wordy wednesday: boricua

While in Chicago, my daughter and son-in-law went to a brunch with friends. Little grandson and I were hanging around in the house on a windy, sunny day and it was time for some fresh air. On previous trips I had noticed a big metal flag at the intersection of Division and Western and so it was time to bundle the little guy up and go on an adventure.

These nearly 60-foot-tall flags flags were erected in 1995 as a gateway to Humboldt Park’s Puerto Rican community and flank the half-mile stretch of Division Street between California and Western avenues known as Paseo Boricua.

The massive sculptures — each weighing 50 tons and reportedly built to withstand 70 mph winds — have come to define Humboldt Park, which is home to the largest Puerto Rican population in the city and the center of Puerto Rican culture throughout the Midwest.

Boriqua means a Puerto Rican or person of Puerto Rican descent. The word Boricua comes from Borinquen, the name given to the island by the indigenous Tainos who inhabited Puerto Rico for hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived in 1493.

Community leaders point to Paseo Boricua’s towering flags as a powerful symbol of Puerto Rican pride in the face of gentrification, which has driven longtime residents and businesses out of Humboldt Park. In a way the gentrification is a continuation of the Spanish taking over Boriquen many centuries ago.

These flags officially became Chicago landmarks in 2022.