The oldest experimental corn field in America is still creating better ways to grow crops.

The legacy of an unsolved, gruesome murder rests beneath the spans of this historic bridge.

The first spinning jail built in the United States is the only one that still turns.

An amazing collection of scale model ships.

One of the most powerful computers in the world can be visited by anyone who wants to experience more computing than they can handle.

The house is an iconic pilgrimage site for fans of the Illinois-based emo band.

A Bibliophile's Dream.

One of the last functioning antique elevators in Chicago.

The beloved home to all publications indie, erotic, and punky.

This shop for all your super spy needs hides an educational secret.

"No writer ever gave more to a city and got back less.”

Parking lot where a Chicago mayor was inaugurated under very sketchy circumstances.

The faint remains of a Polish news empire still linger.

Where old school Polish Chicago and young hipster Chicago live side by side.

Once an ornate movie theater remade by Catholic Charities.

Nonprofit art center that promotes outsider, intuitive, and self-taught art.

These chunky stone towers out in Lake Michigan are the key to Chicago’s drinking water.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

This historic-shipwreck-cum-diving-spot can still be seen poking its boiler out of the Lake Michigan waters that claimed it.

An unassuming store hides relics of its former life as the jazz club that hosted some of the best black performers of the 1920s and '30s.

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

This memorial plaque remembers a strangely shallow maritime disaster known as "Chicago's Titanic."

Once at the center of U.S. finance, the historic Trading Room was meticulously recreated piece by piece and rebuilt in the Art Institute.

The last masonry skyscraper ever built reveals a transitional moment in architectural history.