A Multicultural Metropolis

According to CMAP, the seven-county CMAP region of Cook County, DuPage County, Kane County, Kendall County, Lake County, McHenry County, and Will County grew by more than a quarter-million people during one decade, and immigrants accounted for over half of the population growth during this time period. Cook County, in particular, saw a more than 20 percent increase in the number of immigrants.

Immigrants make up more than 500,000 residents, or 21.2 percent, of Chicago. Additional cities with high immigrant populations in the Chicago area include Stone Park (46.5 percent), Niles (44.2 percent), Schiller Park (44.2 percent), Cicero (42.6 percent), Wheeling (42.0 percent), and Skokie (41.1 percent).

The top countries of origin for foreign-born people in the seven-county CMAP region include Mexico (40.4 percent), Poland (8.6 percent), India (7.2 percent), the Philippines (4.8 percent), and China (3.0 percent). Whereas 12.9 percent of the United States population is foreign-born, 13.8 percent of the Illinois population is foreign-born, 19.1 percent of the seven-county CMAP region is foreign-born, and 21.2 percent of Cook County is foreign-born.

PBS notes that Chicago’s immigration history stretches back to 1850, and every decade saw waves of immigrants to the city. French immigrants who were political refugees came to Chicago in 1850, Scottish immigrants arrived in 1860, Norwegians joined the labor force in 1870, Irish immigrants worked on the construction of the canal connecting Chicago with the Illinois River in 1880, British trade unions sponsored immigration in 1890, Czechs from Bohemia came to Chicago in 1900, Austrian immigrants settled into the Fuller Park neighborhood in 1910, Russian immigrants fled persecutions in 1920, Germans flooded into Chicago in 1930, Swedish immigrants settled into the Andersonville neighborhood in 1940, Polish immigrants began arriving in 1950, Italian immigrants came in 1960, Mexican immigrants began arriving in 1970, Filipinos began immigrating in 1980, and Korean immigrants were drawn to Chicago in 1990.

The City of Chicago website notes that in the half-century following the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871, waves of immigrants came to Chicago to take jobs in factories and meatpacking plants. Many poor workers and their families found help in settlement houses operated by Jane Addams and her followers.