Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

Chicago, Illinois

Home to some 80 000 Lithuanians, Chicagoland is perhaps the second important center of Lithuanian nation after Lithuania itself and it has been so for well over a century. Between the 1890s and 1930s, there were more Lithuanians in Chicago than in any town or city of their still agricultural former homeland. Chicago Lithuanian numbers increased rapidly from 14 000 in 1900 to 80 000 in 1924.

After earning enough money some Lithuanians went back to Europe yet onthers remained, starting influential families. Elaborate Lithuanian churches were built, followed by schools, monasteries, museums, clubs, and other institutions. The center of Lithuanian settlement gradually moved: from Bridgeport and Back of the Yards (in the 1900s - 1910s) to Marquette Park (in 1950s). After Marquette Park was overtaken by Blacks there is no longer a Lithuanian district in Chicago, but a community center exists in the Lemont suburb.

The top Lithuanian sites to visit in Chicago are:
1.Top Lithuanian churches - Holy Cross (see "Back of the Yards") and Nativity BVM (see "Marquette Park"), followed by St. Anthony (see "Cicero") and Immaculate Conception (see "Brighton Park").
2.Top Lithuanian museums and cultural centers - Lithuanian World Center (see "Lemont"), Balzekas museum (see "West Lawn"), Lithuanian Youth Center (Gage Park).
3.Lithuanian cemeteries - St. Casimir Cemetery and National Cemetery (see "Lithuanian cemeteries").
4.Lithuanian monuments - the Lemont Hill of Crosses (see "Lemont"), Darius and Girėnas monument (see "Marquette Park").
5.Other sites - St. Casimir Sisters convent, Lithuania Plaza street (for both see "Marquette Park").

Sadly, Lituanity in Illinois seems to be somewhat on a decline. In the 1990s - 2000s several Lithuanian churches were demolished or no longer celebrate Mass in Lithuanian. The older generation of Lithuanians ("second-wave immigrants") pass away, and the third wave did not replenish Lithuanity as much as expected.

Back of the Yards - stockyards and America's top Lithuanian church

The most impressive of the Chicago's Lithuanian churches is the Baroque revival Holy Cross in Back of the Yards that has been even included in the general books on Chicago architecture.

Built by the original community of slaughterhouse workers in 1913 the elaborate church once anchored a district full of Lithuanian homes and institutions. With immigrants from Latin America displacing Lithuanians, the parish was abolished in the 1970s and the Lithuanian Mass ceased to be celebrated in ~2005. Plaque "Lietuvių Rymo katalikų bažnyčia" remains near the entrance ("Lithuanian Roman Catholic church" in pre-modern Lithuanian language when "Rome" was still called "Rymas") while the pediment includes the Columns of Gediminas.

The interior (accessible on Sundays alone) is also miraculously spectacular, dwarfing even many cathedrals in its splendor, as well as most churches in both Chicago and Lithuania itself. It includes paintings of the Hill of Crosses (Šiauliai) and the Gate of Dawn (Vilnius Old Town), as well as Christening of Mindaugas, while the stained-glass windows and artworks are mostly Lithuanian-funded, having the Lithuanian names of sponsors or artists under them.

While initially the church has been constructed by a Czech architect Joseph Molitor (at the time, there were no Lithuanian architects capable of such a feat) and stained-glass windows created by a non-Lithuanian Arthur Michaudel studio (1943), in the 1950s it has been later greatly Lithuanized by Adolfas Valeška, who is responsible for many of the Lithuanian artworks. Moreover, the floor has been covered in Lithuanian patterns since that renovation.

Next to the church stands a former Lithuanian convent (1954) with a traditional Lithuanian sun-cross and Lithuanian-crated mosaic (author - Valeška, architect - Kova-Kovalskis). On the right of the image, there is the former parochial school.

The life of Lithuanian butchers who built the Back of the Yards is described in the fictionalized account "Jungle" by journalist Upton Sinclair still held to be of great importance to Chicago history. It was in these slaughterhouses where the industrial might of the Chicago was born. For the first time, the animals were slaughtered in a single city only to be sold in faraway places like New York or Boston. Prior to this "to buy meat" meant "to visit a local butcher", something changed for good by the Chicago's businessmen and countless immigrants from thousands of cities and towns around Europe (the number of Lithuanian butchers was only surpassed by Poles).

The famous Chicago Union Stockyards have been closed in 1971 and mostly demolished. A few buildings remain such as the Stockyard gate in W Exchange Ave. Next to the gate, a plaque reminds of the Stockyards history and the "Jungle" novel. It reminds of the Lithuanians as one of the major groups of workers in the yards.

In 2021, a Packinghouse museum has been established in a former slaughterhouse of the Back of the Yards that has been now converted for other uses. This was not part of the Union Stockyards, however, but rather some of the of competing smaller slaughterhouses nearby. Nevertheless, some slaughterhouse decor is visible there and the exposition includes information on Lithuanians as well as the general life in the slaughterhouses.

Bridgeport - the first Lithuanian district of Chicago

Bridgeport was once outflanked by a beautiful massive tower of 1902 Gothic revival St. George Lithuanian church. It was the oldest Lithuanian parish in Chicago (and, in fact, west of the Appalachians). Unfortunately by the bishop's decision the church was demolished in 1990 and replaced by an empty lot, after donating the church's works of art and furniture to a parish in the recently-independent Lithuania. The riches of the fading emigre were thus symbolically repatriated.

The nearby former 3-floored St. George parish school (1908), declared by to be the "best Lithuanian school in America" by a 1916 Lithuanian-American almanac, still stands although is a non-Lithuanian Philip Armour school (but the plaque "MOKYKLA ŠV. JURGIO K." (St. George C. school) still remains on top). In 1916, it had 450 pupils and a parish hall with 1500 seats (the parish was among the US's richest Lithuanian parishes).

Bridgeport also had a massive Lithuanian Auditorium (3133 So. Halsted Street) with a Vytis on it (built 1925) which once served as the hub of Chicago's Lithuanian activities. However, it has also been demolished in the 1990s as Lithuanians departed the district. 1000-seat Lithuanian theater Milda (est. 1914), once associated with Lithuanian communists, has met the same fate (now replaced by a police station). Another theater "Ramova" (est. 1929) still stands (3518 S. Halsted Street); after being abandoned in 1986, restoration as a restaurant/live music venue/brewery began in 2021. The Lithuanian name (which means 'Pagan temple') proudly hangs over the S Halsted street on a historic large 1944 sign that is a final reminder of the era when most of the people in the area used to speak Lithuanian (the crumbling decor is Spanish-styled, however).

A street in Bridgeport is still named Lituanica Avenue since the 1930s. Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas left for their doomed flight from the St. George church there. They became instant martyrs in 1933 when after flying across the Atlantic ocean their plane "Lituanica" crashed in what is now Poland, only several hundred kilometers from destination Kaunas. S. Darius and S. Girėnas were also worldwide pioneers of airmail and their continuous flight time was the second largest ever at the time (6 411 km).

The western limit of Lithuanian Bridgeport used to be at Morgan St., with Poles living beyond it.

Darius-Girėnas memorial plaques in Chicago airports

Darius and Girėnas who perished while trying to make Lithuania's name famous are still the key figures for the Lithuanian-American community. In 1993 a plaque was unveiled for them in Midway Airport which happens to be at the center of various past and present Lithuanian districts and also the place where they named their plane as "Lituanica". In 2008 this plaque was reinstated after reconstruction through titanious efforts of some Lithuanians. The plaque is in the ticketed-passengers-only area at the beginning of Concourse A, on the left side if walking towards concourse A.

In 2013 (75th anniversary of the Darius-Girėnas flight) an additional memorial plaąue for them was unveiled in the Palwakee (now Chicago executive) airport. While Darius and Girėnas have departed from New York, Palwaukee was significant to them as they bought their Lituanica there. Palwaukee airport badge would often appear during the public fundraisers of Darius and Girėnas and it is even depicted on the 10 litas banknote that depicts Darius and Girėnas. The plaque is at the entrance room to the main airport building (with "Signature" words on it).

