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HOME > HISTORY > HEART OF ITALY |
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Heart of Chicago community revels in rich history |
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By: John Insalata |
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October 2002 |
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A secret to many but a favorite of those in the know, the Heart of Chicago community features restaurants that are celebrity hangouts and buildings up to 125 years old, still intact, that have been used as settings for movies.
The area’s main thoroughfare, Oakley Boulevard, has the honorary name of “Vito Marzullo Boulevard” after the colorful late Alderman, a neighborhood guy who achieved guest lectureship in political science at Harvard University.
The Taste of Italy festival is held every year over Father’s Day weekend on Oakley Boulevard from 19th to 24th Streets, just north of Blue Island Ave. One will always find great food at the festival, and surprises as well. In 2001, a replica of the Trevi Fountain stole the show. This year, Lena Prima, daughter of Louis Prima, performed.
A sharp politician
Oakley Boulevard was conceived as a residential street, with mansions built north of 12th Street as early as the 1850s. It was named for Charles Oakley, who was one of the first, if not the first, of Illinois politicians known for the use of patronage—during the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1845.
That construction was largely responsible for populating the Southwest Side of Chicago by creating jobs. Immigrants came from Italy, Sweden, Germany, and Bohemia, establishing homes and churches. There still is some visible evidence as to where sidewalks were raised to improve sewage removal and to eliminate water-borne epidemics. The old first floors now are basements.
What McCormick reaped
Cyrus McCormick had connections to the area. After the Great Fire of 1871, he chose to build his new McCormick Reaper plant at Western and Blue Island Aves. Many people still can recall fathers and grandfathers working at what they used to call “the old tractor works.
After the fire, the McCormick family found shelter on Sheldon Ave., which is now north Loomis St. The Near North Side then had so many McCormicks that it was called “McCormicksville,” with Heart of Chicago representing McCormicksville South.
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