Resting in the scenic Fox River Valley, Algonquin is a wealthy village of just over 30,000 people. The river is a defining feature of the townscape, with wooded banks sloping gently down to riverside parks and little piers for boats. Algonquin is packed with shopping and dining, which can be intimate and independent in the …
Part of the Twin Cities in McLean County, Illinois, the town of Normal is the smaller, northern neighbor to Bloomington. Normal is home to the main campus of Illinois State University, founded in 1857, and the oldest public university in Illinois. There are plenty of reasons to head to the campus, to check out an …
This village, 22 miles west of the Chicago Loop owes its memorable name to its founder, Pierce Downer. He was a farmer, who settled these lands as long ago as 1832. Noted for its livability and its friendly residents, Downers Grove is well connected to the Windy City by road and rail, but has plenty …
Just beyond Chicago’s limits and only 10 miles west of the Chicago Loop, Oak Park is an elegant suburb celebrated for its architectural heritage. Between 1888 and the 1910s, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) left a lasting legacy in Oak Park, first working for the Adler & Sullivan firm and then as an independent practitioner. Today …
This culturally diverse suburban city lies about ten miles west of the Chicago Loop. Berwyn has a beautiful streetscape, for its abundance of elegant Chicago-style bungalows, mostly from the 1910s and 1920s. Just north of Berwyn is the village of Oak Park, where the great Frank Lloyd Wright made an indelible impression, designing dozens of …
The largest city in McHenry County, Crystal Lake sits in the affluent Northwest Suburbs, around 45 miles from the Chicago Loop. Crystal Lake is removed from the sprawl and is bordered by open farmland, while the city has a definite, walkable core downtown where you’ll find restaurants and entertainment venues like the Raue Center for …
In Chicago’s upscale northwest suburbs, Buffalo Grove is around 25 miles from the Chicago Loop. This village of 40,000 had a population of just 1,500 in 1960, but has a long history going back to the Potawatomi people and a German dairy farming community that cropped up in the 1830s. Buffalo Grove is often named …
This village is on the border between DuPage and Cook counties in the Chicago suburbs. One of Hanover Park’s great assets is the amount of public natural land that can be discovered on foot, by bike or even on skis in the winter. These have interlinking trail systems, so despite being in a large metropolitan …
This northwestern suburb of Chicago has put a lot of care into its downtown area over the last few years. Centering on a sociable village green, the streets around the Metra station have wrought-iron lamp posts, colorful flower displays and newly planted trees, creating a walkable focal point for the village. Something special about Mount …
This wealthy western suburb sits about 25 miles west of the Chicago Loop in an area replete with nature preserves and sprawling parks. One such place in Wheaton is Cantigny Park, founded in the 19th-century by the Chicago Tribune publisher, and offering two excellent museums and sublime gardens to explore. In fact there are a …