Marquette Park - the largest-ever Lithuanian district outside Lithuania

If somebody mentions "Chicago's Lithuanian district", he usually means Marquette Park. Back in the 1950s-1970s, it was the largest Lithuanian district outside Lithuania and many of today's prominent Lithuanian-Americans spent their childhoods there. At the time, the descendants of the pre-war immigrants who moved there for better-than-in-Bridgeport homes were joined by the "second wave" of refugees fleeing from almost certain deaths in their Soviet-occupied country. Coming from intellectual backgrounds, these refugees created a well-crafted and rich community, centered around Lithuania Plaza street. In its heyday, the Marquette Park area housed 30 000 Lithuanians (out of a total population of 45 000).

Since those times, a large 1957 Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (B.V.M.) towers over the district. It combines post-war architectural austerity with pre-war size, both historicist and unique ethnic Lithuanian details. Initially criticized by some, this joint work of architect Jonas Mulokas and interior designer V. K. Jonynas was eventually praised and set the style for later Lithuanian-American churches. Lithuanian Mass is celebrated there. Everything in the church's architecture tells of the longing for their lost homeland.

On the outside, the Lithuanian tricolor is always waving, while the church's sidewalls are adorned by two historical mosaics: "The coronation of King Mindaugas" and "Miracle of St. Casimir at the River Daugava" (authors Adolfas Valeška and Dalia Juknevičiūtė-Mackuvienė). While having religious connotations enough to put them on the church, the deeper meaning of both is symbolic patriotically: Mindaugas was the first Lithuanian king recognized as such by Western powers (as he was the first Christian king), while the St. Casimir's miracle involved him appearing as a young soldier in front of the Lithuanian troops in 1518, showing these troops where to cross Dauguva river without drowning so they could ambush and defeat the Russians. Both themes - continued foreign recognition of Lithuanian statehood and the victory over the (Soviet) Russian occupants - were extremely important to Lithuanian-Americans back in the 1950s.

External bas-reliefs above the entrance of the church represent the sites of Lithuanian Maryan cult locations (Vilnius, Žemaičių Kalavarija, Pažaislis, Šiluva). The pretty stained-glass windows in the apse repeats the theme, with each including an image of Virgin Mary but also images of numerous Lithuania's churches - some of them closed and looted by the Soviet atheist regime at the time. Even secular buildings such as Trakai Castle are included in some windows. Patriotic symbols may also be seen on the St. Casimir stained-glass window on the side of the church (Vytis, Columns of Gediminas). The authors of the stained glass windows were Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas and Kazys Varnelis.

Also interesting are the two murals on the interior, painted by sister Mercedes Mickevičiūtė and Kazimieras Žoromskis. One of them is dedicated to Our Lady of Šiluva, which is the earliest church-recognized Maryan vision in Europe. The artistic level and importance of the Nativity BVM church could be seen from the fact that three of the Lithuanian-American artists who created its artworks have entire museums back in Lithuania dedicated to their work (Kazimieras Žoromskis, V. K. Jonynas, and Kazys Varnelis).

Among Marquette Park's key Lithuanian symbols is Chicago's largest Darius and Girėnas memorial. The unveiling of this art deco sculpture in 1935 was attended by 60 000 people. The anniversaries of their "glorious but doomed" flight are still celebrated annually there, even if drawing only 100 people. By the way, S. Darius, a lover of sport and an Olympic participant, is also credited for writing one of the first books on basketball in Lithuanian (in 1922), making foundations for this American invention to become Lithuania's national sport.

The Marquette Park district itself, however, is now populated by Blacks who started moving in in the 1960s-1970s, displacing the Lithuanians. For the Blacks, Marquette Park was simple a white district that could be targeted in their civil rights movement as a symbol of segregation in Chicago. As such, hundreds of Blacks came to live in tents in the Marquette Park itself in 1966. The crime rates have risen significantly, the property values declined. A conflict between the "old inhabitants" (Lithuanians and other whites) and the "new arrivals" (Blacks) took place. Both sides were supported by their racial compatriots from elsewhere, who, at times with racist ideas, would descend on the area just to fight what they saw to be a "racial war". Unlike for other whites, however, for Lithuanians, this was a matter of their own survival: it was their only district, and, losing it, they would have lost the only area in the USA where you can still speak Lithuanian as the main language. For Blacks, this was simply a matter of destroying segregation by coming to live at the historically white districts and they did not differentiate among different white ethnicities despite the fact that there have been no known Lithuanian-American slaveowners in the entire US history.

Eventually, Lithuanians have lost, and more and more of them chose to sell their Marquette Park properties at a big loss and retreat to the suburbs, taking part in the "white flight". They would never create another truly Lithuanian district in Chicago again and this likely contributed greatly to the decline of the Lithuanian culture in Chicago. It is difficult to say that Black civil rights activists have won either, however, as their only achievement was moving the "frontline of segregation" westwards, turning Marquette Park from a Lithuanian district into a ghetto. Still, in 2016, a Memorial to Martin Luther King has been built in the north of the park, where just the Black-side of the story is presented through the call to "destroy the ghetto walls". In an attempt to show the multicultural history of the district, the word "Home" is written in different languages on one of the memorial columns, with the Lithuanian word "Namai" written on the top.

Some Marquette Park buildings are now abandoned, but in Lithuanian Plaza Avenue (named so in 1970) you may still see crumbling Lithuania-inspired tricolor and Vytis decor and some Lithuanian names at the now-empty former businesses: "Antano kampas", "Gintaras Club" (the latter of which is sung about in a 1990s song by the famous Lithuanian singer-songwriter Vytautas Kernagis who had a gig there), "Lithuanian Plaza Bakery", "Plaza Pub" (the later two having Lithuanian decor).

In the 1990s, the Lithuanity of the Marquette Park was temporarily rejuvenated by new immigrants from Lithuania who found it both cheap and appropriate to live in the historic Lithuanian district and had no prejudices about living among Blacks. However, after noticing how unsafe the district is, most of them left once they earned more money and the last remaining Lithuanian restaurants closed in the 2000s-2010s. Even this was already only a shadow of the original community which had many businesses, and cultural institutions in an extensive area between 63rd st., 73rd st., Western Avenue, and California Avenue.

Marquette Park district still boasts a majestic – the Sisters of St. Casimir Motherhouse (convent) The construction began in 1909. Over the years, there were more additions, the most recent took place in 1972. The Sisters of St. Casimir maintain a strong relationship with the Sisters of St. Casimir in Lithuania, also founded by Venerable Maria Kaupas in 1920.

Near the entrance of the Motherhouse, on the first floor there is a rather modern Museum – the Legacy Rooms of the Sisters of St. Casimir (est. in 2018) that tells the story of the founding of the Lithuanian-American congregation of the Sisters of St. Casimir and their foundress Venerable Maria Kaupas (1880-1940, an immigrant from Ramygala, Lithuania). The Legacy rooms are open daily, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Sisters of St. Casimir staffed many parish schools, hospitals, and senior homes in many parts of the United States (predominantly in Illinois and Pennsylvania).

There were almost 500 Sisters of St. Casimir in the 1950s. Today, there are 49.

As the number of Sisters declined, the Sisters of St. Casimir have entrusted the responsibility of their ministry and charism to dedicated laypersons.

Back in the first half of the 20th century, St. Casimir sisters used to staff the Lithuanian parish schools, hospitals, senior homes all over America. As the welfare state expanded, however, and the American public institutions took over these duties, the secular need for the Sisters declined and so did their congregation, going down from ~600 nuns to just ~50 in 2018, with the youngest one at 65.

The nearby (former) Nativity BVM Catholic grade school (with a surviving Lithuanian cornerstone) was staffed by the Sisters of St. Casimir and Holy Cross Hospital (Lithuanian-language plaque near the emergency entrance with 1928 date), originally established by the Lithuanian Roman Catholic Charities, was from the beginning administered and staffed by the Sisters of St. Casimir. Many Lithuanians were served by the Sisters at the school and hospital.

The Motherhouse (building) was transferred to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2015. The Sisters of St. Casimir maintain their administrative office on the second floor of the St Casimir Center (as it is now called) and several Sisters reside there.

