The city of Chicago Lawn was founded by John F. Eberhart in 1871. Although it was annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889, it remained mostly farmland with some scattered settlements until the 1920s.
Between 1920 and 1930 the population increased from 14,000 to 47,000. Residents of German and Irish descent began to move into the area from the Back of the Yards and Englewood neighborhoods. Poles, Bohemians, and Lithuanians followed them.
This influence can still be seen today in a network of institutions such as Lithuanian Sisters of Saint Casimir, Holy Cross Hospital, and Maria High School.
The community is dominated on the southern portion by 300-acres of parkland, but developers have begun to make efforts to build both commercially and residentially. Chicago Lawn is sometimes referred to as the "Bungalow Belt," being that the classic Chicago bungalow is the most predominant form of housing in this close knit neighborhood.
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