Canaryville is a community located south of Chicago's loop and is the oldest southern Chicago neighborhood. Canaryville is a close knit community, which was founded by the Irish, who were attracted to nearby industrial jobs. This cultural influence can still be seen today, especially in the city's main parish, St. Gabriel's. Given its close proximity to the stockyards, the area's physical environment and economic life were shaped by livestock and meatpacking from the 1860s until the industry's decline in the postwar era.
Canaryville's name may originally have derived from the legions of sparrows who populated the area at the end of the nineteenth century, feeding off stockyard refuse and grain from railroad cars, but the term was also applied to the neighborhood's rambunctious youth, its "wild canaries."
Large amounts of vacant land comprise the industrial landscape that Canaryville offers. Developers, both commerical and residential, are beginning develop the landscape further with new commerce and condominiums.
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