Another impressive sight in this historic Motherhouse is its baroque-style chapel. There are beautiful stained glassed windows in the chapel installed in the 1920s. Mass is celebrated daily in the chapel, and all are welcome to attend. At the entrance of the chapel is the sarcophagus containing the remains of Venerable Maria Kaupas, whose cause for Beatification is currently being reviewed at the Vatican. A monthly Mass praying for her Beatification is held the first Saturday of each month. In 2000, Mother Maria Kaupas was declared Venerable. Hopefully, she may one day be Saint Maria Kaupas.

Outside the Motherhouse, there are several noteworthy statues. There is a large statue of Father Antanas Staniukynas (1865-1918) on Marquette Road side of the building with a Lithuanian inscription: “Jis mirė, bet jo darbai gyvena“ (He died but his work lives on). In 1905, Father Antanas Staniukynas accepted the responsibility of assisting the new Congregation, the Sisters of St Casimir. He was a spiritual director, educator, and solicitor of vocations and funds. On the Washtenaw Avenue side of the Motherhouse, in the garden, there is a statue of St Casimir erected in 1957. A neighboring street is called "Honorary Maria Kaupas road" after Marija Kaupas.

Yet another still-surviving (albeit barely) hub of Lithuanity in the Marquette Park district is "Seklyčia" on 71st street. Historically it was the hub of Lithuanian-Americans' effort to help Lithuania. When Lithuania was fighting for its independence ~1990, Lithuanian-Americans informed the American media about that fight from here. Later, as Lithuania was poor, efforts to bring Lithuanian children-in-need for surgeries in America, as well as material support for Lithuanian orphans and elderly partisans were organized from there. There used to be a restaurant here until 2011 and a district security hub until 2018 while today the building is still owned by Lithuanian-American Community but the activities are now low-scale (weekly meetings of elderly Lithuanians of the district, for example). There is no external sign on the building either anymore.

West Lawn Lithuanian institutions - Balzekas Museum, Draugas

West Lawn districts immediately to the West of the Marquette park house two of Chicago's most important Lithuanian institutions. Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture established in 1966 is the largest such institution outside Lithuania. It has been located in its current place (South Pulaski Rd. 6500) since 1986.

The museum has three floors, with a general exhibition of Lithuania available on the first floor, the second floor houses a hall for temporary events, and the third floor hosts temporary exhibits. The first-floor permanent exhibition includes many pieces of the Lithuanian culture and history, as well as of that of Lithuanian-Americans and their strive to get established in the new land as well as help their (former?) homeland both economically and (especially) politically: first, so that Lithuania would become free in 1918 and then recognized by the USA, and then so that its occupation (1940-1990) would end. It is useful to read some basic Lithuanian history (for example, here) before visiting the museum to grasp the meaning of the exhibits, although they are labeled in English.

The museum has been established by Stanley Balzekas, a son of Lithuanian immigrants, who wanted it to become a bridge between Lithuanians and Americans, to have more contact with the American community as a whole than many other Lithuanian institutions had. Balzekas being a businessman and avid collector, managed to collect a significant number of items and attract wider attention to his museum, especially in the 1990s when Lithuania was in the world news as a newly-independent country. Balzekas museum also helps foster Lithuanian-American relations through organizing annual tours to Lithuania for Lithuanian descendants. The nearby portion of Pulaski road even received an honorary name of Stanley Balzekas Way in his honor.

Not too far away from Balzekas Museum, the "Draugas" ("Friend") publishing house building is home to the oldest continuously published Lithuanian language newspaper (first edition in 1909). Aimed at Lithuanian Americans it used to be daily until 2011 and now is issued three times a week with circulation went down to a third of what it was in the 1960s (down from 7000 to 2000), some 60% of the readers located in Chicago but many reading it all over the USA. Now "Draugas" also publishes its own English-language monthly "Draugas News" and also sells Lithuanian books at its publishing house. The publishing house is spacious as it dates to another era when a "small village of people" was needed to publish and print a single edition of the newspaper. With the advent of computers and the outsourcing of printing, an atmosphere of empty-ish 1950s office prevails inside, with the Lithuanian spirit all around.

"Draugas" has been established by the Marian Fathers who were based in the Marian Fathers monastery nearby and worked for free for the newspaper. Designed by Jonas Kova-Kovalskis, the monastery follows the "modern Lithuanian" style with a tower that reminds a traditional Lithuanian chapel-post (koplytstulpis). While the Marian Fathers community has been effectively reestablished by a Lithuanian priest Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis, ultimately few Lithuanians joined it in America and now the community is dominated by Polish priests. They no longer use the monastery, renting it to various weekend retreats instead. Lithuanian Marian Fathers now work in Lithuania alone.

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In Burbank suburb not far away from the West Lawn, a new Lithuanian institution has been created in 2018: the Lithuanian-American Hall of Fame, where famous Lithuanian-Americans are being inscribed. It will be a hall used for various Lithuanian events as well as accessible to the public.

Lithuanian Jesuit Youth center - museums, gallery, and archives

Another massive key Lithuanian hub in Chicago is Lithuanian Jesuit Youth Center (5620 S Claremont Avenue, ~3 km north of the Marquette Park), officially now known as just the Lithuanian Center. This is yet another Cold War-era institution (built 1958) funded by the Lithuanian diaspora desperately trying to help their culture survive for the generations to come (even as a minority). Lithuania-themed activities/education for children and teenagers had been its goal.

The massive building complex uses patriotic architecture with a large modernized Vytis forming its façade. In its yard, stands the Memorial for those who died for Lithuanian freedom that includes all the traditional Lithuanian symbols: the Cross of Vytis, the Columns of Gediminas, and Vytis itself. It has been constructed by the famous architect Jonas Mulokas in 1959 and originally had more inscriptions. Next to it, there is a traditional Lithuanian chapel-post (koplytstulpis) dedicated to Jesuit priest Jonas Raibužis (donated by scouts) and Cross dedicated to Kražiai massacre victims donated by Paskočimas family. Kražiai massacre was an 1893 event when Russian soldiers have murdered Lithuanian civilians who tried to protect their church from destruction. This event attracted worldwide attention to the Russian Orthodox anti-Catholic discrimination in Lithuania. At the time the cross was constructed, the anti-Catholic discrimination by the Russians resurfaced in Lithuania once again, this time in the name of communism. Thus there is an inscription on the cross that in 1976, during an anti-Soviet protest, students read the Chronicles of Catholic Church (an underground newspaper that documented the human rights violations in Lithuania) for 40 hours in a row.

While Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union and religion was persecuted there, Lithuanian Jesuit province was effectively based here in Chicago and part of the building is Jesuit monastery. Currently, there are no longer any priests or monks living there as the Jesuit activities have been relocated back to Lithuania. Still, the monastery chapel still offers holy mass once a month. The exterior of the monastery chapel includes a bas-relief "Jesuits come to Vilnius in 1569", also the Lithuanian Coat of Arms.

The Youth Center houses a multitude of other Lithuanian institutions, amalgamated in 1981 to form the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, which is the largest Lithuanian scholarly organization outside of Lithuania. It includes the World Lithuanian Archives and numerous other related archives (musicology, medicine, photo, audio-visual, fine art), which are the best repository of Lithuanian-American works but also include works by other Lithuanians.

Like many such top-level Lithuanian-American institutions, the Research and Study Center expands its repositories through donations and legacies, often by old Lithuanians who have no Lithuanian-speaking descendants. With many donations, even the quite massive premises of the Youth Center became too small for LRSC, and so the LSRC has acquired a new LRSC building in Lemont in 2018.

The scholarly wing of LRSC (responsible for studies, education, and publishing) consists of the Institute of Lithuanian Studies, Center for the Study of Genocide in Lithuania and Lithuanian Institute of Education.

Furthermore, the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center owns three museums: Ramovėnai Lithuanian Military Museum, Lithuanian Museum and the Lithuanian Museum of Medicine. All may be visited during the workdays although it is better to contact in advance.

