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Off The Beaten Path: Seven Wonders Of Des Plaines


The Seven Wonders of the World go back to ancient times when magnificent sites, primarily in cradle of civilization areas around Greece and the Mediterranean, were recorded in early guidebooks.

We all knew this once upon a time, right? (As sure as today’s students know what microfilm, mimeograph and an inkwell are, and today’s Catholics recite the Baltimore Catechism?!!) The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were: 1) Great Pyramid of Giza, 2) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon at Ephesus, 3) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, 4) The Temple of Artemis, 5) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus 6) The Colossus of Rhodes and 7) The Lighthouse of Alexandria.

As the sands of the hourglass fell, the Seven Wonders evolved and various organizations (you know how it is when those special interest groups get involved) adapted the Wonders for their own purposes. Take the American Society of Engineers who came out with their own list which included: 1) The Empire State Building, New York City, New York; 2) The Itaipu Dam, Brazil and Paraguay; 3) The CN Tower, Toronto, Ontario; 4) The Panama Canal, Panama; 5) The Channel Tunnel, France and the United Kingdom; 6) The North Sea protection works, including the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works, Netherlands; and 7) The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.

USA Today’s and the American television show Good Morning America’s contemporary Seven Wonders of the World include: 1) Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet China; 2) The Old City of Jerusalem, Israel; 3) Polar ice caps, Polar regions; 4) Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaii; 5) The Internet, Earth; 6) Mayan Ruins, Yucatán Peninsula, México; and 7) the Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara, Tanzania and Kenya. But, wait, hold the applause, viewers added an eighth Wonder: The Grand Canyon, Arizona.

Bringing this home, (and, remember, there are no right or wrongs; one man’s drink is another man’s poison; beauty is in the eye of the beholder; one person’s junk is another’s treasure; a sin to one is a blessing to another; one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor). What, in your opinion, are the Seven Wonders of Des Plaines?

Here are mine — unabridged and unedited or not: 1) The First United Methodist Church of Des Plaines, 668 Graceland Ave., with it’s beautiful English Gothic, Lannon-stone (worth Googling) exterior, stirs up feelings of Hogwarts, and Hansel and Gretel. Designed by Milwaukee’s prestigious church architect Hugo Haeuser, the church was erected in stages, the sanctuary in 1951 and the education wing in 1955. Local architect and former Des Plaines Zoning Board and Plan Commission Member Arnie Seegers designed a family entrance to the church in 1994. Its fireplace and living room atmosphere made a great backdrop for a local cable television series that focused on individual aldermen and their wards. This distinctive building is reminiscent of some of the 1920/1930 English Tudor houses sprinkled in the city’s Villas subdivision and the 7th Ward. It’s a “one of its kind” near the central business district area and its old-world charm and uniqueness are appreciated in a downtown challenged by its struggle for an identity.

2) The ever-popular Pesche’s Flowers, 170 S. River Rd., has been an institution in town for over 90 years. Ferdinand (Fred) Pesche, Sr. emigrated from Luxembourg to Chicago around the turn of the 20th century. Launching his plant growing business in Evanston, he started the Des Plaines business in 1923. Ambitious, Fred purchased and developed a 5-acre site, which is still part of the 7-acre facility in use today, got married, and had 11 children. His business specialized in growing carnations, mums, and pom poms, and cut flowers for florists and wholesale markets in Chicago. In 1941, Fred added a tropical plant conservatory. During World War II, Pesche’s Flowers employed prisoners held at Camp Pine, a German POW camp nestled in the woods along the west bank of the Des Plaines River. Following the war, Fred expanded the business to include a supermarket, which remained an active part of the business for 30 years. Four generations later, Master Gardener Chris Pesche oversees the still successful family operated flower shop/greenhouse operation maintaining a showcase business.

Ready for Wonder 3? OK, close your eyes. Feel the breeze of the passing cars, hear the swish of the traffic followed by horns honking, and raised voices in road-rage fashion. Then, experience the shock and awe of seeing the bird flipped out the top of a sunroof as vehicles play roulette dodging in and out of the infamous roundabout. No you are not in the UK. You are getting a dose of driving around the Cumberland Circle, better known as Suicide Circle. Located at Wolf and Golf roads, its knack for attracting accidents is reflected in city statistics indicating that it was the site of 421 accidents between 2005 and 2011. Accidents at the circle involve drivers turning into other vehicles or rear-ending or sideswiping each other. Being one of the oldest and most well-known traffic circles in the Chicago area, greater minds than ours have decided to launch a $4.6 million improvement project, including upgrades to pedestrian safety. Say what you will, the Cumberland Circle puts Des Plaines on the map!

