White Eagle banquet hall, an institution for Chicago-area Polish community, to close at year’s end
White Eagle Events and Convention Center in Niles, which has hosted dinners for celebrities, a pope and a president, will permanently close at the end of the year.
The iconic banquet hall and restaurant was a staple in the Polish community — known for its mushroom-barley soup. Located across from a Polish cemetery, it also was a popular spot for funeral receptions.
“Whether you joined us for a holiday brunch, stopped by to pick up some of our famous mushroom-barley soup or celebrated a milestone event here, we’d like to thank you for being part of our story,” a closing notice said.
A sign posted on the door of the White Eagle Events & Convention Center announces its closure.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Ted Przybylo opened the business in 1947 in Chicago and moved it to Milwaukee Avenue in the northwest suburbs in 1967. His six children, including former Niles Mayor Andrew Przybylo, took over the business after he died in 1992 and then sold it in 2015 to Mario Ferraro, whose family founded Victoria Banquets in 1937.
Neither Ferraro nor anyone from Victoria Banquets could be reached for comment late Wednesday.
The 1,500-person capacity venue has played host over the years to well-known figures including President Jimmy Carter, Pope John Paul II, Muhammad Ali, Larry Hagman. It was also a popular setting for political fundraisers. Former Poland President Lech Wałęsa also visited.
The venue was described as, “the gatehouse to today’s Polonia,” in a 1989 Sun-Times article, which said, “Old ties to Poland are affirmed nearly every day in one direction or another.”
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