Tawani Foundation in cooperation with the Pritzker Military Library.
The print Chicagoland Bike Map is free with an Active Trans membership. Join or renew today at www.activetrans.org/membership.
Maps are also available online at www.activetrans.org/shop for $10 each.
Membership in the Pritzker Military Library offers incredible resources and research databases on military history, and supports projects such as this. Consider joining today at www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/membership.
Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery lies in the northwestern area of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant, approximately 50 miles south of Chicago. On July 17, 1862, President Lincoln signed a law authorizing the establishment of national cemeteries "... for the soldiers who die in the service of the country." During the Civil War, there were 14 national cemeteries opened pursuant of this legislation.
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Cambodian American Heritage Museum & Killing Field Memorial
The Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial opened in 2004. This one-of-a-kind institution raises awareness of the Cambodian genocide and celebrates the renewal of the Cambodian community and culture in the United States. Featured are exhibits that explore the history of Cambodia, the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, and the journeys of Cambodian-Americans.
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Camp Douglas
Camp Douglas was named after Stephen A. Douglas, the powerful senator from Illinois who was Abraham Lincoln’s opposite in the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates. After his death in 1861, Douglas’ property became a training camp and staging center for Union forces. Later, the camp was hastily adapted to serve as a prison for Confederate soldiers captured by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Donelson. The number of prisoners in the camp fluctuated due to occasional prisoner exchanges, although for a time it was the largest military prison in the North. By the end of the war, a total of 26,060 men had been incarcerated at Camp Douglas, a number of whom died from the conditions there.
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Cantigny Park & Gardens and First Division Museum
Cantigny is a 500-acre park in Wheaton, west of Chicago. It is the former estate of Joseph Medill and his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publishers of the Chicago Tribune, and is now open to the public. Cantigny Park includes large formal and informal gardens, picnic groves and hiking paths, a golf course, and two museums, one of which focuses on the history of the First Infantry Division.
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Chicago History Museum
With a collection of over twenty-two million artifacts and documents, the Chicago History Museum is a rich source for the study of Chicago in its many facets: as a metropolitan urban center that spans five counties, as a part of Illinois, and as a part of the broader history of the United States.
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Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville
Located in the historic Eighth Regiment Armory building, this world-class military academy serves students from all areas of Chicago. The armory was built in 1915 for the all-black 9th Infantry Battalion, which fought in the Pancho Villa Campaign at the Mexican border. It was later reorganized as the 8th Infantry, comprised of black officers and soldiers from Illinois. Today, the armory is also the site of National African-American Military Museum, which displays artifacts and memorabilia of the “Fighting Eighth” Illinois National Guard Regiment and other veterans.
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Cicero Fire House #2, Oak Park
This structure was built in 1898 as a firehouse for old Cicero Township, pre-dating the Village of Oak Park by four years. Through the decades, it has served the community in a wide range of uses, including as a public works facility, the home of the health department, a playground theater, and a meeting place for veterans of the Civil War. Though currently vacant, the building will soon have new life with the creation of the Village History Center.
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Coast Guard Station Calumet Harbor
Located on Lake Michigan in Chicago, the Coast Guard Station at Calumet Harbor is both the largest and busiest station in the Ninth Coast Guard District. The station serves as the base for a number of important Coast Guard activities, such as search and rescue operations and marine safety enforcement.
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DuSable Museum of African American History
The DuSable Museum of African American History, the first and oldest institution of its kind in the country, has been dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation and dissemination of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent for more than forty-six years.
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Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital
With a 147 acre campus, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital is the largest VA hospital in Illinois. It provides primary, extended, and specialty care to many of the state’s more than one million veterans.
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Elks Veteran Memorial
The Elks Veterans Memorial of 1926 is a tribute to the bravery, loyalty, and dedication of the thousands of Elks who have fought and died for our country. It has been described as one of the most magnificent war memorials in the world, but with its monumental architecture and priceless art, the Memorial is more a symbol of peace and the patriotism of the members of the Elks fraternity.
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Fort Sheridan
The site of Fort Sheridan was established as a French trading post around 1670, located on an old trail between Green Bay and the area that was early Chicago. The trail was used by Native Americans traveling between their hunting grounds and villages and the trading posts in Wisconsin. As European settlers came into the area, they also used the trail for shipping. The fort itself was created in 1886 to protect commercial interests in Chicago, especially during the various labor riots in the 1880s and 90s.
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General John Logan Statue
John Logan was born in what is now known as Murphysboro, Illinois. Despite a lack of formal education, Logan attended Shiloh Academy, where he studied for three years before volunteering to serve in the Mexican War. He went on to practice law, but his career gradually turned to politics, and he was elected to Congress in 1858. Logan fought as a volunteer at the Battle of Bull Run, and then returned to Washington to resign his seat in Congress so he could fight for the Union cause. An early friend and supporter of Gen. Grant, Logan earned the rank of Major General of U.S. Volunteers. In 1868, after returning to Congress, Logan founded the Memorial Day observance. It was proclaimed a holiday through his General Order no. 11, originally entitled “Decoration Day”.
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General Richard L. Jones Armory
The Armory is located at the northeast corner of Washington Park. Built in 1929, the Art Deco facility is now named in honor of the African-American Brigadier General Richard L. Jones, who commanded the 178th Regiment from 1947-1953. Besides its military functions, the building has been used for equestrian events and indoor auto racing.