Key sections in the museums include:
*Miniature versions of Lithuanian traditional wooden crosses (UNESCO World Heritage).
*Things that belonged to the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisans (uniforms, flags, etc.) and information related to that war that was the longest guerilla war in 20th century Europe [the Ramovėnai Lithuanian Military Museum].
*Lithuanian postal stamps.
*Historic Lithuanian banknotes.
*Stamps of the post-WW2 Lithuanian refugee organizations in Germany.
*Pendants of the early 20th century Lithuanian organizations.
*Inventory used by the Lithuanian doctors of Chicago in the mid-20th century [the Museum of Medicine].

There are also two non-LTRSC affiliated institutions in the Youth Center, namely the Lithuanian Saturday school and the Čiurlionis art gallery that offers temporary exhibitions of the works of Lithuanian artists. The Main hall of the Youth center offers Lithuanian events, although they have grown rarer and rarer as the Lithuanians have left the neighborhood.

Lithuanian Lutheran churches of Chicago

While today the Lithuanian nation is predominantly Catholic, prior to World War 2 up to 15% of ethnic Lithuanians were Lutheran (9% in Lithuania itself). These people hailed from Lithuania Minor region of what was then Germany. Tragically, in Lithuania, they were wiped off almost completely by the Soviets in the Genocide of Lithuania Minor (1944-1949).

However, two large groups of Lithuanian Lutherans managed to emigrate, establishing two Lithuanian Lutheran parishes in Chicago. Unlike the Catholic parishes, Lutheran parishes did not hesitate to "migrate" together with their congregations after their districts were hit with white flight, so, both are now located in the suburbs where most Lithuanians live. Both Lutheran church buildings are rather small and function is accentuated over beauty, with many non-religious premised available inside.

Zion Lithuanian Lutheran church is the older one, dating to 1910 when it has been established by Martynas Keturakaitis, a priest from Tauragė. It has its own building in Oak Lawn suburb that includes church hall and Lithuanian kindergarten. The building has been acquired from another Protestant community in 1973 when the parish relocated to this suburb from Chicago. As such, the building itself has no Lithuanian details but the interior has many Lithuanian memorabilia. Also, Lithuanians have extended the building in 1983 in order to have a larger secular hall.

The initial congregation of the Zion Lutheran church itself has been greatly expanded ~1950 when Chicago's Lutherans wrote over 800 letters of invitation to many Lithuanian Lutheran refugees who were stranded in refugee camps in Europe. However, a rift soon became apparent between the "old Lithuanian-Americans" of the Zion parish and the post-WW2 refugees: for the pre-WW1 Lithuanian-Americans, the USA was already more or less the homeland, and the Zion parish had aligned itself with the US Lutheran church of the Missouri Synod. The post-WW2 immigrants, however, often saw their lives in the USA as a temporary exile and saw the need to safeguard as much of the Lithuanian traditions as possible, as well as separate from the US society more in order to safeguard Lithuanians as a separate group.

After the calls by post-WW2 refugee priest Trakis to severe the Zion Lutheran church relations with the US Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) were not recognized by the "old Lithuanian-Americans", Trakis created a separate Lithuanian Lutheran parish known as Tėviškė ("The Homeland"). Initially, this parish has been located in the Lithuanian Lutheran church building near Marquette park that was acquired from Jews in the 1950s and sold to Black-dominated Heart Church Ministries church in the 2000s as the district has changed (nothing reminds the Lutheran church in the building now). Since then, Tėviškė Lutheran church rents its premises in Darien (St. John Lutheran church). However, even though the premises are rented, Lithuanian-inspired welcome signs have been built and some Lithuanian memorabilia is kept inside.

Tėviškė parish continues to be the more "ethnic" one among the two Chicago Lithuanian parishes: for example, Tėviškė has solely Lithuanian services while Zion parish also offers English services and conducts its Bible study in English. For some five decades 1950-2000s, Zion parish also offered German services for the Germanized Lithuanians of Lithuania Minor who spoke better German than Lithuanian, however, as their ranks became scarce, the German service has been canceled by the mid-2000s. When the entire Zion congregation sings hymns together, each person is permitted to choose his own language (English, Lithuanian or German) still. Another difference between the two parishes is the burial places: while Tėviškė members are usually buried in the Lithuanian National Cemetery, Zion members are often buried in the common American cemeteries.

However, both parishes have helped Lithuania after independence, promote Lithuanian activities, and have attracted priests from Lithuania itself after Lithuania became independent and both have aligned with the Lithuanian Lutheran church. That said, Tėviškė parish is aligned only to the Lithuanian Lutheran church whereas Zion church also keeps its alignment to the Missouri Synod while the Lithuanian-Lutheran alignment is mostly a spiritual one.

Pilsen Lithuanian heritage

Back in the 1920s, Chicago had 12 Lithuanian Catholic parishes, each of them centering a Lithuanian community. One of the Chicago districts - Pilsen (north of Bridgeport) - even had two Lithuanian churches at once.

The Romance Revival church of Providence of God (1927) is the closest Lithuanian church to downtown (since the 1960s, the district population was replaced by Hispanics and the events there are now Spanish). It has been founded by St. George parishioners from Bridgeport. The rather grand interior includes authentic stained-glass windows and stations with the cross with Lithuanian inscriptions. The access is limited though as there is no regular mass. On the outside, next to a Lithuanian cornerstone there is another stone commemorating the fact that Providence of God was the sole Lithuanian church in Chicago to have Pope visiting it. This happened in 1979.

Next to the church stands the former Lithuanian school with a cornerstone indicating its original purpose.

Pilsen's 2nd Lithuanian church was a more modest Our Lady of Vilna church and school (2327 W 23rd Place), now closed. The two-floored residential-like building used to host the church on the main floor and a parish school above it. The building was intended to be primarily a school, with the church temporarily located there before a bigger building is built (which never happened); that is why all the available inscriptions declare its school purpose ("Lithuanian Catholic school" above the entrance, "Lietuviška mokslaini Vilniaus Austros Vartu Š. M. P. Parakvijes", which in old Lithuanian language means "Lithuanian school of Our Lady of Gate of Dawn"). 1906 is inscribed as the date the construction began. After the parish has been closed, the parish name remained only in the relocated St Paul-Our Lady of Vilna school (closed 2013). Chicago Sun-Times reported an interesting story in 2013 of scrapyard workers noticing Lithuanian inscription on a bell and the diocese requiring it. It turns out this bell has disappeared from Our Lady of Vilna site after closure; it will now call the residents of Tinley Park suburb to prayer, thus itself completing a migration that so many did before: from the inner city to suburbs and from ethnic culture to "United American" culture. The inscription on the bell reads (reminding that Lithuania of the 1900s-1918s was still under the rule of Russian Empire and giving reasons why Lithuanians migrated to Chicago so eagerly): "Bell, little bell, sorrowfully ring and proclaim the Miraculous Madonna of the Gate of Dawn in Lithuania, where our enemies suppress us. Our oppressed fellow countrymen are comforted. Call us to prayer, to the Church, in her name, so that we may feel a part of God’s flock. Call us three times daily, without fail, and the deceased lead with your sound. From this day forward, speak to the living, and accompany the dead to the cemetery". Other sources indicate the bell was "held for ransom" and the diocese had to pay for their return. In Tinley Park, the bells are located in St. Julie church where they are visible in an open tower.

Brighton Park Lithuanian church, school, monastery and Šauliai house

Brighton Park district west of former stockyards is now also largely Hispanic but its modernist Lithuanian Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (built in 1964, 2745 W. 44th St.). It includes numerous Lithuanian details in its interior, among which the most striking are the Our Lady of Šiluva shrine in a side-chapel, Divine Mercy Shrine (based on the painting in Vilnius) in the other side-chapel, and the Our Lady of Šiluva stained-glass-window that is colored in the colors of the Lithuanian flag. The rest of the stained-glass windows also have Lithuanian donors written on them; the windows are not the traditional light European-style but rather they are made of large single-colored chunks of glass. Brighton Park Lithuanian church is the last -to-be-built among the Lithuanian-constructed churches of Chicago and the only one built after the Vatican II council which made the preferred church plans more open.

