Vanishing Village

A waiting-to-be-demolished home in Bensenville, Ill. Photo by John Crouch.

Olympic fever is leading suburban communities known for squabbling with
the city to set aside hostilities and declare their support for the
2016 bid. More than half of the 273 municipalities surrounding Chicago,
147 so far, have passed resolutions in support of Chicago's 2016
Olympic bid, according to the Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus.

This includes even communities like Elk Grove Village, which has been fighting with the mayor over O'Hare expansion for years.

Notably absent from the pile-on?

Bensenville, whose Village President John Geils had some choice words for the Tribune:

"Our issues are trying to survive," Geils said. "For us to get out
front and support the Olympics, I don't think it would be in our
interest. We're concentrating on how to provide the same quality of
life to our residents. It's very difficult to think about something as
esoteric as the Olympics when we're worried about garbage collection."

 Read More

Bensenville's lawyers managed to wrangle a 30-day delay out of the same judge who last week granted th City of Chicago permission to demolish more than 500 homes and businesses in the village according to WGN:

Popejoy, who last week ruled that Chicago could
begin demolition of the properties, said that he was issuing the order
to allow attorneys for Bensenville to file an appeal with the 2nd
District Illinois Appellate Court of his ruling.

Popejoy said that he was confident that his ruling last week was
correct , "but Bensenville deserves the chance to appeal. But the delay
granted by me ends on Sept. 10 and any further delay will be up to the
appellate court."

Popejoy denied a request from Chicago attorneys that the city be
allowed to erect fencing on the site on the eastern side of Bensenville.

"You can prepare your bids, but no on-site activity is to occur," Popejoy said.

Joseph Karaganis, attorney for Bensenville, said they plan to file an
appeal but no time table had been set. "But we are under the gun," he
said.

 Read more here

For those into adding a spatial dimension to a story, I've created a custom Google map that contains all the points highlighted so far on the blog along with links back to the relevant images on the Citizen.

Enjoy this other way to get into the Bensenville story.

View Larger Map

Visitors to the map (link above) can comment, vote and suggestion improvements to it.  Feel free to do any or all those tasks.

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

Resembling a set from a zombie movie or a fake town from a 1950s nuclear testing site, Bensenville, Ill., is a partially abandoned village just west of Chicago near the O'Hare Airport. Over the last 5 years, the City of Chicago has bought up more than 500 homes and businesses in Bensenville to prepare the way for a planned airport expansion project.  A year ago, Bensenville filed a lawsuit to stop the city from demolishing the sleepy suburban neighborhood it had bought up.  While a judge decided what to do on the matter, the houses and businesses have sat abandoned. Deer run through the streets.  The swimming pools are still full.  A few families, hesitant to talk to reporters, remain.

Let's take a tour at a handful of homes stationed in this doomed pocket of Illinois' vanishing village. After all, they won't be there much longer.

All photos by Jing Zhou.Photos were taken during a roadtrip in Mid-July, prompted by an article in the Reader.

#1 You've got mail

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

A roadtrip to Bensenville is a ticket to creepytown. And pictures like this give you a sense of why that is. It's the small things like this open mailbox that make you shiver. Did the owners just up and vanish while checking their mail one morning? (See it on our Google map).

#2 Fancier Houses

Photo by Jing Zhou.

These were the nicest houses we saw in the acquisition area. The Reader
article mentions mansions, but we didn't see anything that met that
description in the acquisition area. Maybe you will? These houses are
located on Garden Avenue, just a few hundred yards off Irving Park
Road. (See it on our GoogleMap)

#3 Seen better days

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

This photo, taken from the sidewalk, shows how rough some of these homes looked. While many appeared in great shape, more than a few were pretty rundown.

#4 Christmas in July part 1

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

More creepiness. Notice the Christmas lights still on this house? This was actually quite common, as you'll see.(See it on our Google map.)

#5 Beware of Dog

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

There's definitely no reason to "Beware of Dog" anymore at this address.(See it on our Google Map.)

#6 Christmas in July part 2

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

More abandoned Christmas lights! (See it on our Google map.)

#7 Bring in the spooky

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

The way the trees had grown over and around this house made it seem just a little more sinister than some of the rest.

#8 All Boarded-Up

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

The city took no chances when it came to boarding up some of these places. (See it on our Google map)

#9 The Hand of Destiny

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Is that the shadow of a tree looming over this house? Or a giant, gnarled, spectral hand reaching in to snatch it up?

#10 Icky but irrelvant

Photo by Jing Zhou. 

Here's one last soon-to-be demolished house for the road.(See it on our Google map.)

As I said in the intro. The houses being demolished to make way for O'Hare's planned expansion aren't necessarily the prettiest ones I've seen. In some cases, they're downright homely in my opinion, as with this one. Nevertheless, with their demolition imminent, its worth it to take a look at these places and think about what they might have meant to the people who lived in them

Be sure to head back to the front page of the blog for more Bensenville news, photos and links.