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Originally Posted by the urban politician
This is a great snapshot. The more time I spend touring these Metra burbs the more impressed I am with what this region has.
I'm especially kind of interested in these old Fox River towns like Elgin, Aurora, St Charles, etc. I have yet to see them in person but they seem to have a lot of "urban bones" worth exploring.
My only beef with Aurora and Naperville's commercial cores is that they are a bit of a hike from their respective Metra Stations. If only their stations could've been just adjacent to their downtowns, as is the case with most of the other commuter burbs, the synergy would be that much better.
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I grew up in St. Charles so I'm very familiar with them all. Elgin is by far the most interesting as far as "urban bones" go, IMO; between the downtown area and the Victorian style mansions. Geneva is what St. Charles aspires to be--a good amount of walkability for a town its size and very well maintained. It's definitely worth a day trip if you're after some old fashioned quaintness. It reminds me a bit of Chicago's Lincoln Square spread out over an entire town. St. Charles is actually doing some work to build more downtown density beyond the strip on Main Street. Batavia is another--some cool limestone buildings downtown (although pretty small sample size) and 19th century SFHs.
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Originally Posted by Steely Dan
here's a post i made awhile ago showing all of the pre-war railroad town centers in chicagoland:
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Wow this is really cool! I've actually tried to find a comprehensive list like this before when I've been bored and looking to see a new suburb (worth seeing) that I'd never been to before. I'll be checking back this fall when I'm in the mood to kill an afternoon exploring!