The parish dates to 1914 but like some other churches, this one was built post-WW2 to accommodate a major influx of Lithuanian refugees. An entire complex of buildings served them, including the Lithuanian school (built 1915, closed 1999) and Lithuanian convent (1925), both of which have their Lithuanian purpose inscribed on their facades (in English and Lithuanian) despite no longer being used for that purpose. Since the 1980s, the parish lost its Lithuanian majority, now being mostly Hispanic. Most of the masses are celebrated in Spanish although some are Lithuanian; Hispanic details (Our Lady of Guadalupe) have also been added to the church.

Still, Lithuanian details outnumber them. At the entrance of the church, a traditional Lithuanian cross stands built in 1987 in commemoration of the 600th anniversary of Christianity in Lithuania. It incorporates a Lithuanian coat of arms in its design.

On the W 43rd (near S Western Ave) stands a small building associated with the Lithuanian Rifleman Union (Šaulių sąjunga) known as the Šauliai House, its facade adorned in Lithuanian patriotic symbols since it has been acquired by the organization in 1975. Šauliai, variously translated as "Lithuanian Riflemen" or "Lithuanian National Guard", is a patriotic paramilitary organization that used to be especially important in interwar Lithuania and then banned by Soviets (its members persecuted or killed). Like was the case with many such organizations, the survivors who fled Lithuania continued its existence in the USA. After independence Rifleman Union was reestablished in Lithuania as well but it didn't reach the pre-war glory. In America, Šauliai withered over time as the original refugees died off and their children mostly did not join the organization. After independence, however, some new Šauliai from Lithuanian moved in or new immigrants decided to join the organization. In 2005, Šauliai House was acquired by one such recent immigrant who later joined Šauliai himself. It is now not only used for Šauliai meetings but also as a rental hall. The organization is much different today from what it was: it had some 1000 members once but just some 20 these days.

Brighton Park also had a Darius-Girėnas American Legion post 271, comprised mostly of ethnic Lithuanians. The post has sold its rather large building (corner of W 44th and S Western Ave) that once hosted many Lithuanian events and now meets at various locations. The post's former building is used as the "Way church".

Cicero Lithuanian heritage

Further west from the downtown Cicero has a massive St. Anthony Lithuanian church. Lithuanian, English and Spanish mass is now offered.

The Romanesque Revival church has been constructed in the interwar period and blessed by the Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis, holding the distinction of being a rare (or only) Chicago church dedicated by a person who was given the status of Blessed. The massive interior holds a side-altar dedicated to Matulaitis, a Matulaitis stained-glass window (on the right near the roof). There is also a stained-glass window with Vytis, the coat of arms of Lithuania (left side near the roof) donated by the Knights of Lithuania, a Lithuanian chapel-post and many Lithuanian inscriptions (under each old station of the cross, over the Virgin Mary statue). The cornerstone lists the 1925 date.

In front of the church stands a unique plastic chapel-post, donated by Msgr. Albavičius and built by a famous Lithuanian-American architect Jonas Mulokas to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lithuanian independence in 1698 (which was a sad date, actually, as Lithuania was then under "deep" and seemingly invincible Soviet occupation). Lithuanian chapel-posts are a UNESCO-recognized form of ethnic art, however, they are traditionally wooden. Yet in this case, a former 1950 Lithuanian wooden cross that stood on-site has been destroyed by parasites, prompting the parish to request a "more eternal" plastic sculpture in its place. The church itself has been also expanded during the 50s, adding the front extension in historicist style.

Next to the church stands unusually massive St. Anthony Lithuanian school which has its Lithuanian name chiseled in large letters above the entrance. Both buildings look especially impressive from the intersection of S 49th and 15th streets.

The third building with Lithuania-related inscriptions in the area is the Lithuanian Liberty Hall (Lietuvių laisvės salė, 1921), often associated with communists. Once, Lithuanian communists were quite a significant part of the Cicero Lithuanian community, so much so that they held regular protests against the church construction while it was under construction (something that was later banned by courts). While the "Liberty Hall" has been used into the 1960s after the Soviet occupation showed the "real face of communism" the communist ranks among Lithuanians declined to a small minority, so the Hall was sold and is now partly abandoned.

There is also a building on the 15th street with letters "P. JUKNIS 1912" written near its top, eternalizing its Lithuanian builder. Once, many local buildings had Lithuanian owners, there were as many as 10 Lithuanian pubs alone in the area. Currently, however, Cicero is predominantly Hispanic but it has not gained such a bad reputation as South Chicago so some Lithuanians still live in the district, attending the church.

Chicago far southside Lithuanian heritage

The Chicago districts further south have smaller Lithuanian communities and smaller churches than those cathedral-like edifices closer to the downtown - however, some of these churches have interesting architecture and histories. Those areas are currently nearly completely inhabited by Blacks. The small Lithuanian districts there all collapsed very early and very quickly (most churches closed ~1970s-1980s after most Lithuanians left and other institutions, e.g. Lithuanian schools, have been closed even earlier).

The most interesting there is All Saints Lithuanian church in Roseland (0,42% White district today) with a semi-open metal tower that has been inspired by traditional Lithuanian chapel-posts as well as, arguably, art nouveau. It has been designed by a famous Lithuanian interwar modernist architect S. Kudokas who, like many other architects and many additional members of the congregation, fled Lithuania to avoid being murdered by the Soviets. Kudokas was a modernist in Lithuania, responsible for many significant buildings in the interwar Kaunas which now has a UNESCO World Heritage application. After arrival in America, Kudokas criticized his colleague Jonas Mulokas who attempted to create a modern ethnic Lithuanian style in place of international functionalism. In his All Saints church, though, Kudokas himself has emulated Mulokas's style in creating a "non-wooden chapel-post" on the tower. The history of the All Saints church illustrates the history of the entire South Chicago: the parish has constructed this new church in 1960, still expecting a long existence and growth. Then, however, the white flight took place and by 1972 already the Lithuanian parish was closed. It has been sold to the Baptists in 1989 (a more popular faith among Blacks than Catholicism). The Lithuanian details, ethnic art remains, although the Lithuanian name above the door of the church has been covered. The survival of the church still is not easy at it has been robbed numerous times recently.

South Chicago area is only 1,92% White. Its small single-floored St. Joseph Lithuanian church (8801 S Saginaw) has been closed in 1986, became part of McKinley public school (itself built in 1953 as parish school) that is now closed. A former priest's house stands next, it is older and more interesting; the priest Antanas Petraitis was interested in science and had Illinois's second largest telescope there and also had a small animal sanctuary between the buildings. Some say the church remained so small because of the priest investing much to the science.

St. Casimir Lithuanian church of Chicago Heights (283 E 14th Street) suffered a similar fate (closed 1987). It looks like a century-old residential. Its two floors used to house a school as well as a church. Such practice was very common in Chicago, whereby a parish would have constructed such a "regular building" first that would have included its all activities and, having collected more donations, would have constructed a "true church" nearby, leaving the old building to the likely-now-expanded school. St. Casimir of Chicago Heights, however, never got to build the second building as it withered and died with Lithuanians moving elsewhere. Just like on Holy Cross the former fashion to inscribe institution names on stone led to the survival of its Lithuanian name. Empty lots are now all around the building.

The final area's Lithuanian church to remain in Catholic use was St. Peter and Paul church in West Pullman (12433 S Halsted St) but it closed too in 2022. The building is modernist with some gothic inspirations (built 1959). The parish has been established in 1913 and celebrated its centenary in 2013 but it had little to do with Lithuanians by then. Unlike in Roseland (All Saints), the West Pullman church was constructed at the time some parishioners were already non-Lithuanian, so it has few Lithuanian details (the only Lithuanian details that still existed by 2017 were the historical images and newspaper clippings near the entrance that remind of the past Lithuanian priests, the cornerstone that mentions priest Petrauskas and the name of the church's hall that is named after the church's final Lithuanian priest Brinkis). West Pullman is only 0,56% White and the Lithuanian share is now negligible. Pullman was once famous for its world-class factory of railway carriages. Modern Far South Chicago, however, differs from that of 1900-1915 (when most Lithuanian parishes were established) like day and night. The industry collapsed ~1970, the ethnic groups are also all different.

