joevalesh's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Places visited in Maywood, Illinois
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Places edited in Batavia, Illinois
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Places edited in Joliet, Illinois
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Places edited in Brookfield, Illinois
Lemont, Illinois

Lincoln Park Nursery Ruins

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

Hofmann Tower

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

Kiddieland Sign

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

Batavia Depot Museum

An exhibit of items from the mental institution where Mary Todd Lincoln lived after her son conspired to have her committed.
Joliet, Illinois

Joliet Correctional Center

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

Union Stock Yard Gate

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

Damen Silos

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

Zion Evangelical Lutheran 'Ghost Church'

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

Sheldon Peck Homestead

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

Fred Hampton Pool

The young Black revolutionary was killed before getting to see a non-segregated pool in his hometown.
Hillside, Illinois

The Italian Bride

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

Haymarket Martyrs Monument

Chicago’s incendiary role in the labor movement.
Maywood, Illinois

Underground Railroad Memorial at McDonald's

A plaque marks a former safe house on the secret route, now hidden next to a McDonald's.
Lombard, Illinois

Lilacia Park

This botanical garden outside Chicago boasts an array of more than 300 varieties of lilacs.
Villa Park, Illinois

Ebenezer Floppen Slopper's Wonderful Abandoned Water Slides

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

Galloping Ghost Arcade

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

Joliet Iron and Steel Works (Joliet Iron Works Park)

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

Bubbly Creek

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

Red Gate Woods

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

Nike Park

Cold War missile launch site which has been converted to a public park.
Batavia, Illinois

Fabyan Windmill

Arguably the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States, rivaling its counterparts in the Netherlands.
Oak Brook, Illinois

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art

Museum dedicated to the art of cutting and polishing stones.
Batavia, Illinois

Fermilab

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