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Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Memorial
Aurora's GAR memorial was established in 1878 by local Civil War veterans and ladies' auxiliaries. For architecture buffs, it's a proud bit of neo-Gothic architecture; for Civil War buffs, it’s a treasure trove of uniforms, weapons, medals, and other memorabilia. The GAR Memorial Association organizes an annual Grand Military Ball and other events, and has helped stage encampments for Civil War re-enactors.
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Graue Mill and Museum
The Graue Mill and Museum in Oak Brook is one of the few remaining authenticated "stations" of the Underground Railroad. Frederick Graue, a miller by occupation, harbored fugitive slaves in the basement of his gristmill. The mill's location on Salt Creek, a tributary of the Des Plaines River, made it an ideal location for the Underground Railroad. Historian Glennette Turner believes that Graue built tunnels linking the basement with other hiding places. Today, the museum uses photographs, documents, a computer interactive system, and other displays to illustrate the Underground Railroad and the importance of Graue Mill and DuPage County in assisting fugitive slaves to escape to freedom.
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Great Lakes Naval Training Center
The largest military installation in Illinois and the largest training center in the Navy, Great Lakes includes 1,153 buildings on 1,628 acres, with 50 miles of roadway between its facilities. From its founding in 1911 through today, the base has trained more than two million sailors through its Recruit Training Command and nearly an equal number from its technical schools.
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Grosse Point Lighthouse
Grosse Point Lighthouse was built in 1873 to serve as the lead lighthouse marking the approach to Chicago, after several shipwrecks demonstrated the need for one. The promontory on which it stands was named Grosse Pointe (Great Point) by early French explorers and traders. Later, the U.S. dropped the French “e” from Point.
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Illinois Holocaust Museum
The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is a project of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois. This new world-class museum is dedicated to preserving the memories of those lost in the Holocaust and teaching current generations about the need to fight hatred, indifference, and genocide in today’s world.
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Kenosha Civil War Museum
This museum explores the Civil War as seen and experienced on the home front. Through state-of-the-art museum technology, life-size dioramas, and engaging interactive exhibits, visitors travel back in history to discover the social, political and economic influences that contributed to the Civil War.
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Lansing Municipal Airport
The Chicago-Hammond Airport became the Lansing Municipal Airport (KIGQ) after the Village of Lansing acquired it in 1976. The history of the Lansing airport dates back to the 1920s when such notables as Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and Wiley Post used the airport in efforts to promote aviation in the United States. Today, Lansing Municipal Airport is the site of the Historic Ford Hangar, and draws visitors to a striking Veterans Memorial with a military-aviation theme.
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Milton Lee Olive Park
Milton Lee Olive Park is on Lake Michigan, overlooking the water, the city, and Navy Pier. There are plenty of trees to provide shade for summer-day picnics and benches abound, making it a nice, quiet place to relax. The park was named after Private First Class Milton Lee Olive III, a Vietnam War hero and Medal of Honor recipient, and dedicated in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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Naval Air Station Glenview "Hangar One" Museum
Naval Air Station Glenview was the only station to include personnel from five branches of the military: Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard, and Air Force. Although originally built as a Curtiss Flying Service airport in 1929, the landmark hangar that exists today was the centerpiece of the Navy’s training from 1940 here until the field closed in 1995.
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Navy Pier
Navy Pier has been a Chicago landmark since it first opened in 1916. Originally designed as both a shipping and recreational facility, the pier also served as a military training site during two world wars, a venue for concerts and exhibitions, and more. After the pier fell into disuse, it was renovated to become one of the country's most unique recreation and exposition facilities, with highlights such as the 150 ft. Ferris Wheel and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
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Pritzker Military Library
The Pritzker Military Library was founded in 2003 by COL (IL) James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Ret.) in order to acquire and maintain an accessible collection of materials and develop appropriate programs focusing on the Citizen Soldier in the preservation of democracy. Today, the Library features a vast collection of books and films on subjects covering the full spectrum of American military history, along with military-themed posters, photographs, medals, uniforms, and other artifacts. It also hosts gallery exhibits and weekly events with authors, historians, and Medal of Honor recipients.
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Site of Fort Dearborn
Non-native settlement of Chicago remained sparse until after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, when Fort Dearborn was built on the south side of the Chicago River across from the cabin of early settler Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable. The fort, which was named for U.S. Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, served as the country's major western military garrison until August 1812, when it was destroyed following an Indian uprising. A second fort, erected on the same site four years later, was demolished in 1856.
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Soldier Field
Completed in 1924, Municipal Grant Park Stadium was re-christened “Soldier Field” to honor the service of Chicagoans who were killed in World War I. Crowds have packed Soldier Field to watch sports, concerts, and other events over the years; over 150,000 turned out for a wartime visit by President Franklin Roosevelt, and the Chicago Bears took up residency in 1971. Though extensively renovated in 2003, the name “Soldier Field” was deemed so important that city representatives and the Bears agreed that it will stay on the stadium forever. In 2009, the opening ceremonies for the Chicago Medal of Honor Convention were held outside the stadium, adding another chapter to Soldier Field’s illustrious history as a memorial to the men and women of the armed forces.
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Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza
On Veterans Day 2005, Mayor Richard M. Daley officially dedicated Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza, which commemorates the service of more than 2.5 million men and women who served in the conflict. Designed by Carol Ross-Barney, the plaza and memorial features a water wall located in a niche directly behind a bridge of black granite listing nearly 3,000 Illinois veterans who were killed in action, listed chronologically by year. Those listed after the war ended are individuals who died as a result of injuries sustained while serving. POW-MIAs are listed according to the date they became missing.
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