Chicago Off the Beaten Path Tips by dlandt

This statue is recently renovated, having been around since the days of President Taft. It located on the South Side, but don't be scared unless you choose to drive back on one of the side streets west of Washington Park. The park itself is huge, and the statue is located in its SE corner. What is depicted here is mankind in various moods and poses marching forwards through the ages while Father Time gazes on. Its FREE.

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Never been to Pisa? Don't worry, there's a replica Leaning Tower (about 3/4 the size of the real one) just off of Touhy. Needless to say, this one isn't totally jammed with tourists and you can get a good Italian Beef across the street for chunk change. Technically, its outside the city limits, but only about 20 meters or so. Its roughly at Touhy and Caldwell, a little bit east of the intersection, you'll see it. The tower was erected as a monument to science.

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This is really all there is. There is a plaque about the size of a dinner plate that explains what it is, but doesn't go into depth. He is rising out of a mound of shoe soles, some with holes in them, and his suit is made of them too. This is in Bronzeville, at King and 26th.

My thanks to VT member SamBarnett, whose pages I like a lot, and reminded me that this little gem of an off the beaten path place existed.

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The elk herd in Elk Grove Village is just off of I-90, south on Arlington Heights Rd. at Higgins. If you want a place to have a picnic lunch, this is a good spot as its in the forest preserve.

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In a callous way, the Chicago Political Machine is letting this area of the city lose a lot of its historical look by, of course, letting everyone build historical looking condos around there. Its still worth a look, for now. You can see some great architecture that survived the Great Fire. This is where the Searses and the Fields' lived, among others. There are quite a few plaques in and around the area that explain what is what and where and why. A lot of the old history, like from the Indian days, is centered here. 18th and Prairie

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Other Contact: 18th and Prairie

Behind this house is a monument to the Ft. Dearborn massacre, where 95 settlers and soldiers were massacred as they were being evacuated. The house looks southern to me. It was built in 1836. Tours are available. It is at 18th and Indiana.

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This is at 18th and Indiana. The fee is $6 and they are open until five or six, When you walk into the lobby, you hear a tinkling sound above your head, which turns out to be dogtags with the names of those who died in Vietnam. It takes your breath away.

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Chicago has some really great museums down on the lakeshore and they are really nice to go visit, attracting top quality exhibits. My thinking for this page is however, that they aren't really specific to
Chicago. The historical Museum is and not only is it specific, its also thorough. For $12 you access pretty much all the local history you can stomach, from Haymarket to Jazz, from Capone to Ft. Dearborn. Its at Clark & North.

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Phone: 312-642-4600
Website: www.chicagohs.org

Pullman is something of a cross between a lower middle class neighborhood, and a preserved historical district. It is a living neighborhood that was originally a separate city built by the Pullman company. As you walk around you will see that the houses have a striking uniformity to them, because they were built by the company to be a kind of workers paradise. There never were any violent acts commited here during the infamous Pullman strikes.

At the time, the homes here were far superior than anything to be found in Chicago. they had central heating, clean, running water, and all the city grounds cared for by the company.

Walking tours are free and easily available, as is a small museum dedicated to the company and neighborhood.

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Between Division, Chicago, LaSalle, and the River is an area formerly known as Little Hell, which is where a lot of the mobsters, most notably Dion O'Banion (and my grandmother)grew up. Originally, it was a group of loose buildings for survivors of the Chicago Fire. As time went by, it disintegrated into yet another slum, this time for Irish and Italian immigrants. The corner of Oak and Cleveland at one time. had a murder every other week, thus earning it the nickname, Deadman's Corner. Later, some genius bulldozed the area and built the notorious housing project, Cabrini Green. In Chicago, the more things change, the more they stay the same. If you go here to visit, do it in the daytime and don't enter the actual projects. You would probably survive, (the projects are mostly empty now) but that's what we call doing a dumb thing. Don't do dumb things.

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