View source for Polonia Triangle

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
[[File:Polonia Triangle fountain.jpg|thumb|The [[Nelson Algren]] Memorial fountain]]
[[File:Chopin Exterior 2.jpg|thumb|Chopin Theatre seen from Polonia Triangle]]
'''Polonia Triangle''' ({{langx|pl|Trójkąt Polonijny}}), or the '''Polish Triangle''', is a plaza located in [[West Town, Chicago|West Town]], in what had been the historical [[Polish Downtown (Chicago)|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 language|Polish]] word ''Polonia'' ("[[Polish people|Polish]] [[diaspora]]"), which itself comes from the Latin name for Poland. Polonia Triangle was considered to be the center or town square of Chicago's Polish Downtown, the city's oldest and most prominent [[Poles in Chicago|Polish settlement]]. In many ways it functioned as the capital of [[Polish Americans|American Polonia]], with the headquarters for almost every major Polish organization in the [[United States]] clustered in its vicinity.

==Location and surroundings==

The Triangle is bounded by [[Division Street (Chicago)|Division Street]] on the south, [[Ashland Avenue]] on the west, and [[Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago)|Milwaukee Avenue]] on the northeast.
 
Organisations located within its vicinity include the [[Polish National Alliance]] to the [[Dziennik Związkowy (Polish Daily News)|Polish Daily News]].<ref>Granacki, Victoria: Chicago's Polish Downtown, Arcadia Press, 2004, p. 6-7</ref> Polonia Triangle is one of 11 neighborhoods included in ''The Labor Trail'' which chronicles Chicago's history of [[working class]] life and struggle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=labortrail.org |url=http://ww38.labortrail.org/lt-008-ptriangle.html |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=ww38.labortrail.org}}</ref> The site is still home to the [[Chopin Theatre]] and is used for processions during [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]] by parishioners of two of Chicago's [[Polish Cathedral]]s: [[St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (Chicago, Illinois)|St. Stanislaus Kostka]] and [[Holy Trinity Polish Mission]].

The [[Blue Line (CTA)|Blue Line]]'s [[Division station (CTA Blue Line)|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]].<ref>[https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=1998/981120/ALGREN&search=%22polish%20triangle%22 Reader Archive-Extract: 1998/981120/ALGREN<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A compromise was reached in 1998, where the Triangle kept its name and a newly installed fountain was named after Algren<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbcchicago.com/projects/nelson-algren-fountain/|title = Nelson Algren Fountain}}</ref> 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".<ref>[https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=1998/981120/ALGREN&search=%22polish%20triangle%22 Reader Archive-Extract: 1998/981120/ALGREN<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The second more recent one has been a push by a number of area residents led by Zygmunt Dyrkacz, head of the [[Chopin Theatre]], to artistically redevelop the Triangle as "the gateway to [[West Town, Chicago#Wicker Park|Wicker Park]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=chicagoreader |date=2007-10-18 |title=Wicker Park's Dirty Doorstep |url=http://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/wicker-parks-dirty-doorstep/ |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Chicago Reader |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Redevelopment==

Although Polonia Triangle has deteriorated from its heady days as the center of [[Polish Downtown]], the entire [[West Town, Chicago|West Town]] area has undergone a renaissance as gentrification has transformed the area.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wildman |first=Sarah |date=2005-07-03 |title=On the Old 'Polish Broadway,' Boutiques and Spas Arrive |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/travel/on-the-old-polish-broadway-boutiques-and-spas-arrive.html |access-date=2022-10-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The old "[[Division Street (Chicago)|Polish Broadway]]" along [[Division Street (Chicago)|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]]'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"''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=chicagoreader |date=2007-10-18 |title=Wicker Park's Dirty Doorstep |url=http://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/wicker-parks-dirty-doorstep/ |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Chicago Reader |language=en-US}}</ref>

Moreover, the Metropolitan Planning Council, in collaboration with the Placemaking Movement and WPB (Wicker Park/Bucktown), has collectively initiated a project aimed at the redevelopment and renovation of Polonia Triangle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://theplacemakingmovement.ning.com/group/polishtriangle |title=Polish Triangle - the Placemaking Movement |accessdate=2009-08-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622223643/http://theplacemakingmovement.ning.com/group/polishtriangle |archivedate=2009-06-22 }}</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090622223643/http://theplacemakingmovement.ning.com/group/polishtriangle The Metropolitan Planning Council and the Placemaking Movement's joint initiative to redevelop and renovate Polonia Triangle]

{{West Town, Chicago}}
{{Ethnicity in Chicago, Illinois}}
{{Chicago}}

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[[Category:Polish-American culture in Chicago]]
[[Category:West Side, Chicago]]
[[Category:History of Chicago]]
[[Category:Polish communities in the United States]]