About 30 of us gathered in downtown Homewood on the last day of July for a pleasant, sunny Sunday morning stroll. More of a trek, truth be told, we were there for a walking tour of Homewood’s Richard Haas murals led by Kristine Condon, who literally wrote the book about the village’s “museum without walls.”
As we stopped at each of the large, outdoor paintings installed around town gradually from the 1980s through the 2010s, Condon offered context for the images, telling stories about why a 1950s-era Nash bubble top car appears in them and pointing out that one shady looking character seems to have a reoccurring role.
As we cut through a neighborhood toward the end of the nearly three-hour hike, we learned about some less prominent landmarks, such as Neighbor Lodge 1169. Tucked away amid a street full of homes, we learned the Masonic meeting place long ago was a school building.
The tour was a fundraiser for an effort to establish a veterans memorial in Flossmoor, but it was a worthwhile way to spend a summer morning even beyond its charitable nature. Besides the exercise, fresh air and opportunity to socialize with unmet neighbors, it was an excuse to become a tourist in my own village. I had a wonderful time, and I didn’t even need to take a staycation to do it.
Lots of us had the opportunity to take a longer look at our immediate surroundings as the pandemic entrenched a couple of years ago. With travel restricted and working from home the norm, many took a closer look at where we lived, and some found we don’t know all that much about our hometowns.
Kevin Barron was among those who wanted to find out more about why elements of suburbia evolved into what we see now. And he wanted to document places as he saw a spike in demolitions of places that had become familiar over the years growing up in the south suburbs.
“I remember driving past Oak Forest Hospital and seeing the St. Roch Friary being demolished,” he said. “That was an iconic building. We drove past it every time we went to my grandparents’ house, and now it was gone,” he said.
So Barron, 35, a special education teacher who grew up in Tinley Park and Oak Forest and now lives in Lemont, decided to begin documenting historical and unique structures and places by exploring and taking photos of places in the south suburbs and beyond. Using pandemic era internet skills he learned while conducting remote learning classes, he established a set of interactive maps to showcase the images along with their locations and whatever historical information he could collect.
And he started sharing them online and on social media for free under the banner South Cook Explore.
Growing up, he said, his parents would often point out places of interest, noting what used to be there, or why a place was particularly interesting. It was a habit he picked up as well, sharing similar tidbits with his girlfriend, who had moved here from Mexico.
“I realized I was doing the same thing my parents used to do when I was younger,” he said.
Barron decided to expand his audience, and give them more information.
“I started reading about buildings in my area,” he said. “I learned about Lockport, Calumet City. I took pictures around Chicago Heights where I’m teaching and it grew from there.”
South Cook Explore accounts on Facebook and Instagram enabled him to share his passion, especially Instagram, where he’s compiled nearly 1,000 followers with regular posts centered on local history.
“It was fun driving around and taking photos of stuff and sharing that,” he said, “but at some point I needed to map out where I’m going and get a system of finding places I haven’t discovered yet, so I started doing the Google maps, and that’s been a big focus for me the last few months.”
He’s collected about 60 “Images of America” local history books through online auctions and elsewhere, and he surveyed websites and social media pages from historical societies, finding some more helpful than others. He’s used that information to fuel his own discoveries and photo documents. Other places he’s stumbled upon while driving randomly.
“I’m always on the lookout,” Barron said.
His explorations have given him insight into why the area looks like it does. One example is the architecture in the towns along the Cal-Sag Channel. Many older buildings in places such as Alsip and Worth were constructed with bricks, as clay was the main material excavated to create the waterway. Further downstream, the underlying material changes from clay to limestone,” and there are changes in the architecture that reflect that” in places such as Lockport, he said.
Another of his favorite discoveries linking geological history with the development of modern suburbia can be seen at Markham Yard in Hazel Crest, once the largest “double hump” rail yards in the country. The “humps” are landscape remnants left by retreating glaciers thousands of years ago that allowed Illinois Central workers in the 1800s to use gravity to move rail cars around.
Those same moraines may have played a role in making Thornton and Glenwood bootlegging hot spots during the Prohibition era.
“In Glenwood, glen means a narrow valley,” he said. “It was a hard place to get to before paved roads. They were in the middle of forest preserves and you had to climb muddy hills to get there. They couldn’t get police out there.”
Thornton has become one of Barron’s favorite places to explore, as it was one of the area’s early commercial centers. That legacy is reflected in roadways as far away as Tinley Park, where a portion of 175th Street was once known as Thornton Road, and even Lockport, where what’s now known as 9th Street originally was the named road to Thornton.
One old quirk in Thornton Barron found is a building that fronts the railroad tracks that run through town rather than the street.
“That house is from 1833 and it predates the roads around there,” he said, “so it faced the railroad in back instead of the street in front. That’s got to be one of the oldest buildings I know of. That was right around when land purchasing in Cook County became a thing. I’d go out of my way to find that — it’s so interesting.”
Barron said he offers free access to the maps he’s compiling so everyone who’s interested in local history can go as far out of their way, or as close, as they want. A volunteer with the Lemont Area Historical Society, Barron is helping to coordinate an event there similar to the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House, where people can explore buildings at their own pace without waiting for a guided tour. That concept is guiding his South Cook Explore effort as well.
“If you’re interested, look into it,” he said. “With the maps, you can do it at your own rate.”
Organized by town, the maps at southcookexplore.com each constitute a walking tour, featuring some places one might not expect.
“We have buildings in Dolton that are from the 1890s or before, and they’re untouched,” Barron said. “It’s like a museum.
“In every suburb, there’s something different, and lots of people don’t know it’s out there. There’s so many hidden gems down here.”
With summer’s heat gradually giving way to the often pleasant weather of early autumn, it’s a great time to become a tourist in our own towns. And there’s more to see that many might expect. Like Barron, you could even find someplace old that’s new to you.
“I don’t think I’m going to run out,” Barron said. “There still are a ton of stories and places out there to find.”
Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.