West Pullman also has the old Ss. Peter and Paul Lithuanian school-church surviving - there, a Lithuanian cornerstone says in the old Lithuanian language that it is a "mokslainė" (today school is called "mokykla"). The church is no longer Catholic.

Fpovilo

Lithuanian cemeteries in southern Chicago

Deceased Chicago Lithuanians used to be buried in Lithuanian cemeteries since well before World War 1. There are two cemeteries: the Catholic St. Casimir and the National which originally started as non-Catholic but today includes many Catholics as well. Both cemeteries are notable for great numbers of grand tombstones, hundreds of them crafted in the mid-20th century by a famous tomb creator Ramojus Mozoliauskas. These tombstones are sculpture-like and are often adorned in Lithuanian symbols as Lithuanians felt extremely sad about the loss of their homeland to the Soviets and thus used Lithuanian symbolism lots. There are even direct references to exile. Among the earlier tombstones it is interesting to see many surviving images of the deceased people, dating even to the pre-WW1 era, something that is far rarer in smaller towns, let alone Lithuania itself, where photography was still not that accessible back in those days.

Both Lithuanian-American cemeteries in Chicago arguably are both prettier and more extensive than any other Lithuanian-American cemeteries and are well worth to walk around even for non-Lithuanians. Both have more famous Lithuanians buried there than are buried in many of the cemeteries in Lithuania itself.

St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery is the larger and older one, established in 1903 at the extreme south of Chicago. So great it is that it has been included in the "199 cemeteries to see before you die" book alongside such world-famous "giants" as Paris's Per-Lachese or Arlington Cemetery.

The entrance plaque "Lithuanian Cemetery" was removed in 1997. This is not the first such move - in 1965 Cardinal Cody removed the word "Lithuanian" from the cemetery's official name, leading to mass demonstrations of post-war Lithuanian refugees. This is one of many similar episodes in the history of Lithuanian Chicagoans. E.g. in 1972 local Lithuanians chartered a plane to Rome in order to protest in St. Peter square against the presenting of the first Holy Communion to Lithuanian children in the English language.

Latin Americans (today the largest Catholic community of Chicago) now have joined Lithuanians in the St. Casimir Cemetery rows. Yet the massive Lithuanian gravestones, built throughout eight previous decades, far outflank small American plaques. It seems that an entire major city is buried here and everywhere the surnames are Lithuanian, some of them shortened or spelled in English. Also, not far beyond the main entrance, there is a Lithuanian coat of arms land art that still firmly marks the cemetery as Lithuanian. On the northeastern corner of the cemetery, there is also a Memorial for the 12 Lithuanian parishes of Chicago which has established the cemetery (as of 2018, only 6 of their churches are operational as Catholic churches and only 3 still offer Lithuanian mass). The memorial includes traditional Lithuanian roof-horses, sun-cross, and an authentic bell of a Lithuanian church in its design.

Among the famous Lithuanians interred in the St. Casimir cemetery are:
*Lithuanian general Povilas Plechavičius (1890-1973) who moved to the USA as a refugee in 1949. He is famous for being the leader of the 1926 coup that has established Smetona's regime and later for his successful sabotaging of Nazi German plans by disbanding the Lithuanian soldiers after he learned that Nazi Germany planned to raise a Lithuanian SS division out of them (therefore, thanks to Plechavičius, there was no Lithuanian SS division, while there were Latvian and Estonian SS divisions).

*Lithuanian geographer Kazys Pakštas (1893-1960), well-known for his ideas to create a "second Lithuania" by acquiring and colonizing some land in Africa or South America. He expressed these ideas because he saw that Lithuania itself is in constant danger while the Lithuanian emigrants assimilate into foreign cultures; so, he wanted to create a land where Lithuanian culture could exist more safely and not assimilate. In his days (between WW1 and WW2) his ideas were seen as utopian, however, in the same fashion as Nicola Tesla, Pakštas gained much more attention later when his predictions of the occupation of Lithuania and assimilation of the Lithuanian diaspora did indeed come true.

*Lithuanian-American poet Algimantas Mackus (1932-1964), notable for his existentialist poems. He is considered a part of the so-called "landless" generation of authors that began their creations outside Lithuania but still considered Lithuania their sole homeland, which made their works permeated with indescribable longing for something lost.

*Chicago-born Lithuanian archbishop Paul Marcinkus (1922-2006), who essentially served as a bodyguard for popes and saved the lives of two popes. He also served as the head of the Vatican bank, although his tenure there was marred in scandals. Even then he is said to have secretly come to his childhood Lithuanian church of St. Anthony in Cicero to hold mass there. Unlike many other graves in the cemetery, Marcinkus's grave is rather modest.

*Antanas Vanagaitis (1890-1949), a Lithuanian musician who, after emigrating to the USA soon after World War 1, established a Lithuanian radio in Chicago and also created numerous famous Lithuanian songs.

Moreover, St. Casimir cemetery also became a major zone for important non-grave Lithuanian memorials. The most famous is the first-in-the-world memorial for Romas Kalanta that was built in 1979, the same decade as the young Kaunas guy self-immolated against the Soviet regime. The author was Ramojus Mozoliauskas and the donors were Riflemen (Šauliai) Union. The memorial is dedicated (in Lithuanian) to "Romas Kalanta and everyone who has died for Lithuanian freedom fighting the red tyrant" (i.e. the Soviet Union).

In 1984, a memorial to Lithuania's sole saint (and patron saint) St. Casimir has been constructed, commemorating 500 years since his birth. The memorial has images of Vilnius, at the time beyond the Iron Curtain for the Lithuanian-Americans.

The cemetery also has a small memorial to Our Lady of Šiluva, Europe's first church-recognized Maryan vision (which happened in Lithuania).

On the north side of the cemetery, there are large burial plots and memorials for particular people and organizations. There is a field where Lithuanian priests of Chicago are buried, next to the burial area for St. Casimir sisters and Lithuanian Jesuit fathers, all of them having neat memorials. Next to them stands a Memorial for the Darius-Girėnas post of the American Legion, which is a unique ethnically-based Lithuanian post in what is an American veteran organization. The memorial incorporates pieces of artillery. Another Lithuanian American Legion post named after Don Varnas has built a smaller memorial nearby, while the impressive obelisk-like "gravestone" of priest Mykolas Krupavičius now also serves just as monument as Krupavičius himself has been reinterred in Lithuania after independence.

Another Lithuanian cemetery is next to a small forest outside the official borders of Chicago. This is the multi-denominational Lithuanian National Cemetery and the word "Lithuanian" remains in the official name. It was established in 1911 when a local priest refused to bury Lithuanians who did not actively participate in Lithuanian Catholic communities in the St. Casimir Cemetery.

The Lithuanian National Cemetery is located at a rather secluded spot and has many trees, making it double as a nice Lithuanian park. Many of the gravestones there are especially ethnic in design as they have been constructed by those who fled the Soviet occupation and were especially patriotic. The cemetery is open every day from 8 AM to 5-6 PM.

The National Cemetery starts with a pretty entrance square, surrounded by the cemetery gate, art-deco-styled cemetery office (some urns are kept inside the office) that had been built in 1938 and designed by a Lithuanian-American architect Žaldokas, as well as the memorial to the founders of the cemetery (14 Lithuanian non-Catholic organizations), erected in 1982. All the cemetery directors are listed on this memorial as well.

There are some 13500 burials in the National Cemetery. Among those buried here are:
*The 1925-1926 President of Lithuania Kazys Grinius (actually, he was never interred under the monument built for him and his urn was repatriated to Lithuania in 1994)

*Dr. Jonas Šliūpas, most famous in the USA as he agitated Lithuanians to separate from the Roman Catholic church, the idea that formed part of the drive to create ethnically-based cemeteries. He did, in fact, came back to Lithuania after the 1918 independence and served as a mayor of Palanga there; he died in Europe, but his body was still brought back to the USA where most of his major life works took place.

