The Chester Bridge is a local icon as over 7,000 vehicles daily use it to cross the Mississippi River. It was opened with fanfare in 1942 as part of a highway project connecting Illinois and…

The Chester Welcome Center is located adjacent to the Chester Bridge on a bluff above the Mississippi River.  A Lewis and Clark marker with history about Lewis and Clark and their voyage of discovery is…

Chester, Illinois is a small town located on the banks of the Mississippi River.  It was founded in 1816 as a port on the western frontier centered around a flour mill, castor oil production, and…

The Christian F. Weinrich House in Chester, Illinois, is a prime example of Folk Victorian architecture with Gothic Revival characteristics.  These elements can be seen in the gable front and wing, the steeply pitched roof,…

The Cohen Memorial Home offers a beautiful glimpse into the past as it sits atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Chester. It’s a gorgeous Victorian house built in 1855 and purchased by William…

Elzie C. Segar was one of the most impressive and influential cartoonists of all time. As the creator of Popeye, he created one of the most iconic characters of pop culture in the 1930s. The…

The Frederick Weistar House (aka the Stone Cottage) was built by Frederick Weistar, a Swiss immigrant, in the late 1850s. The house is an architecturally significant example of a mid-nineteenth-century domestic stone dwelling with a…

As the first capital of Illinois, Kaskaskia has a rich history. Once a strategic location that Britain and France fought over for control in North America, Kaskaskia in 2016 had a population of thirteen. This…

Wooden covered bridges are truly artifacts from another time. These bridges were important because they could last for almost a century while an uncovered wooden bridge usually only lasts about twenty years. Popular and efficient…

The projects of the New Deal rescued the country from economic despair and allowed millions of Americans to find employment and security. Some of these projects were massive and led to the creation of world-famous…

Popeye has been a staple in the world of animation since 1933; it’s commonly remembered as Fleischer Studios’ magnum opus. However, Popeye was a widely popular comic strip before it was ever animated. Popeye’s creator,…

Chester, Illinois, became the county seat of Randolph County in 1847. The current courthouse was built in 1975 and includes a 5th floor observation deck offering views 350 feet above the Mississippi River. Next door…

Spinach Can Collectibles holds a treasure trove of Popeye memorabilia and is both a shop and a museum devoted to Chester’s favorite son, Popeye, and his comic character friends. Divided into a section for shopping…

The St. Nicholas Landmark sits just down river from the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers, where On November 27, 1803, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party camped on Horse Island. The next morning,…

Quebec and Louisiana may be the two of the well-known of the North American French colonies, but The Lewis and Clark Trail is home to dozens of French colonies, all of which had a strategic…

While Illinois is no longer the mysterious edge of the known U.S. that it once was, there are still some good places for hunting or fishing, including the Turkey Bluffs State Fish and Wildlife Area.…