Object ID
F2016.40
Object Name
Sign, Traffic
Alternative Name
Street Sign
Measurements
0.635 cm. H x 14.6050000000 cm. W x 60.325 cm. L, Item (Overall)
Material
Metal; Paper
Object Description
Green metal street sign. In white capital sticker letters reads "Maxwell St" on both sides of the sign. There are markings where the sign had been secured to something. The sign has ridges above and below the letters.
Origin
Maxwell Street is an east-west street in Chicago, Illinois that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West. The Maxwell Street neighborhood is considered part of the Near West Side and is one of the city's oldest residential districts. It is notable as the location of the celebrated Maxwell Street Market and the birthplace of Chicago Blues and the "Maxwell Street Polish (sausage sandwich)." A large portion of the area is now the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), as well as a new private housing development sponsored by the university.
Maxwell Street first appears on a Chicago map in 1847. It was named for Dr. Philip Maxwell. It was originally a wooden plank road that ran from the south branch of the Chicago River west to Blue Island Avenue. The earliest housing was built by and for Irish immigrants who were brought to Chicago to construct the first railroads. It continued to be a "gateway" neighborhood for immigrants, including Greeks, Bohemians, Russians, Germans, Italians, African Americans and Mexicans. A few blocks north of the Maxwell Street are the city's historic Greek and Italian communities
Rights and Reproduction
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Citation
Sign, Traffic, National Hellenic Museum, https://collections.nationalhellenicmuseum.org/Detail/objects/11033. Accessed 03/28/24.