wednesday's words and wonderings and wanderings

Most people don't make Chicago a winter destination but when our daughter asked us to babysit our little grandson, yes...we're there in no time! Actually it takes a little over five hours to get there if we hit the traffic just right.

We did a lot of walking in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, whether it was for walking the dog or just to explore the area.

Humboldt Park became a part of Chicago in 1869. The creation of Humboldt and several other west side parks was originally envisioned to provide a beautiful scenic escape from the congested city life.

After the Great Chicago Fire, large numbers of German, Scandinavians, and Italians moved to Humboldt Park. Other nationalities, including Polish and Russian Jews, and Ukrainians, also began to move into Humboldt Park. In the mid-1950s, Humboldt’s diverse neighborhood grew to include Puerto Ricans. With such a diverse history, Humboldt Park’s community has always been a mixture of different languages, foods, and traditions. On several streets you can see beautiful murals that tell the history of the community and when we go in warmer weather, I will walk up and down the neighborhood streets to find more of these murals that tell the story of the Puerto Rican community. 

One of the flags over Division Street that marks the beginning/end of the  Paseo Boricua

A blend of Puerto Rican and Polish

The cornerstone on the old Polish church

Slava Ukraini