Weird history41.8961° N, 89.4159° W
Grand Detour, IL
The reconstructed blacksmith shop and archaeological remains mark where John Deere developed the polished steel plow that transformed Midwestern farming.
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Weird history in Illinois
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Weird history44
Suggest a stopReal events too strange to have made the textbook.
- Weird history41.5401° N, 88.0793° W
Joliet, IL
Trails wind through the heavy foundations and archaeological remains of a once-enormous iron and steel complex beside the old canal corridor.
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- Open to visitors
- Weird history37.9216° N, 89.9146° W
Kaskaskia, IL
A bell captured from the British at Kaskaskia in 1778 became known as the Liberty Bell of the West and remains on the isolated former state-capital island.
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- Weird history39.8234° N, 89.6557° W
Springfield, IL
Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, and three of their sons are entombed inside an enormous state monument topped by a towering obelisk.
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- Weird history39.9787° N, 89.8471° W
Petersburg, IL
A reconstructed 1830s frontier village recreates the small settlement where Abraham Lincoln lived before moving to Springfield.
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- Open to visitors
- Weird history37.4667° N, 88.6876° W
Glendale, IL
A bluff-top trail reaches a prehistoric stone fort, house depressions, petroglyphs, and burial mounds from Native communities that occupied the site.
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- Open to visitors
- Weird history39.0728° N, 89.7278° W
Mount Olive, IL
A small museum inside Mount Olive City Hall interprets coal mining, labor conflict, and the life and legacy of organizer Mother Jones.
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- Weird history37.0875° N, 89.1780° W
Mound City, IL
Thousands of Civil War dead are buried in this national cemetery established beside wartime hospitals and naval facilities along the Ohio River.
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- Open to visitors
- Weird history38.5700° N, 90.1875° W
Cahokia Heights, IL
A rare surviving example of Federal-period architecture built for a French-American merchant stands within the historic Cahokia settlement area.
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- Weird history41.7925° N, 87.6011° W
Chicago, IL
Henry Moore's looming sculpture marks the site where scientists achieved the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in 1942.
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- Open to visitors
- Weird history39.2784° N, 89.8775° W
Carlinville, IL
The thick-walled 1869 stone jail preserves cells, sheriff quarters, and frontier-era incarceration history and reopened for visitors after restoration.
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- Weird history41.5457° N, 88.0729° W
Joliet, IL
The massive limestone prison operated from 1858 to 2002 and now offers tours through cellblocks, yards, and locations familiar from film and television.
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- Weird history42.4158° N, 90.4274° W
Galena, IL
A preserved 1845 market building now interprets Galena's boom years, including mining, river commerce, and Ulysses S. Grant-era history.
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- Weird history37.9614° N, 89.9065° W
Ellis Grove, IL
The elegant French-influenced home of Illinois' first lieutenant governor survives above the Mississippi bottomlands near old Kaskaskia.
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- Weird history40.1473° N, 89.3804° W
Lincoln, IL
A reconstruction of the 1840s courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law while traveling Illinois' Eighth Judicial Circuit.
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- Weird history41.6943° N, 87.6087° W
Chicago, IL
The preserved company town tells an unusually complete story of industrial paternalism, railroad sleeping cars, labor conflict, and the Pullman Strike.
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- Weird history41.9596° N, 87.6595° W
Chicago, IL
An Egyptian Revival pyramid mausoleum with a sphinx-like entrance makes this one of the most visually unusual tombs in Graceland Cemetery.
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- Weird history41.2005° N, 90.1186° W
Bishop Hill, IL
The 1854 Steeple Building now houses exhibits and artifacts from Bishop Hill's once-thriving Swedish communal colony.
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- Weird history39.0807° N, 89.7334° W
Mount Olive, IL
Mother Jones chose burial among union miners here, where a large monument and graves connect directly to Illinois' violent labor struggles.
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- Open to visitors
- Weird history40.9080° N, 90.6449° W
Monmouth, IL
The restored birthplace of Wyatt Earp interprets the Illinois childhood of the future lawman before the family moved west.
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