Forest Park, IL

Forest Park is a Cook County village directly west of Chicago, with a dense, compact feel and a long history along the city's edge. Before modern settlement, the area was home to Potawatomi and other Native peoples, and later developed into a streetcar and rail-connected suburb. Forest Park is known for its lively Madison Street corridor, with taverns, restaurants, antique shops, boutiques, and small businesses. It also has a striking amount of cemetery land, giving the village a local character unlike most Chicago suburbs.