[Docere]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah, Chicago's first Chinatown was right in the shadow of the LaSalle St financial district. For a variety of reasons, they started moving to the present location around 1920... at that time, it was surrounded by smoky, polluted railyards and had cheap land with good streetcar connections. So yes, the current Chinatown is a second-generation community even though it still falls within the greater downtown and many buildings are prewar.

This second Chinatown also had the good fortune to be surrounded by neighborhoods that were slowly emptying out and transitioning by the 1970s/80s, so there was plenty of room to expand the Chinese community south and southwest, and eastward into the massive Lake Meadows and Prairie Shores complexes.

Didn't know that. I guess that explains why Chicago's Chinatown seems far flung and not as threatened by gentrification.