RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for Illinois







Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Portage Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Portage 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 Portage Park:
    • 41.957809, -87.765059
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Portage Park
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Portage Park ...

We found one communities that share the name Portage Park.

Within Illinois, the name Portage Park is unique.

Beyond Illinois, there is another community also named Portage Park in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Portage Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Portage 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.

  • Bricktown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bricktown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bricktown
    • Bricktown is located in Cook County
  • California Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for California Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for California Park
    • California Park is located in Cook County
  • Edison
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edison have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
    • Edison is located in Cook County
  • Galewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Galewood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galewood
    • Galewood is located in Cook County
  • Grayland
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grayland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayland
    • Grayland is located in Cook County
  • Humboldt
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Humboldt have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humboldt
    • Humboldt is located in Cook County
  • Humboldt Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Humboldt Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humboldt Park
    • Humboldt Park is located in Cook County
  • Lincoln Square ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Square have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Square
    • Lincoln Square is located in Cook County
  • Lincolnwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Maplewood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maplewood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood
    • Maplewood is located in Cook County
  • Martin Luther
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martin Luther have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Luther
    • Martin Luther is located in Cook County
  • Ravenswood Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ravenswood Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood Gardens
    • Ravenswood Gardens is located in Cook County
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Ravenswood Place
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ravenswood Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood Place
      • Ravenswood Place is located in Cook County
    • Six Corners
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Six Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Six Corners
      • Six Corners is located in Cook County
    • Swedentown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swedentown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedentown
      • Swedentown is located in Cook County
    • Whiskey Point
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whiskey Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Point
      • Whiskey Point is located in Cook County

How Far From Portage Park 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 Portage Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Portage Park and extending to:

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 179 miles [288.1 km]<4> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Portage Park to Springfield, with an average speed<5>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 601 miles [967.2 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,183 miles [9,950.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,922 miles [11,139.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,806 miles [7,734.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Portage Park. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Cook County: www.co.cook.il.us/

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Portage 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.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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- Portage Park) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Portage Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9578, Longitude: -87.7651       In this case, the coordinates for Portage Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Portage Park to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.523 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.442 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.609 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024