Slot Machines for Bars in Greektown, Chicago

History

Greek immigrants began arriving in Chicago in the 1840s, primarily seamen who came from New Orleans by way of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, the Encyclopedia of Chicago says. At the turn of the twentieth century, Greeks began concentrating on the Near West Side at the triangle formed by Halsted, Harrison and Blue Island Streets, which became known as the Greek Delta. There, in the shadow of Hull-House, they built an enclave of churches, schools, shops, restaurants and coffeehouses. The Sun-Times credits Hull-House, which Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded in 1889, with helping Greek and other immigrants get settled.

In the 1960s the new University of Illinois at Chicago campus displaced Greektown, the Encyclopedia says, and the Sun-Times adds that Eisenhower Expressway construction cut away large sections of the Delta. Residents moved to other Greek settlements, including Ravenswood and Lincoln Square, but the old Greektown business community remained intact. The neighborhood itself, the Sun-Times writes, became smaller and shifted north.

The area today

The National Hellenic Museum is at 333 S. Halsted, at Van Buren, which its curator called "the gateway to Greektown" before the building opened in 2011. The museum broke ground in 2009, and its earlier home was at Halsted and Adams. Elysian Field, a green space at the southeast corner of Halsted and Van Buren, sits across from the museum; CBS Chicago named it as the site for the Greektown Agora vendors at the April 19, 2026 Greek Independence Parade on Halsted.

The Blue Line's UIC-Halsted station, at 430 S. Halsted, opened in 1958 in the Eisenhower Expressway. The CTA lists entrances on Halsted, Morgan and Peoria and connections to buses 7, 8 and 60.

Bars and restaurants here

Block Club described Greektown as the city's epicenter for Greek dining, and its list for Greektown Restaurant Week, March 1 to 7, 2026, covered more than 10 restaurants and bars on South Halsted and West Jackson Boulevard. Taste of Greektown was scheduled for August 28 to 30, 2026, along Halsted from Adams to Van Buren, presented by the Greektown Chamber of Commerce.