- Martin Luther King Jr. Living Memorial (2016)
- Former National Biscuit Company bakery site
Neighborhood History
Neighborhood History
Chicago Lawn traces back to 1871, when educator-turned-developer John Frederick Eberhart purchased the land between 63rd and 67th Streets and founded the "City of Chicago Lawn." The neighborhood grew slowly until the 1920s bungalow boom, when Polish, Bohemian, and especially Lithuanian families arrived in such numbers that the area earned the nickname "Lithuanian Gold Coast," home to some of the city's richest savings and loan institutions. In 1941, the National Biscuit Company built what was then the largest bakery in one location in the world here, cementing the neighborhood's working-class identity through the mid-20th century.
Most locals still call the neighborhood Marquette Park, after the 323-acre South Park Commission park at its center, designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1903 and home since 1935 to an Art Deco monument honoring Lithuanian-American aviators Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas. The park was also the site of a pivotal 1966 Fair Housing march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an event now marked by the Martin Luther King Jr. Living Memorial, dedicated in 2016 on the march's 50th anniversary.
MY-NHD's Chicago Lawn collection carries the weight of a neighborhood that has been shaped, tested, and rebuilt by the people determined to call it home.
MY-NHD
Chicago Lawn - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee
Chicago Lawn - Chicago - Unisex Cotton Tee
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Chicago Lawn was founded in 1871 by developer John Frederick Eberhart and grew in the 1920s bungalow boom, when so many Lithuanian families arrived it was called the Lithuanian Gold Coast. Many locals call it Marquette Park, after the 323-acre park at its center.
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