Pulaski Road was originally known as 40th Avenue. In 1913 it was renamed for Peter Crawford, an early area landowner, in order to avoid duplication of the 40th Street name in the city. The name Crawford Avenue lasted until 1935 when, over local opposition and a legal battle all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court, the street was renamed for Pulaski.[1] Among the many Polish city leaders who worked to achieve "Pulaski Road" was Emilia Napieralska, the president of the Chicago chapter of the Polish Women's Alliance of America.
Pulaski Road still retains its former Crawford Avenue name in the north suburbs of Lincolnwood, Skokie, and Evanston. In Wilmette, Crawford becomes Hunter Road. North of Devon Avenue (6400 N) and south from the Chicago City Limits to Lincoln Highway US-30.
Pulaski Road is primarily served by two CTA bus routes: the 53 Pulaski between Peterson Avenue and 31st Street, and the 53A South Pulaski, between 31st Street and 115th Street. The 67 67th/69th/71st and 103 West 103rd also serve the road for short segments. Pulaski Road/Crawford Avenue is also served by Pace bus routes 215 and 385.[2]
Caryl Yasko's famous mural, Razem, Chicago's only outdoor Polish-themed mural, is located on Belmont Avenue just west of its intersection with Pulaski. It combines Polish patriotic and folkloric motifs with American Street Art.[3]
Pulaski ran past the site of one of Chicago's Seven Lost Wonders, the Olson Park and Waterfall complex which was located at the northwest corner of Pulaski and Diversey.[4]
Located off West End and Pulaski, Chicago Fire Department Engine 95's station is located off 4001 West West End Avenue.
At 111th Street sits the campus of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, home to the last remaining farm within the Chicago city limits, which stretches south to 115th.
A number of prominent Polish churches in Chicago are located on side streets just off of Pulaski Road, such as St. Hyacinth Basilica and St. Wenceslaus.
5. Karol Wachtl. Polonia Amerykanska:dzieje i dorobek [American Polonia: Its History and Legacy]. Philadelphia: privately published, 1944, pp. 172, 396.
6. Angela and Donald Pienkos. 'In the Strength of Women Is the Strength of a Nation:' A History of the Polish Women's Alliance of America (2003). Boulder: East European Monographs No. 632 Distr. New York: Columbia UP, p. 85.