what are the best suburbs with historic downtown areas? (Chicago: homes, good schools)

[steph410]

i'm looking for ideas on what suburbs of Chicago have historic downtown areas with restaurants & shopping as well as historic, but updated homes. all this and good schools too??

thank you so much

[Lookout Kid]

Well, most suburbs have "updated homes" these days... I'm not sure what you mean my "updated". But there is another thread disucssing suburbs with vibrant downtown areas:

//www.city-data.com/forum/chica...-how-many.html

My favorite suburban downtowns (in no particular order) are in the following towns:

Evanston
Oak Park
La Grange
Hinsdale
Downers Grove
Naperville
Arlington Heights
Wilmette
Winnetka
Highland Park
Park Ridge
Elmhurst
Forest Park
Flossmoor
Geneva
Wheaton
St. Charles
Glen Elyn
Woodstock

I admit, I am less familiar with the south suburbs, so that's why they are not represented well on my list.

[SJaye]

If you want to live in a newer home, suburban-ish feel with good schools and also a good downtown area, four places come to mind instantly....

Arlington Heights
Elmhurst
Downers Grove
Glenview

Deerfield, Des Plaines, Highland Park, and Libertyville also fit this bill, but I personally think the four mentioned above are better.

If you need a place with bigger homes and more of a country feel, Geneva, St. Charles and Barrington come to mind.

If you want more of an urban feel, and don't mind a smaller house, I'd recommend Evanston, Park Ridge, Winnetka and LaGrange (Berwyn and Oak Lawn would be on the list if you did not mention schools).

Naperville and Aurora also have downtowns, but theirs are MASSIVE, and feel like a mini-city. The other downtowns I mentioned feel much more like suburban downtowns.

Also not knowing south subrubs as well, the only place there that comes to mind is Tinley Park, and, if train commuting is not necessary, Lansing.

[chet everett]

You could add Lemont, parts of Aurora, Batavia, Western Springs, Barrington, Libertyville and maybe a couple of others to LK's nice list...

[Lookout Kid]

I just listed my favs (downtowns, not suburbs). It's certainly not an exhaustive list.

[GolfLover2]

In the south suburbs, consider Frankfort, IL. Beautiful town with good schools, parks, shopping in town and close by also, metro services, new hospital easily reached, and more. Off of I-80, close to I-355, I-57, Rte. 45, and Rte. 30. Give it a look and visit soon ...

[Steve-o]

Geneva
St. Charles
Wheaton
Barrington
Evanston
Naperville
La Grange
Hinsdale
Oak Park
Glen Ellyn

Those are some of my personal faves.

[ToriaT]

The lists provided are good. Wheaton is a good one. Historic feel to small but nice downtown and many varieties of home. You can get an old historical home in Wheaton or a modern mini mansion if that suits your taste. Or one in between. Great schools, shopping and transportation.

[edsg25]

Isn't the historic old core of Orland Park fitting the bill?

And while it has received a heavy, heavy dose of "quaint", Long Grove's historic village still has a number of original 19th century buildings in the mix of faux 19th century buildings.

[Tex?Il?]

If you were to generalize, I would say that the west-southwest suburbs as well as the north shore are the best in terms of historic downtowns.

Just about all the suburban towns along the BNSF metra line (Riverside, Brookfield, La Grange, Western Springs, Hinsdale, Downers Grove, Naperville) all have great downtowns. Same goes for the UP-W line, although "great downtowns" IMO mostly to (Oak Park (obviously), Elmhurst, Lombard (I think), Glen Ellyn, and Wheaton.

There are fewer train lines running through the NW suburbs, and until O'Hare was built, many of the communities were very tiny and rural, consequently these NW suburbs have zilch, nothing, nada as far as historic downtowns (Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Streamwood, Carol Stream, Rolling Meadows, Buffalo Grove).

The ones that do lie along the UP-NW (Arlington Hts, Des Plaines, Barrington, and Palatine) have alright historic downtowns, but IMO are more "teardown" and not as great as West suburban downtowns.

Long Grove, like edsg25 mentioned is very charming and quaint and has many buildings that are original it really is not a functioning downtown so much. Its very boutique/antique oriented. Kind of like a sanitized, Chicago suburban version of colonial Williamsburg.

All the north shore suburbs that are on the lakefront, whereas the ones inland (Northbrook, Glenview, and Deerfield) do have downtowns, but they are very small).

All the towns along the Fox River have very historic downtowns as well as the lower Des Plaines river, (Lemont and Lockport). I'm very partial to Lemont, because its the only suburb where the town itself lies basically on a steep hillside. It feels the most like Galena, IL or some small town in New England.