*Marius Katiliškis, a famous Lithuanian writer.
*Kazys Bobelis, a Lithuanian-American who returned to Lithuania after 1990 to become a popular politician and a presidential candidate there.

*Jonas Budrys, a leader of the Klaipėda Revolt that attached Klaipėda to Lithuania in 1923.
*Adomas Varnas, the painter who designed the original (1922) Lithuanian Litas banknotes.

An interesting grave is that of Karolis Požėla where this Lithuanian boxing coach is buried with his most famous pupil, Maurice Tillet (French Angel) who was not a Lithuanian himself. The epitaph is "Friends whom even death couldn't part".

Additionally, the cemetery became a popular place to build general memorials for various Lithuanian groups.

On the rightwards path going from the entrance, you can see Darius-Girėnas post of American Legion monument that includes several pieces of artillery and is a focal point in Memorial day celebrations. The memorial looks quite similar to the St. Casimir cemetery one.

Further on, there is a traditional wooden cross dedicated to 300000+ people expelled from Lithuania by the Soviet occupational regime in 1940-1941 and 1944-1953, commissioned by the Pakalka family in 1994. It is also notable for having attracted priests to bless it and the surrounding ground, this way effectively ending the belief held by some Catholics that National Cemetery is only for the non-believers. So-much-so that the Lithuanian Catholic organization Knights of Lithuania, as well as Lithuanian scouts (2018, author Vilnius Buntinas) have also erected their memorials in this cemetery rather than St. Casimir's. They were followed by the patriotic Šauliai in 2019.

Additional memorials in the cemetery are dedicated to the Lithuanian Freemasons (with the leaders of the 1951 "Lithuanian Craftsman Club" listed on its back) and the author of Lithuanian National anthem Vincas Kudirka (1961).

Initially, the cemetery has been used by various non-Catholic groups, including leftists, National Catholics, Lutherans (especially the Tėviškė parish). Later on, the Catholics have gradually joined them and, with delituanization of the St. Casimir Cemetery, this became the sole truly Lithuanian cemetery in the Chicagoland (the administration is Lithuanian as well).

Among the early burials, the most controversial are the six gravestones with communist symbols as Lithuanian communists have also used the cemetery. Later on, as the Soviet occupation of Lithuania proved disastrous and Chicago became overflooded with new refugees from Lithuania who left everything to avoid living under communist rule, the communist symbols were banned in the cemetery. Ironically, ~1990 as Lithuania was approaching independence, the cemetery was vandalized with Swasticas, equalizing Lithuanians buried there with Nazis.

As times went on, the numbers of annual burials in the cemetery have decreased as significant numbers of the descendants of Lithuanians are of mixed ancestry and no longer seek to be buried in Lithuanian cemetery. Because of this, the cemetery has sold off much of its additional space for residential developments and survives on the money received in this sale. A part of the cemetery has been also defined as a park area meant for green burials.

The infamous Chicago legend of Ressurection Mary (about a ghost girl that appears to drivers) is also related to the Lithuanian cemeteries. One of the possible girls whose ghost supposedly haunts Chicago is Ona Norkus, buried in the St. Casimir Cemetery. However, when a film was made about the legend, the crew picked the Lithuanian National Cemetery for filming, presumably because of its rather secluded and wooded location.

Lemont and the current heart of Chicago Lithuanian community

In the deep southwest of Chicagoland lies the modern heart of the Chicago Lithuanian community. After the disintegration of Marquette Park, there is no longer any district where Lithuanians would make more than a few percent of the population. But in the automobile-loving USA driving 10 or 20 km is no obstacle.

In 1987 the "Lithuanian World Center" was opened in Lemont suburb. Various events such as concerts and Chicago Lithuanian Basketball League matches are held there (basketball is Lithuania's national sport and the Chicago League was established in 2003; its ~15 teams play using the FIBA rather than NBA rules) while the America's largest Lithuanian-language school operates every Friday evening and Saturday, attracting some 700 kids. The center is usually open to everybody as there are many Lithuanian activities and possibilities inside with over 40 Lithuanian organizations and businesses having their hubs in its 14 000 square meter of space. Around the center, you'll rarely hear the English language but people in the center can speak it.

As the World Center has been bought from non-Lithuanians (originally it served as a priest seminary), it is rather functional in style lacks any Lithuanian architectural details. However, that is more than compensated by the increasingly lithuanized interiors and Lithuanian activities.

At the heart of the World Center is Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis Catholic church which effectively serves as the US newest Lithuanian ethnic parish. Unlike most ethnic parishes, it has limited Lithuanian details due to its non-Lithuanian history, but Lithuanians tried to change that over time, installing a Jurgis Matulaitis statue, Lithuanian carved wooden door, a memorial to the suffering of Lithuania, etc.

Among other key institutions, there are the numerous Lithuanian museums (open on weekends only or by appointment). The most impressive among them is the Museum of traditional folk art that has the best collection of Lithuanian folk art in America. In fact, it would be great even by Lithuanian standards, as it was collected by cheaply buying (or receiving as gifts) that art from woodcarvers in Lithuania back in the early 1990s, when such art was not yet valued in Lithuania itself. There is a hall of wooden sculptures, some of which have political commentary (like a sculpture of Hitler and Stalin torturing Lithuania), while others are more traditional holy figures or devils. There is a corridor of wooden representations of the leaders of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There are quality examples of Lithuanian folk costumes, verbos (that replace palms in the Vilnius region Palm Sunday) and looms used to weave textile.

Near the entrance to the museum you can find Siela gallery which is used for temporary exhibits from Lithuanian artists, while one hall is dedicated to a more permanent collection of non-folk art. Audience events also take place there.

Additionally, the surroundings of the World Center received numerous Lithuanian monuments. The most impressive collection of them is the Lemont Hill of Crosses inspired by the famous Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, Lithuania. Currently, it has some 80 crosses, most of them of the traditional Lithuanian wooden form that is considered immaterial UNESCO world heritage. Like in the real Hill of Crosses, some of the crosses are erected by common people who do that in memory of their relatives, sometimes victims of the Soviet Genocide. Some of the crosses have been erected by organizations, such as the Lithuanian scouts. Some of the crosses have been moved into the Hill of Crosses from various private yards of Lithuanian-Americans: for the refugee generation, it was common to erect such reminders of the homeland on their yard, however, their kids often want to redecorate the yard or, more likely, simply sell the house, so, they may donate the crosses to the Lithuanian World Center. Yet other crosses (or other memorials) have been built to commemorate particular events, for example, the battle of Žalgiris or the Christianization of Lithuania. Many crosses also have patriotic symbols on them, while one memorial built in 1998 has a poem "Not our land" on it about longing for the lost homeland. During the Lithuanian day of the dead (Vėlinės) Lithuanian immigrants whose family graves are far away light candles on the Hill of Crosses in their memory. The Hill of Crosses was founded by Antanas Poskočimas (1905-2000), a Lithuanian traditional folk artist who lived in Lemont.

At the center of the Hill of Crosses a 1917 bell is erected. The bell is from the Gary Lithuanian church in Indiana that has been closed. It is used as a symbol of the closed Lithuanian-American churches. At the entrance of the Hill, there are three crosses with words "Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų" (Lithuania, our Fatherland), which are also the first three words of the Lithuanian national anthem.

On the bottom of the Hill of Crosses stands the Memorial for Lithuanian partisans and people expelled to Siberia styled as a weeping mother of a victim of the Soviet regime and a bunch of fallen leaves. Built by one of the most productive Lithuanian-American sculptors Ramojus Mozoliauskas, it commemorates some 30 000 anti-Soviet guerillas who fell in the last-ditch attempt to restore free Lithuania (1944-1953) and up to 400 000 people expelled by the Soviets to Siberia, many of them to meet their deaths there. It was that Soviet genocide that caused so many Lithuanians to leave Lithuania as refugees in 1944 before the Soviet re-occupation; ultimately, most of those refugees ended up in the USA and it was them who eventually were the driving force behind the creation of the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont.

