Waukegan, IL

On Lake Michigan about 37 miles north of downtown Chicago, Waukegan is Lake County’s seat and its largest city; the 2020 census recorded 89,321 residents. The settlement was once called Little Fort, an English rendering that had emerged by the 1820s. Arrival of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway by 1855 accelerated its industrial and harbor growth. Downtown’s monthly ArtWauk brings visual and performing arts into the Waukegan Arts District, while the Robert McClory Bike Path follows a former railroad route between the North Shore and Kenosha, Wisconsin.