Login | Create A Free Account | FAQ
WindyCitizen.com NewsBlogsAdvertise Top Citizens

Vanishing Village

Tracking the demolition of Bensenville, Ill.

Search it

Latest News from our Sponsors [?]

Paid for and Authorized by Friends of Dan Hynes

About this blog

Bensenville, Ill. is a village located primarily in DuPage County, with a small section located near O'Hare International Airport, northwest of Chicago.  

Bensenville is ground zero for the city of Chicago's $15 billion O'Hare Modernization Program.  The program will improve traffic out of the airport by replacing intersecting runways with parallel ones, the city says.

Since 2003, the city has bought up more than 500 homes and businesses in the area of Bensenville adjacent to the airport.  Bensenville took the city to court to prevent their demolition and in early August 2008, the court ruled in the city's favor.

This blog will track and document the demolition and demise of Bensenville's "acquisition area" through news links and photos. If you have news tips, links or photos related to the demolition, please contact us at windycitizen@gmail.com

We are looking for someone to help edit this blog.  If you're interested, contact us at windycitizen@gmail.com

Vanishing Village's Greatest Hits

What People Are Saying Here

Sorry, We're Closed: 6 Boarded-Up Bensenville Businesses

Bensenville's Acquisition Area also includes several businesses in addition to the more than 500 homes that have been bought up by the City of Chicago.  Most of these businesses are along Irving Park Road and they're just as boarded-up as the homes are.  Let's take a look:

All photos by Jing Zhou.

#1 We'll Fix Your Transmission

Photo by Jing Zhou.

Corner of Irving Park Road and Orchard Avenue: According to a sign nearby, this used to be an Auto Transmission place.(Google Map)

#2 Contract Cleaning

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Irving Park Road and Garden Avenue: Cleaning service, also closed.
(Google Map)

#3 Which way to the Gun Show?

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Irving Park Road: Not sure what this was, but the sign up above says a Gun Shop isn't too far away.
(Google Map)

#4 Value Driven

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Garden Avenue and Irving Park Road: This is a closed-down Clark Gas Station.  It's seen better days.
(Google Map)

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

The text on this pump couldn't be more fitting for the story at hand, eh?

#6 We Buy Used Cars

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Irving Park Road: Not anymore you don't.
(Google Map)

#7 Free Estimates

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Irving Park Road: Don't try calling for your free estimate.  The number's been disconnected.
(Google Map)

If you've got information about these or any other businesses that have been drawn into the O'Hare Modernization Project, contact us at windycitizen@gmail.com

BradFlora
Brad Flora is founder of WindyCitizen.com, a web service that lets people share their favorite Chicago news and events with their friends and neighbors. More

0 Discussions What do you think?. Click here to start a discussion! ↓


Comments

Post new comment

To join the conversation create a profile, login, or

Welcome

About this blog

Bensenville, Ill. is a village located primarily in DuPage County, with a small section located near O'Hare International Airport, northwest of Chicago.  

Bensenville is ground zero for the city of Chicago's $15 billion O'Hare Modernization Program.  The program will improve traffic out of the airport by replacing intersecting runways with parallel ones, the city says.

Since 2003, the city has bought up more than 500 homes and businesses in the area of Bensenville adjacent to the airport.  Bensenville took the city to court to prevent their demolition and in early August 2008, the court ruled in the city's favor.

This blog will track and document the demolition and demise of Bensenville's "acquisition area" through news links and photos. If you have news tips, links or photos related to the demolition, please contact us at windycitizen@gmail.com

We are looking for someone to help edit this blog.  If you're interested, contact us at windycitizen@gmail.com

Subscribe

The Vanishing Village Feed
Get all the stories posted on this blog.

The Windy Citizen Blog Network Feed
Get all the stories posted on Windy Citizen blogs.

See all feeds »

Windy Citizen Daily E-mail Updates:

Recommended Links



This site Copyright 2009, Windy Citizen.com - All rights reserved. Content posted by users is dedicated to the public domain.
Designed in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.