RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Cook County >> Armour Square >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Armour Square, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Armour Square and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Armour Square:
    • 41.840033, -87.633107
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Armour Square
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Cook County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Since Armour Square is near Lake County and also DuPage County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Armour Square

Curious and Interesting Names Near Armour Square ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Back of the Yards
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Back of the Yards is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Back of the Yards
  • Bronzeville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Bronzeville is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bronzeville
  • Chinatown
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Chinatown is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinatown
  • Ducktown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Ducktown is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ducktown
  • Film Row
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Film Row is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Film Row
  • Forestville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Forestville is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestville
  • Fuller Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fuller Park is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller Park
  • Grand Boulevard
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Grand Boulevard is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Boulevard
  • Grant Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Grant Village is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant Village
  • Harbor Square
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Harbor Square is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Square
  • Lake Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lake Meadows is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Meadows
  • Locks
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Locks is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locks
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Mount Pleasant
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Mount Pleasant is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
    • New City
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • New City is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New City
    • New Patch
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • New Patch is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Patch
    • Park Row
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Park Row is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Row
    • Prairie Courts
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Prairie Courts is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Courts
    • Prairie Shores
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Prairie Shores is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Shores
    • Whiskey Row
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Whiskey Row is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Row

How Far From Armour Square to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Armour Square to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Armour Square and extending to:

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies just to the North.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 176 miles [283.2 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Armour Square to Springfield, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 592 miles [952.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,184 miles [9,952.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,923 miles [11,141.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,806 miles [7,734.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Armour Square) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<3>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Armour Square to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Armour Square. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8400, Longitude: -87.6331       In this case, the coordinates for Armour Square have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.436 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.326 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.578 degrees.