Holy Ground

"Holy Ground" outlines the history of the Catholicism's growth in the Northside of Chicago between the 1800s and the mid-1900s. Beginning with the land treaty between Chief Sauganash (a.k.a. Billy Caldwell) and the U.S. government in the 1830s, the 1,600 acres gave way for farmers to settle on Chicago's north side. During the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, the Milwaukee rail line encouraged development and local municipalities to spring up. During the Great Depression, the growth of parishes drastically subsided, however the neighborhoods, despite economic hardships, surprisingly began to take shape. By the 1950s and 1960s, the expansion of Catholicism increased ten-fold, resulting in parishes that embodies rich history.