I have always admired this urban traffic circle. Situated in a
nice neighborhood with many interesting stores and restaurants.
I had a desire to place the cache at the center if the circle
but after investigating, the center was in the middle of a
municipal pool and all spots nearby were unsatisfactory.
Decided to hide it at a nearby object and make it a mystery. :)
Nice and Big Art across the street.
Have Fun!
The History
The man behind Westwood and Conti Circle set up shop in 1887 in a
storefront at North and Monticello avenues, in Chicago's Austin
neighborhood. The real-estate company John Mills established there
was to become Illinois' biggest home-building business, largely due
to a idea Mills brought back from his winter home in Beverly Hills,
Calif. In California, Mills saw a building project called Westwood.
With streets named Sunset Drive and Oak Leaf Circle, the
development was laid out in a spoke-wheel pattern. Thus inspired,
in 1926, Mills bought 245 acres in northwest Elmwood Park -- once
owned by River Grove's Elmwood Cemetery -- from Paul Stensland,
president of Milwaukee Avenue State Bank in Chicago. Mills &
Sons' record-breaking $25 million Westwood project included more
than 1,600 brick bungalows and 146 business lots surrounding a
village circle. With homes selling for about $8,900 each -- near
Village Hall, a shopping district and the Chicago Milwaukee St.
Paul and Pacific Railroad across the street -- Westwood took off.
That was in the heady days before the Great Depression that later
shuttered Westwood State Bank. In the center of it all was a French
fountain Mills dedicated to his wife, Lottie. Surrounding the
fountain was a 5-acre community park Mills dedicated to the
village's homeowners, with the stipulation it had to be used solely
for recreation.