Inside Chicago Walking Tours

Hillary and our tour group outside of Old St. Pat's church

It’s a Saturday and I’m in the West Loop with Inside Chicago Walking Tours. There are tourists, weddings, and parades of scooters blazing through intersections without stopping. A lovely breeze cuts through the humidity and it’s cloudy out – perfect weather for what I’m here for. I’m joining 7 others on a tour entitled “Creating the Melting Pot- The West Loop and Wolf Point.” I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday than playing tourist in my own city.

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The interior of Old St Pat's Church

About half of the people in our group are not tourists. They’re Chicago locals passionate about learning about the city in which they live. To prepare yourself for a day trip of this nature, which consists of 1.5-2 miles of walking, read my guest contributor’s guide about Day Trip Essentials. Like Meg Ricard says in the blog post, it is most important to bring snacks. The last thing you want during your day trip is to be in a crabby mood or to get lightheaded.

Gorgeous stained glass inside Old St. Pat's Church

Hillary is your charming guide for most Inside Chicago walking tours. She’s humorous, inspiring, architecturally-minded and incredibly enthusiastic. Her passion for Chicago is electrifying. For me, nothing is worse than a tour guide (or teacher) who loses their passion for the subject they teach. On the opposite end of the spectrum, no one is as inspirational as a teacher or guide able to ignite curiosity and appreciation on a subject that you may have never experienced before – and Hillary does just that.

Hillary describes new construction plans at Wolf Point

I took the West Loop tour because I was currently working in that neighborhood and I didn’t know much about the area that surrounds me every day. Although a lot of people only come to the area for work, this is something that is rapidly changing due to revitalization efforts that are bringing more condos and apartments downtown into office buildings and old warehouse spaces.

Inside Chicago Walking Tours leads several different types of tours, but this one about the West Loop focuses on architectural development and the immigrant history of the area, mainly involving Polish and German populations. Chicago is a melting pot of old and new buildings, but the West Loop is an area that is concentrated with “Old AS New” buildings – old factories preserved and transformed into condos or office buildings, many with clues (facades, letters, logos, plaques in some cases) on the sides of the buildings that point us towards the secret history of the buildings.

The interior of Union Station

Haymarket Square statue

Some of our stops included in the tour were Old St. Pat’s Church (absolutely gorgeous), The French Market, and Union Station – made to make an impression (as guide Hillary says, “It’s like walking into architect Daniel Burnham’s brain”).

We also stopped at the site of the Haymarket Riots of 1866 where strikers demanded worker's rights. Wolf Point was another fascinating area (located where the Chicago River comes together making the “Y” shape) and learned about some of the original buildings from old, old Chicago.

Kayakers at Wolf Point

I will definitely be taking more of Hillary’s tours in the future. This is the kind of tour I really love – the kind that brings you out on the sidewalks with a small group, walking around and noticing the little thing you don’t take the time to notice when you’re in a bus or a car, or even while busily walking to work on your daily commute. I was so focused in on noticing the little things after taking this tour, that I managed to spot a bunch of monarch caterpillars munching away at some milkweed plants in the middle of a planter on Wacker Drive. Sometimes we’ve got to stop and smell the roses, especially living in a bustling city like Chicago.

A little bit of nature in the city - monarch caterpillars munching milkweed

I recommend this tour for:

-Single travelers

-Interesting date idea

-History buffs

-Adventurous types

I don't recommend this tour if:

- You aren't comfortable being on the go for 2 straight hours

Walking – 1.5-2 miles
Time – 2 hours