RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Kenosha 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:
    • 42.586131, -87.824797
    • 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 Kenosha County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kenosha County
    • Since Chicago is near Lake County and also Racine 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 Racine 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 Wisconsin, the name Chicago is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, 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.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Chicago is located in Cook County and lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<2> to the south of the Chicago that is located in Kenosha County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Chicago.
    • Kansas
      • Lyon County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> 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.<3> 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.<3> 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.<3> 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.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Chicago [Dawson County].

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.

  • Carol Beach
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Carol Beach is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carol Beach
  • Dunes Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Dunes Park is located in Lake County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunes Park
  • Franksville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Franksville is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franksville
  • Hickory Corners
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Corners is located in Lake County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Corners
  • Mount Pleasant
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 27,048 people
  • Paris
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Paris is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
  • Pikeville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pikeville is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pikeville
  • Pleasant Prairie
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Prairie is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Prairie
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,373 people
  • Timber Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Timber Ridge is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
  • Zion
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Zion is located in Lake County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,321 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Zion <4>

How Far From Chicago 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 community 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:

  • Kenosha, which is the Seat of Kenosha County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Chicago to Madison, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 618 miles [994.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,155 miles [9,905.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,896 miles [11,098 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,782 miles [7,695.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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>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- Chicago) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 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: 42.5861, Longitude: -87.8248       In this case, the coordinates for Chicago have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.558 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.571 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.455 degrees.