Eastern European Jews In Chicago



  • By 1900, Chicago has the 3rd largest Jewish population next to Warsaw, Poland and NYC, New York.



  • Most of the eastern Jew's came from Russia, Poland, and Austria-Hungary



  • They settled near the southwest side of the city surrounded by Canal Street, Damen Avenue, Polk Street, and 16th street



  • Maxwell and Halsted Streets is where the heart of all the Jewish activities took place. Since they hardly spoke much English and started off penniless, they mostly became sales people. To sell their goods all they needed was an inventory and the ability to be able to sell their products



  • Usually the first generation of Jewish immigrants were able to only crape by, they were often very poor but the next generations were the ones who did well.



  • For example, Joseph Golderburg was a Jewish immigrant who sold his products on Maxwell Street and his son Arthur, was in president JFK's cabinet and became a justice for the Supreme Court


  • Barnet Balabin was president of Paramount Pictures and his father owned a grocery store near Maxwell Street



  • Before all the flood of Eastern European Jews came, there was already an established German Jewish community who thought the new Jews were an embarrassment



  • The new Jewish immigrants were set in there old customs and did want to assimilate into the American society



  • The same went for clothing styles, new Jewish immigrant men usually had long beards and coats and the women wore wigs and "peasant dresses"



  • There were a lot of nativist Jews that were already successful businessmen


  • The Chicago Hebrew Institute was founded in 1908 and it had classrooms, club rooms, a library, gyms, and a synagogue. It was meant to be a place for all Jews to come together and to help the new Jewish immigrants assimilate faster


  • The new Jewish immigrants received more economic success than other immigrants coming to America because they wanted America to be there permanent home, not just a temporary place to keep money and leave


  • They were also more focused on long term success rather than short term success


  • Families moved west, because of the factories and railroad tracks being built, and more African Americans moved into the Maxwell Street area