Maxwell Street Block Party closes season for historic open-air market
The Maxwell Street Block Party closed out the season for the historic open-air market in what is known as Chicago's University Village community on Sunday.
The Maxwell Street Market dates back to the late 19th century, when it was established as an informal market by newly arrived Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. At the time, it ran only on Sundays on Maxwell Street itself, and on Halsted Street between Roosevelt Road and 16th Street, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events recounted.
The city officially recognized Maxwell Street in October 2012.
The market drew peddlers and pushcart vendors selling everything from produce and apparel to appliances and cars, DCASE noted.
Jugglers, card tricksters, and traveling medicine show proprietors set up shop alongside the vendors, the Maxwell Street Foundation recalled. Food stands also drew crowds — the Vienna Sausage Manufacturing Co. started out in the Maxwell Street area, and Polish sausage on a bun has been associated with Maxwell Street from the beginning.
In the mid-20th century, many Black Americans who migrated north to Chicago came to Maxwell Street — among them musicians who created the electric blues. The blues masters realized they needed amplifiers and electrical instruments to be heard, and the vendors helped make it happen, DCASE said.
The new sound, and the synergy between Chicago musicians like Big Bill Broonzy and other musicians coming newly from the South, created what we now all the Chicago blues, DCASE noted. Blues musicians such as harmonica master Little Walter launched their careers in the market. Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis was played electric blues at the market for more than 40 years.
In 1994, the city moved the Maxwell Street Market to Canal Street to accommodate the expansion of the University of Illinois Chicago. The market moved to a bit west to Desplaines Street in 2008, and returned to its original location in May 2024, DCASE said.
The block party opened at 10 a.m. Sunday, and was to run until 3 p.m. on Maxwell Street between Halsted Street and Union Avenue.
DJ Sandra Treviño and DJ Pablo Serrano were on the performance docket, along with a Cumbia dance lesson from Teatro Tariakuri Dance and Theatre Performing Arts.
