The New, New Maxwell Street Market
November 12th, 2009Filed under: History, Multimedia
This fall a group of DePaul University students are taking a course at the Chicago History Museum, learning about working in museums. As a class project, they have spread throughout the city to explore Chicago’s people and history. Their work comes together in a series called “People and Places.” This is the first installment.
The New, New Maxwell Street Market
Joseph Battaglia and Sharon Weber
Every Sunday thousands flock to the Near West Side of Chicago to experience the New, New Maxwell Street Market. This market certainly has changed a lot from the original Maxwell Street. The location, goods, and shoppers are drastically different, but you can still find an awesome bargain.
The original Maxwell Street area became a market place in the late 1800s as primarily European immigrants sold and bought goods there. The city gave it the official designation of an “open-air market” in 1912. The bazaar drew families in search of bargain basement prices on everything from car parts to used toothbrushes.
The discounted prices and the option to haggle with merchants meant Chicagoans could save some cash. For decades the market was a cornerstone of the neighborhood and a place to experience authentic Chicago. By 1994, gentrification, an expressway, and other development ended the original market entirely. Then the New Maxwell Street Market was born, first with a home on Canal. Later it relocated to Desplaines between Harrison and Roosevelt and the second “new” was added.
As we checked out the current market on a crowded and sunny day, the feeling of bargain hunting was all around. There were men haggling over used tools—some that might have been older than we are—and a produce vendor selling boxes of fruit for five bucks. (What a deal!) We enjoyed a dancer doing her thing on the corner while a blues guitarist made us wonder if the original market sounded like that. With the tall concrete walls and expressway nearby, the area doesn’t probably have the same feel as the original, but when you immerse yourself in the market the community atmosphere is definitely there.
Where do you look for bargains in Chicago?
Listen to a blues guitarist at the New, New Maxwell Street Market
> Learn more about the original Maxwell Street Market
Tags: Blues, DePaul University, Joe Battaglia, Joseph Battaglia, Maxwell Street Market, People and Places, Peter Alter, Sharon Weber
November 19th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
When I was a young girl growing up in Chicago, my dad would take my sister and I to Maxwell Street to experience the sites, look for bargains, and eat a Maxwell Street Polish sausage sandwich. Sometimes we drove there; sometimes we rode our bikes.
I remeber one time we bought a bargain bag of crew socks for $5 (for like 20 pairs of socks); and when we got them home and opened the package, every sock had a hole in it! Ah, well! Let the buyer beware.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
There are a lot of interesting stories about the “deals” one could get on the original Maxwell Street. Sometimes, I still see vendors selling “bargain” tube socks in that area!