In 2019, another memorial has been built nearby, dedicated to one of the most famous Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisans Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas. He is notable as he was a US citizen, having been born in a Lithuanian emigrant family in New Britain, Connecticut before his parents brought him back to Lithuania. The initial Lithuanian idea was to build this memorial in a park in New Britain but the plan was thwarted by anti-Lithuanian lobbying (this was part of a general “fight for the memory about occupations of Lithuania”. Russia and some other powers seek to diminish or smear the memory of the Lithuanian fight for freedom from the Soviet Union in order to paint the Soviet occupation of Lithuania as “benevolent” or at least “not any eviler than independent Lithuania or America”, while Lithuanians seek to disseminate the truth about the Soviet occupation/genocides and respect those who fought that).

At the entrance of the Lithuanian World Center itself, there is a composition of three Lithuanian chapel-posts (koplytstulpiai).

While the Lithuanian World Center is the most famous Lithuanian site in Lemont by far, it was actually not the first one. Lithuanians were buying real estate in Lemont sometime before that already, and so did the Ateitininkai Lithuanian Christian organization. The Ateitininkai Home feels more like a palace of a large landowner in suburban England. In fact, it was built in 1952 as a palace of a millionaire Schmidt who made his fortune through war industry; according to Ateitininkai members, even the US president Dwight Eisenhower was a guest at the palace back then; the palace then had a bar and even a bowling alley in the basement. The palace was acquired by Ateitininkai in 1978, under the initiative of 10 Lithuanian doctors who all immigrated to the USA as refugees in the 1950s.

Ateitininkai is a Lithuanian Christian organization, one of many Lithuanian organizations that were destroyed by the Soviet regime only to be reborn in the USA. Ateitininkai Home is used for various organizational activities, meetings of Ateitinkai kids, as well as rentals for weddings which helps sustain the palace. Given the patriotic and religious nature of the organization, it has collected Lithuanian and Christian artifacts in its halls over time. Two large traditional Lithuanian chapel-posts and one cross have been erected in front of the palace, most are relocated from other places where they were in danger of destruction. One of them, a metal chapel-post (koplytstulpis) has been relocated from a now-closed Lithuanian Farmstead in Marquette Park (originally designed by famous architects Mulokas and made by A. Janonis in 1973). Another chapel-post, originally created for a private home of Dr. Adomavičius in 1966 and relocated after that home was sold, has been dedicated to the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan Juozas Lukša-Daumantas and repaired by a "Godmaker" A. Poskočimas. Yet another cross is a donation of Antanas Poskočimas (1983) and renovated by Dainius Kopūstas (2014); it represents a traditional Lithuanian roadside cross.

The alley leading to Ateitininkai home has a Lithuanian sign "A. Pargausko alėja".

As a hub of Lithuanian activities in Chicago, Lemont continues to attract new Lithuanian institutions. As Lithuanian Research Center sought to relocate its arhcives from the Lithuanian Youth Center into new premises, it decided to acquire a former kindergarten in Lemont, which now acts as its main repository.

Famous Lithuanian burials outside Chicago Lithuanian cemeteries

Most famous Lithuanians were buried in the Lithuanian cemeteries - however, not every one of them. Interesting Lithuanian graves elsewhere include that of a science fiction writer Algis Budrys (Algirdas Budrys, incorrectly spelled as Algidras Budrys on the grave plaque) in the Maryhill Polish cemetery. He wrote in English, so he is among the Lithuanians that are more famous in the USA than Lithuania itself.

Then there is a mysterious 19th-century grave of Dzialinskis-Kenkelis in the Oakwoods cemetery that claims that the person who is buried there was the Great Bannerbearer of Lithuania. He is also called to be Djialinski of Szodeiken, while his wife supposedly was Isabelle Djialinska, Countess of Szodeiken, and also a princess of Czartoryski family.

The grave has long been a mystery to local Lithuanians. As Lithuania did no longer exist at the time Dzialinskis-Kenkelis was born, it is unclear whether the "titles" written are meant to be the titles somebody from his family had before the collapse of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1795), or were they titles he held during the anti-Russian uprising in 1863. Given the lack of information about this person in Lithuania itself, it is very possible he actually just impersonated to be somebody of importance when in the United States - something allowed by the vast distances, limited communications at the time and thus an inability of any American to check his stories. In any case, the grave is interesting and its existence was even romanticized during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania as the grave provided a kind of a link between the Lithuanian-Americans and the glorious pre-modern Lithuanian history.

St. Boniface cemetery in the area has a grave of Juozas Juškevičius (Juszkiewicz), believed to have been the first Lithuanian priest in Chicago (1803-1879). With few Lithuanians, he served Polish parishes at the time but was beaten by Polish parishioners. A plaque for him has been built in 2011.

Lithuanian restaurants in Chicago

Chicago is the only city in the USA where Lithuanian food is easy to find - although you still need to know where to search it.

Most Lithuanian restaurants are located around Westmont suburb which is easily accessible to Lithuanians living in the surrounding suburbs.

Those restaurants are Ruta, Smilga and Grand Duke's. All are rather similar in appearance and fares but "Grand Duke's" is open the longest into the evening. Every one of them includes "Lithuanian combo" which is a sampler menu of Lithuanian food that should feed two people. The Combo certainly includes Cepelinai and may also include some of the following: Kugelis, Potato pancakes, Virtiniai, Sausage with sauerkraut, soup. Typically, the combo includes 4 to 5 dishes.

Historically, there were many Lithuanian restaurants located in Chicago's southside but as Lithuanians moved to the suburbs they folded or moved away as well. The originally Lithuanian Racine Bakery near Cicero is now also non-Lithuanian-owned. It is more of a shop/deli than a restaurant though, having just a single seat for inside dining.

Most Lithuanian restaurants also serve as shops of Lithuanian products (Grand Duke's has a separate shop "Old Vilnius" on the opposite side of the road). Palos Hills also has a "dedicated" Lithuanian Plaza shop.

In Bridgeport, the "first Lithuanian district of Chicago", there is a surviving Bernice's Tavern Lithuanian-owned bar (the longest-Lithuanian-owned bar or restaurant in Chicago). It has Lithuanian beer and some Lithuanian memorabilia.

Lithuanian-related sites in northern Chicago

While most immigrants from Lithuania have settled in the less fancy southern Chicago, northern Chicago once also had a Lithuanian church, dedicated to St. Michael (since demolished with nothing Lithuanian remaining in the surrounding district).

Additionally, St. John Cantius Polish church, one of the most famous Chicago churches, includes the Lithuanian coat of arms on its façade and stained-glass window above the entrance. That symbol, which merges Lithuanian and Polish coats of arms, was actually the coat of arms of the 1863 January Uprising against the Russian Empire that controlled both Poland and Lithuania at the time; while the uprising was Polish-dominated, the Poles sought to enlist more Lithuanians for the cause as well (the uprising sought to restore a united Poland-Lithuania and was the last such massive joint effort before the Lithuanian National Revival effectively divorced the two nations). It seems at the time St. John Cantius church was built, the echoes of that failed uprising still vertebrated in the Polish-American communities. This was already, however, a time when both nations were heading their own separate ways, and initially content with being part of joint American parishes with the Poles, Lithuanians were establishing their own in Chicago and all over America by the 1890s.

The area also has Telshe yeshiva - a Jewish religious school named after the Lithuanian town of Telšiai. The history of the name is such: the yeshiva was established by the identically named Telshe yeshiva of Cleveland, which was in turn established by the teachers of the original Telšiai yeshiva after it was closed down by the Soviet occupational force.

Many of Chicago Jews are buried in Waldheim Cemetery, which can be seen as a collection of some 280 separate cemeteries, many of them with their own fences and gates. These cemeteries were established by different Jewish organizations and many of these organizations, in turn, were established by Jews who immigrated from the same region. As such, there are separate cemeteries for Lithuanian Jews as well, e.g. Wilner (those from Vilnius), Kovner (from Kaunas), and such.

A larger Lithuanian community exists in the suburb of Waukegan. As the suburb is far from Chicago's center, it is described in a separate article.

 

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The map

All the Lithuanian locations, described in this article, are marked on this interactive map, made by the "Destination Lithuanian America" expedition (click the link):

Interactive map of Chicago Lithuanian sites