On the site of a former Army ammunition plant, bison now roam a restored sea of grass.

The house is an iconic pilgrimage site for fans of the Illinois-based emo band.

An actor's tribute to a former mentor.

An abandoned observatory in the middle of the Illinois prairie.

The legacy of an unsolved, gruesome murder rests beneath the spans of this historic bridge.

The final resting place of the hero of Air Florida Flight 90 known as "the man in the water."

The multinational Burger King chain is banned from operating within 20 miles of a family restaurant filed under the same name.

This historic lavatory leftover features two levels of defecation stations completely without context.

A place of great reverence for Trekkies everywhere, a hero's future birthplace.

Home with Gothic windows featured in a famous painting.

The site where Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was killed by a mob.

Over 120 years ago, the original boardgame that inspired Monopoly was invented in this small Illinois town.

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.

Chicago’s last original drive-in restaurant is a family-run hot dog joint that started in 1948.

This former nursery supplied plants for the creation of Chicago's largest park.

One of Chicago's last seafood smokehouses perfects a dying breed of fishcraft.

A strange rock in Chicago marks the spot where a tree once stood in honor of the 18th President.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

Orthodox church partially financed by Tsar Nicolas II.

Forever immortalized in concrete, this Simpsons etching was crafted by show creator Matt Groening.

Before the Vatican, there was Dolton: This is the childhood home of the first American pope.

This music school doubles as a store for unique, hand-crafted, and hard-to-find instruments.

Statue of Lenin, from Cold War era Czechoslovakia, now in a neighborhood of Seattle.

The tale of a strong-willed woman who stood her ground when the commercial world came rumbling in.