Illinois Trip – Day 3 – April 23, 2014

Our last destination, Homewood is a village of over 19,000, just 23 miles from Chicago.   What piqued our interest here were the new murals by artist Richard Haas, the same artist who did the mural in Madison back in the 1980’s. We had to see them! See complete listing of mural locations here. It is the largest collection of his murals in one place in the world! Let’s take a look.

There were more interesting things to see in Homewood also.  This is the Henry Gottschalk House, built in 1893.  His business in Homewood was brick making, and it was built of his own bricks.  The had “Homewood” stamped on them. Here  is Henry on horseback in front of his brickyard.

 

Trains are also important here. In addition to freight trains, Amtrak and Metra trains are available.  In fact, I saw a lady running for the Metra which was just arriving 🙂

The train station itself is a historic, possibly the only Spanish-style one in the Mid-west. They also have a Rail Fan Park here, like Park Forest does.

 On this side is a Illinois Central orange Caboose on display. Also an engine.

 

There is a tunnel underground leading to this train station, there are pictures on  the walls a little more interesting.

On the other side is a viewing platform with a great view of all the tracks.

One of the major roads going through Homewood is the Dixie Highway, and there is a marker downtown in Independence Park.

We had a great visit in Homewood and hope to come back to see more.