4) The Des Plaines Golf Center, 353 N. River Rd. is a hidden gem. From 7 a.m. to midnight, May through August, golfers of all skill levels can work on improving their short games on a beautifully designed Rick Jacobson course. Holes range from 80 to 200 yards and pose a variety of challenges including a lake, sand traps, hills, the nearby cemetery and prairie grass. This well-groomed course is fun during the daytime hours and offers a totally different experience at night. Try it sometime. In addition, the three-tiered, year-round driving range with 80 lit, heated hitting stations keeps the golfer on his/her toes even in the winter months. It’s a blast and the automatic tees save you from having to bend over every time you want to hit a ball! The bar and restaurant, Club Casa, has great atmosphere and even better food that appeals to golfers and non-golfers (hmmmm, do golfers eat differently?) Don’t forget lessons or club fitting at GolfTec and a swanky pro shop, Dream Golf.

5) The Choo Choo Restaurant, 600 Lee St., may be the only Wonder of Des Plaines recognized by Generation Alpha. It is a great little diner, 45 seats total with 27 seats along train tracks carrying a miniature model train serving signature hamburgers, hotdogs and fries. Kids love watching their food arrive on a chugging train complete with a whistle. The Choo Choo, originally the brainchild of James Ballowe and his wife Marilyn, has an amazing history dating back to the early 1950s. The Ballowes capitalized on serving food quickly and in a manner that kids would enjoy. Ray Kroc, who opened his business, McDonald’s, a few blocks away, paid Bellowe a visit to assure him that his restaurant would pose no competition to The Choo Choo! The story is that Ray Kroc told the Ballowes not to worry, “I don’t have a place for people to sit down.”

6) Des Plaines Cemetery, also known as the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery, near Rand Road and Golf Road, is an intriguing old graveyard dating back to the late 1800s. Regrettably, one of the best authorities on the old boneyard, Richard Gravesmill, who was a loyal member of the Immanuel Lutheran congregation, a Des Plaines Historical Society Board member and business manager for the Des Plaines Park District, passed away in 2008 taking with him some interesting facts about the place. This small, but unique, plot of land has become the permanent resting grounds for some of Des Plaines’ founding fathers’ family members. Familiar names like Becker, Behrens, Freitag, Gehrke, Hintz, Kruse, Menshing, Meyer, Seegers, and Storm are no strangers here. The Immanuel Lutheran Church Congregation was founded in 1871 having purchased property at the corner of Lee and Thacker streets from the “German Evangelical Lutheran St. Stephens Congregation at Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois,” when St. Stephen’s disbanded. The property consisted of a church, school, parsonage, and cemetery. The cemetery was moved to its Rand Road location in 1875 when Center Street was extended from Prairie to Thacker.

7) The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 1170 N. River Rd., could certainly be considered holy ground just by the volume of people it attracts, alone. Originating in the late 1980s, the Shrine has become a popular place of worship and, most recently witnessed the opening of the Chapel of St. Joseph. A magnet for Catholics, the Shrine draws over one million pilgrims each year, many visiting on Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Visitors hike, drive, and walk on their knees for miles to worship during feast day activities. It is rumored that the Des Plaines location is the most visited Guadalupe Shrine in the U.S. and the second most-visited in the world after Mexico’s Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

It should be noted that if you are not participating in the Shrine’s feast day ceremonies, you might wish to avoid driving in the area of Wolf Road and Central Road beginning the evening of Dec. 11, as you risk encountering what could become the city’s eighth Wonder: Des Plaines’ largest traffic jam.

So, what do you think? How does your Seven Wonders of DP compare to mine? Des Plaines’ current administration says that the community will see more momentum attracting business in future months, thanks to new construction projects and developments currently in the works. Hey, that means our Seven Wonders may be changing! We may have more than Seven Wonders! New housing, more retail and enhanced commerce means more economic development and that means a healthy tax base and that means good things for local taxpayers and all kinds of investors and investments! And maybe, that’s why Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the Eighth Wonder of the World. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.”

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One response to “Off The Beaten Path: Seven Wonders Of Des Plaines”

  1. Todd Hartman says:

    What is the story behind the earth house on 470 N East River Road?
    It appears like it may have been occupied at one time, but probably not for 30 or 40 years.
    What happened to htis interesting place?

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