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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Chicago:
    • 41.875824, -87.636065
    • 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 Chicago
  • 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 Chicago 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 Chicago

Communities Also Named Chicago ...

We found nine communities that are also named Chicago.

Within Illinois, the name Chicago is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Shasta County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Shasta County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shasta County community of Chicago.
    • Kansas
      • Lyon County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Chicago [Lyon County].
      • Sheridan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Chicago [Sheridan County].
    • Kentucky
      • Marion County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Chicago [Marion County].
    • Nebraska
      • Antelope County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Antelope County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Antelope County community of Chicago.
    • New York
      • Cortland County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Chicago [Cortland County].
    • Ohio
      • Huron County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Chicago [Huron County].
    • Texas
      • Dawson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Chicago [Dawson County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Kenosha County
      • This Chicago is located in Kenosha County and lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<3> to the north of the Chicago that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kenosha County community of Chicago.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Chicago ...

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.

  • Chinatown
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Chinatown is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chinatown
  • Fifty Acres
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Fifty Acres is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifty Acres
  • Film Row
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Film Row is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Film Row
  • Gold Coast
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Gold Coast is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Coast
  • Harbor Square
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Harbor Square is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Square
  • Little Hell
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Little Hell is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Hell
  • Little Sicily
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Little Sicily is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Sicily
  • Locks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Locks is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locks
  • Maplewood Courts
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Maplewood Courts is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood Courts
  • Park Row
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Park Row is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Row
  • Prairie Courts
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Prairie Courts is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Courts
  • Prairie Shores
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Prairie Shores is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Shores
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Shantytown
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Shantytown is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shantytown
    • Streeterville
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Streeterville is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Streeterville
    • Swede Town
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Swede Town is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swede Town
    • Towertown
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Towertown is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Towertown

How Far From Chicago 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 city such as Chicago to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Chicago and extending to:

  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 178 miles [286.5 km]<3> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Chicago to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 593 miles [954.3 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,182 miles [9,949 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,921 miles [11,138.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,805 miles [7,732.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Chicago, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Chicago could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>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- Chicago) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Chicago 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 Chicago. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8758, Longitude: -87.6361    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.438 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.333 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.569 degrees.