samjweinberg's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Mattoon, Illinois

Blalack & Walter Well No. 1

This small-town park in southern Illinois has a 1,000,000-gallon swimming pool and a 100,000-barrel oil well.
Added by TheDoerle
Geneva, Illinois

Fabyan Villa Museum

This house renovated by Frank Lloyd Wright was the centerpiece of a lavish 20th-century estate.
Spacekittycat Added by Spacekittycat
Homewood, Illinois

Ken Norman's Abandoned Mansion

The NBA player's elaborate former home is now a ghost of its old glory.
taelor rae Added by taelor rae
Joliet, Illinois

Joliet Correctional Center

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

Site of Eugene Sawyer's “Inauguration”

Parking lot where a Chicago mayor was inaugurated under very sketchy circumstances.
Forest Park, Illinois

Haymarket Martyrs Monument

Chicago’s incendiary role in the labor movement.
Tim Stafford Added by Tim Stafford
Maywood, Illinois

Fred Hampton Pool

The young Black revolutionary was killed before getting to see a non-segregated pool in his hometown.
Tim Stafford Added by Tim Stafford
Chicago, Illinois

Grave of Andreas von Zirngibl

A one-armed veteran of the Battle of Waterloo lies in a cemetery for one in the middle of a Chicago scrapyard.
Tony Dunnell Added by Tony Dunnell
Chester, Illinois

Liberty Bell of the West

Now nearly abandoned, Kaskaskia was once the capital of Illinois and one of the most important towns on the upper Mississippi.
Added by The Derringdos
Makanda, Illinois

Monument to Boomer the Hero Dog

This odd stone memorial remembers a loyal dog who offended the rail barons with his speed and saved his master with his pee.
EricGrundhauser Added by EricGrundhauser
Des Plaines, Illinois

Square Deal Shoe Store

This historic store hides a museum exhibiting a shoe-sizing x-ray machine and a pair of kicks that once belonged to the world's tallest man.
LaurynSmith11 Added by LaurynSmith11
Anna, Illinois

King Neptune Memorial

This simple gravestone remembers a pig who single-hoofedly raised $19,000,000 for the Navy.
Added by thescousewife
Barrington, Illinois

Place de la Musique

With 8,000 pipes this giant instrument is the most versatile theatre pipe organ ever built.
Josh Added by Josh
Chicago, Illinois

Concrete Traffic

An actual 1957 Cadillac De Ville, encased in 15 cubic yards of concrete.
Added by dpalmer01
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."
Tim Stafford Added by Tim Stafford
Chicago, Illinois

Cosmic Ray Detectors

One of the largest pieces of scientific equipment ever carried on a NASA space shuttle sits in a Chicago alley.
Added by dpalmer01
Chicago, Illinois

Nelson Algren Memorial Fountain

Odd, decrepit fountain honors Chicago author who had mixed feelings about his hometown.
Dylan Added by Dylan
Hillside, Illinois

The Italian Bride

Julia Buccola Petta's body was peculiarly well-preserved when it was exhumed six years after her death.
Tim Stafford Added by Tim Stafford
Lisle, Illinois

Four Columns at Morton Arboretum

A tribute to one granddaughter's old apartment which now represents the whims of each visitor.
kcarollo Added by kcarollo
Chicago, Illinois

Aircraft Carriers of Navy Pier

Chicago's Navy Pier on Lake Michigan was a training hub for aircraft carrier pilots during WWII.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Chicago, Illinois

The Grand Old Man of Dentistry

G.V. Black, the Father of Modern Dentistry, keeps an eternal eye on Chicagoan’s teeth from his perch in Lincoln Park.
Paul Dailing Added by Paul Dailing
Chicago, Illinois

Man With Fish

This awkward aquarium sculpture is one of the strangest statues in Chicago.
satxwdavis Added by satxwdavis
Geneva, Illinois

Illinois State Training School Cemetery

This cemetery is all that remains of a school for "wayward" girls.
Survivalnotguaranteedcom Added by Survivalnotguaranteedcom
Chicago, Illinois

Nelson Algren's Last Residence

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