The prosperous western suburb of Lisle is the home of the Morton Arboretum, one of the top attractions in the Chicago Area, containing a massive expanse of restored prairie. Settled in 1832, Lisle was known mainly as a railroad station, and the local history museum is an intriguing glimpse from that time, preserving the old …
Along the Golden Corridor, Huntley is one of the fastest growing communities in the northwest Chicago area, with a five-fold population increase since 2000. The village goes back to the mid-19th century, and so despite the profusion of new residential areas there’s a historic core with a clutch of old buildings and thriving independent shops …
The home of Eastern Illinois University (EIU), Charleston is a city of around 20,000 with a beautiful downtown area filled with historic architecture, restaurants and mom-and-pop stores. Charleston has strong ties to Abraham Lincoln, as the scene of his fourth debate with Stephen Douglas in 1858. Much earlier, in 1831, Abraham’s father Thomas had settled …
This village in Chicago’s west suburbs is unique as you can still visit the very first permanent building erected here. The building in question, now used as a local history and art museum, is a church from 1849, with a lot of details that have made it through to the present day. The museum is …
A community of around 22,000, Roselle is in Chicago’s northwestern suburbs, a few miles west of O’Hare International. The village is named after the prominent businessman Rosell M. Hough, a Civil War colonel who led Lincoln’s funeral procession through Chicago. Hough was the first president of the nascent Chicago and Pacific Railroad Company, and the …
Incorporated as recently as 2001, Homer Glen is a new village east of Lockport and home to around 25,000. Although Homer Glen is ensconced in the suburbs, there’s still a lot of countryside all around, with rolling cornfields and many fruit and vegetable farms. Plenty of these sell delicious produce on their doorsteps, and open …
Around 18 miles from the Chicago Loop, Westmont is a village in the Western Suburbs, incorporated in the 1920s and developed mostly in the 70s and 80s. Two famous former Westmont residents are musician Muddy Waters, who spent the last ten years of his life here, and Beanie Baby entrepreneur Ty Warner, who funded his …
Although this green suburban village in the southwest of the Chicago area was developed in the 1970s, it has a history going back much further to the 1830s. What is now Darien first appeared at the intersection of Cass Avenue and 75th Street, and these two arteries are still home to much of the village’s …
This manufacturing city is in the Quad Cities, straddling the Mississippi River and Illinois/Iowa state line. East Moline is the site of the John Deere Factory Works, which is a cutting-edge facility on an almost unimaginable scale. You can take a free guided tour, and head for the brand’s museum at the John Deere Pavilion …
On the west side of the Illinois-Indiana line, Calumet City is a suburb bordered by Chicago proper to the north. The wider Calumet region has long been industrialized, but has a lot of green pockets where nature is taking hold once again. These spaces, like Green Lake Woods and Powderhorn Lake, are managed by the …