World's second largest particle accelerator, where nature reveals its secrets.

A historic and oft-filmed prison stands in a Chicago suburb.

The sign to a demolished amusement park now stands in front of a local library.

Each of these gorgeous, intricately decorated rooms is painstakingly crafted to the scale of 1 inch: 1 foot.

These pretty kitties killed and ate as many as 135 railway workers.

One of the few remaining relics of the meatpacking hub that made Chicago the "hog butcher to the world."

Former meatpacking facility turned vertical farm and sustainable business complex.

This cheerfully-named branch of the Chicago River is the fetid result of years of blood, entrails, and meatpacking waste.

One-of-a-kind preserved ruins of an abandoned 1880s church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

A lush green oasis in the middle of Chicago.

A source of civic pride, though the reason for its construction is unknown.

It was originally part of a "terrible lizards" collection at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

One of the finest examples of a black soil prairie that was barely saved by the Great Depression.

Julia Buccola Petta's body was peculiarly well-preserved when it was exhumed six years after her death.

Museum dedicated to the art of cutting and polishing stones.

The final resting place of the world's first nuclear reactor.

What was once the second largest steel mill in the US is now a sprawling complex of modern ruins.

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

These abandoned grain silos and tunnels are an urban exploration dream.

The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.

This botanical garden outside Chicago boasts an array of more than 300 varieties of lilacs.

What may be America's largest classic video game arcade lurks inconspicuously in a Chicago suburb.

People escaping slavery passed through the oldest house in Lombard, Illinois on their northbound journey to freedom.

This former nursery supplied plants for the creation of Chicago's largest park.