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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Franklin Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Franklin Park 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 Franklin Park:
    • 41.935776, -87.878902
    • 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 Franklin Park
  • 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 Franklin Park is near DuPage County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Franklin Park

Communities Also Named Franklin Park ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Franklin Park.

Within Illinois, the name Franklin Park is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Broward County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Broward County and lies 1,175 miles [1,891 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broward County community of Franklin Park.
      • Lee 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 Florida community of Franklin Park [Lee County].
    • Idaho
      • Ada 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 Idaho community of Franklin Park [Ada County].
    • Maryland
      • Montgomery County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Montgomery County and lies 599 miles [964 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Franklin Park.
    • Massachusetts
      • Suffolk County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Suffolk County and lies 862 miles [1,387.3 km]<1> to the east of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Suffolk County community of Franklin Park.
    • New Jersey
      • Burlington County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Burlington County and lies 688 miles [1,107.2 km]<1> to the east of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burlington County community of Franklin Park.
      • Middlesex County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Middlesex County and lies 700 miles [1,126.5 km] to the east of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Middlesex County community of Franklin Park.
    • New York
      • Onondaga County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Onondaga County and lies 605 miles [973.7 km]<1> to the east of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Franklin Park.
    • North Carolina
      • Transylvania County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Transylvania County and lies 539 miles [867.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Transylvania County community of Franklin Park.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Allegheny County and lies 414 miles [666.3 km]<1> to the east of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Franklin Park.
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Fairfax County and lies 600 miles [965.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Franklin Park.
      • Montgomery County
      • This Franklin Park is located in Montgomery County and lies 518 miles [833.6 km] to the southeast of the Franklin Park that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Franklin Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Franklin Park ...

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.

  • Churchville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Churchville is located in DuPage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchville
  • Edison
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Edison is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
  • Forest Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Galewood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Galewood is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galewood
  • Grayland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Grayland is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayland
  • Hillside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Mammoth Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mammoth Springs is located in DuPage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mammoth Springs
  • Martin Luther
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Martin Luther is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Luther
  • Maywood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Park Ridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Portage Park
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Portage Park is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage Park
    • Riverview
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Riverview is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Six Corners
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Six Corners is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Six Corners
    • Stone Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Whiskey Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Whiskey Point is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Point

How Far From Franklin Park to ...

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

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

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Franklin Park to Chicago, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 175 miles [281.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 606 miles [975.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,188 miles [9,958.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,928 miles [11,149.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,812 miles [7,744.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Franklin Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Franklin Park 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Franklin Park 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 Franklin Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9358, Longitude: -87.8789       In this case, the coordinates for Franklin Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.599 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.525 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.672 degrees.