Polonia Triangle ( pl, Trójkąt Polonijny), also known as the Polish Triangle, is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown area of Chicago. A single-tiered fountain made of black iron with a bowl about nine feet in diameter is installed at its center. Polonia Triangle derives its name from the Polish word ''Polonia'', which means ' Polish

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

'. Polonia Triangle was considered to be the center or town square of Chicago's Polish Downtown, the city's oldest and most prominent Polish settlement. In many ways it functioned as the capital of the American Polonia with the headquarters for almost every major Polish organization in the United States clustered within its vicinity. It is bound by Division, Ashland and Milwaukee Avenue. Organisations located within its vicinity include the Polish National Alliance to the

Polish Daily News Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. Polonia Triangle is one of 11 neighborhoods included in ''The Labor Trail'' which chronicles Chicago's history of working class life and struggle. The site is still home to the

Chopin Theatre Chopin Theatre Productions is a 501(c)(3) not for profit art presenter and producer at the historic Chopin Theater building in Chicago. Built in 1918, in what is now Wicker Park, the theater is located across the Polish Triangle. Chopin Theatr ...

and is used for processions during Corpus Christi by parishioners of two of Chicago's Polish Cathedrals:

St. Stanislaus Kostka Stanisław Kostka S.J. (28 October 1550 – 15 August 1568) was a Polish novice of the Society of Jesus. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Stanislaus Kostka (as distinct from his namesake, the 11th-century Bishop of Kraków S ...

and Holy Trinity Polish Mission. The Blue Line's Division/Milwaukee station is also located at the Polonia Triangle.

Controversies

There have been two major controversies relating to Polonia Triangle. The first dealt with renaming the plaza after writer Nelson Algren (1909–1981), whose controversial 1940s novels prominently displayed the Polish American underclass and was taken by Chicago's Polish community as

Anti-Polonism Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, ( pl, Antypolonizm), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These incl ...

. A compromise was reached in 1998, where the Triangle kept its name and a newly installed fountain was named after Algren and inscribed with a quote from his 1951 essay '' Chicago: City on the Make'' around the fountain's base: "For the masses who do the city's labor also keep the city's heart". The second more recent one has been a push by a number of area residents led by Zygmunt Dyrkacz, head of the

, to artistically redevelop the Triangle as "the gateway to Wicker Park".

Redevelopment

Although Polonia Triangle has deteriorated from its heady days as the center of Polish Downtown, the entire West Town area has undergone a renaissance as gentrification has transformed the area. The old " Polish Broadway" along Division Street is becoming an increasingly thriving business district, full of nightclubs, restaurants and cafes. These changes have accelerated calls to improve what had become a long neglected area, most recently publicized in the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

's'' in depth report titled ''"Wicker Park's Dirty Doorstep: Round two of the battle over the glorified bus stop known as the Polish Triangle"''. Additionally, the Metropolitan Planning Council along with the Placemaking Movement and WPB (Wicker Park/Bucktown) have jointly undertaken an initiative to redevelop and renovate Polonia Triangle.

References

External links

The Metropolitan Planning Council and the Placemaking Movement's joint initiative to redevelop and renovate Polonia Triangle
{{Coord, 41.903579, -87.667176, format=dms, region:US-IL_type:landmark, display=title Polish-American culture in Chicago West Side, Chicago History of Chicago Polish communities in the United States