Certified Illinois Expert

@mrillinois.bsky.social

2238 Followers 390 Following

Certified Illinois Expert. 🧡 libraries, buildings, nature, history. Giving Illinois travel/history lectures at a library near you! See schedule at johnkokoris.com or request that your library book me!

Chalkboard with various regional delicacies including shrimp/grits, candied yams, collard greens and more
Engraving of an early, somewhat simple classical style courthouse
A very simple, symmetrical church clad in white siding with blue octagonal tower protruding from center and a cross over the door
Little blue plane with yellow wings. Labeled Rockford to Stockholm
A brick church whose tower is now clad in white siding
A charming auditorium full of people
A huge tree and a little girl in front of it reading a sign
A bunch of old brick buildings and a watertower
An old stage coach with yellow wheels and red body
Old white painted Stone church with several Pointed spires (central steeple with clock)
Pig and cow on roof of meat market
A brick building with two pillars around the door and some closed off windows
Lincoln seated with hat on floor. Douglas’s standing up pointing
Streamlined industrial looking building with green neon letters saying union dairy farm
Two pieces of white bread and some truly nasty looking lunch meat on a hot sidewalk with a mustard packet and mayo packet next to it
Joliet Library's Ottawa branch, a nice limestone building i think designed by Daniel Burnham
An old restaurant with lots of neon lettering including going up a tall smokestack
St Joseph’s ultramodern Ukrainian Catholic church’s many domes rising above an alley of 1 story garages and shops
A bunch of gold helmet domes
preview image showing Route 66 and America 250 in Illinois headline
Statue of patriot (and scoundrel) George Rogers Clark with text about Freeport (July 16 6:30 pm) and Warren (July 18 1 pm). Sign up at johnkokoris.com
Details of events in harwood heights, joliet, freeport, and warren can be found at johnkokoris.com
Gold onion corner turret on fancy brick building with terra cotta accents
A white wood frame church with center tower and spire on roof
A brick school building with gothic features lit up at night
Entrance gatehouse at statesville prison in crest hill
York Theatre exuberant marquee
Seated Lincoln looking somber. Up on a high pedestal surrounded by tall trees
A long curving sub divided (or probably expanded) stucco house with many windows and entrances
Black classic car in front of an old service station
Stone Eagle behind barbed wire
Zoomed out. Fence around it visible
Two stone eagles, cool art deco font saying Illinois national guard, and a triangular building with lots of windows
A white observatory on top of a hill with an octagonal tower on the east with dome and a square tower on the west with weather vane. Sunset.
Looking up at the sun beam, angled pattern above the door
Very vertically oriented two story art deco building with lots of rays and lines
Gigantic crowd in beautiful lecture room
Cream colored terra cotta covering the majority of the second story. Some brick as well. Golden evening light. Little faces. Stars and fleur de lis
The desplaines theater with funky 20s style marquee and glorious terracotta details
Building described above. There are some round columns and a square, numberless clock
Lions club “den” with tan stucco siding and half timbering
Old iron gate painted white with black horse heads, surrounded by weeds and cracked concrete
An old car parked in a shady grove of trees at sunset where the colorful sky is reflected in the lake
Dam and elegant concrete bridge
A Tudor inspired apartment building with a stormy sky
Three story Roman brick and stucco rectangular building with interesting prairie style entrance and details
A modern church with a truly large roof with its doors and windows below grade
Little limestone octagon with side wings and gothic entryway and narrow windows. Castle like side building
Tall stone tower
Cement viaduct at twilight
A list of all my summer lecture dates; you can find these as well as registration links at johnkokoris.com. A 1931 aerial drawing of Chicagoland by Charles Turzak and Henry T. Chapman.