Vacation to Chicago - Part 1 - September 2014

Owen and I had a total blast in Chicago. This was our first time visiting as tourists. Of course we had to hunt down water towers. We found this great little neighborhood in Chicago called Andersonville. They were known for their wooden water tower with a Swedish flag and marketed it as such.

A little history from the website linked above: Andersonville’s roots as a community extend well back into the 19th century, when immigrant Swedish farmers started moving north into what was then a distant suburb of Chicago. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, wooden homes were outlawed in Chicago. Swedish immigrants, who could not afford to build homes of stone or brick, began to move outside of the city’s northern limits. Swedish immigrants continued to arrive in Andersonville through the beginning of the 20th century, settling in the newly built homes surrounding Clark Street. The annual Swedish tradition of celebrating the summer solstice blossomed into Midsommarfest, which has since grown into one of Chicago’s largest and most popular street festivals.

We had the hardest time finding the water tower which is typically easy to do if you just look up.
We figured out why - it had been taken down for repairs. So this photo is of the tower in a parking lot.

The town started a "Save our Tower" fundraising campaign. This pleased me to no end and I made a donation!
I wish more towns embraced their water towers. 

As we were walking back to the train station, what should we come upon?
A friendly neighbor putting up a little library in the likeness of the Andersonville water tower.