15 Best Things to Do in Oak Forest (IL)
In Chicago’s southwest suburbs, Oak Forest was inhabited by Native Americans in the 17th century, and has a local cemetery with burials going back to the 1830s. The city went …
15 Best Things to Do in Burbank (IL)
This city in southwest Chicagoland is right on Chicago’s city limits, sharing a boundary with the Ashburn neighborhood and sitting just south of Chicago Midway International. Burbank and the surrounding …
15 Best Things to Do in O’Fallon (IL)
The city of O’Fallon is in Southern Illinois’ Metro East region, a few short miles east from the Mississippi and St. Louis, Missouri. So while there’s much to enjoy close, …
15 Best Things to Do in McHenry (IL)
This riverside city is on the edge of Chicago’s northwestern suburbs, around ten miles south of the Wisconsin border. The Fox River flows down the east side of McHenry, and …
15 Best Things to Do in East St. Louis (IL)
In the first half of the 20th century, this city across the Mississippi from St. Louis was the fourth-largest in Illinois, with a population of more than 80,000. Established in …
15 Best Things to Do in Carbondale (IL)
The spot for this Southern Illinois college town was chosen in the 1850s, between two proposed railroad stations. Southern Illinois University (SIU) came a little later in 1870 and is …
15 Best Things to Do in Freeport (IL)
A county seat and city of around 24,000, Freeport is couched in the rolling Northwest Illinois countryside. The population grew suddenly from the 1850s when Freeport became a base for …
15 Best Things to Do in Collinsville (IL)
In the Metro-East area, 12 miles from St. Louis, Collinsville sits atop the bluffs over the American Bottom, the floodplain of the Mississippi. The city’s historic core can be seen …
15 Best Things to Do in Melrose Park (IL)
A western suburb of Chicago, Melrose Park is around ten miles west of The Loop, and you can get to Chicago OTC via the Metra in about half an hour. …
15 Best Things to Do in Vernon Hills (IL)
This community of 26,000 people in Chicago’s northwest suburbs is a retail hub for the area, home to Westfield’s Hawthorn Mall and a clutch of nearby shopping centers. Vernon Hills …