Lawndale, once predominantly Czechoslovakian in the late 1800s and early to mid-1900s, has been mostly all Black since the 1950s after they migrated from the South.
Lawndale, once predominantly Czechoslovakian in the late 1800s and early to mid-1900s, has been mostly all Black since the 1950s after they migrated from the South.
After settling in on the West Side, many Black-owned businesses opened to join the existing companies in the bustling community.
There were movie theaters, record shops, furniture stores, grocery stores and clothing stores along West Madison Avenue and on Roosevelt Road, part of the main business strips in Lawndale.
But “urban rebellion,” or riots, after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 took a toll on the economic state of the neighborhood, said Alderwoman Sharon Dixon (24th), whose ward is largely comprised of Lawndale.
Businesses were burned and looted during the riot, and the business community was left shuttered for decades. Most establishments haven’t been rebuilt, but the neighborhood has seen an economic lift in the last decade, the alderman said of the area that has a median income of $18,340.
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