a kane county family bought an old farmhouse. turns out they bought documented resistance history.

a campton township family has been living in kane county’s first verified underground railroad safe house for eight years without knowing it. imagine finding out your drafty hallway once held actual courage. a family in campton township bought the joseph p. bartlett farm eight years ago and have mostly been trying to keep the kitchen from surrendering to gravity, which is relatable. the beams were rotten; they handled that first, like adults who own ladders and say things like “load-bearing.” now the national park service has designated it the first verified underground railroad safe house in kane county, after researchers traced it to joseph bartlett, who sheltered freedom seekers before the civil war. you think you’re buying a fixer-upper and instead you inherit documented moral courage in the subfloor. chicago real estate: sometimes it comes with abolition and a haunting sense of perspective..

the belmont tavern sat empty in avondale for 25 years. that’s long enough for several trends, two mayoral administrations, and at least one artisanal mayo era. it’s a cocktail bar now. nick kokonas has restored the belmont tavern at 3405 w. belmont into a cocktail bar, because buildings here simply molt and wait for a new personality to move in. over the past century it has been a grocery store, butcher shop, and saloon.

the white sox are in arizona and the optimism is already structurally unsound. munetaka murakami is signing autographs and batting practice photos have already reached “this could be our year” levels of emotional risk. hope is renewable energy, especially in february, when it has no track record yet.

aurora homeowners near the cyrusone data center say they hear it all day and feel it through the walls. the future is being assembled next to someone’s above-ground pool, humming like a very expensive box fan that never takes a personal day. artificial intelligence may transform humanity, but first it will gently rattle your deck furniture and raise questions about property values. progress is loud, actually.

dupage county paused early voting over the weekend after a court reinstated a candidate previously removed over alleged fake signatures. more than 740 people voted while her name wasn’t on the ballot. all votes count. the process is fine. democracy: now with bonus paperwork and a light administrative panic.

the morton arboretum is running large-scale model trains through its firefly pavilion in lisle through sunday. children walk through the miniature world at their own scale, experiencing awe without irony, which must be nice and medically fascinating. some adults will feel something ancient and tender and immediately blame allergies or pollen or “seasonal stuff.”

that 60-degree day felt great. your potholes noticed too. the freeze-thaw cycle this week is going to eat suburban roads alive, and the ones that were already sketchy in january are about to become full-on axle tests. take a photo of your tires right now. tread depth, sidewall condition, the whole thing. when you hit the crater on butterfield road next thursday and your alignment goes, you’ll want the before picture for your insurance claim. also: if you turned off your outdoor spigot covers because it felt like april, put them back. it’s not april.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

eat: libertad at 1835 w. north ave, wicker park— the skokie latin american spot that’s been around since 2011 just opened its first chicago location in the old las palmas building. same menu, new parking situation, slightly different existential dread. yes, you will say you’ve been going “since skokie,” and you will say it loudly.

do: music frozen dancing is a free outdoor punk and dance block party happening saturday, february 21 starting at 1pm outside the empty bottle on cortez in ukrainian village. there's a stage on a side street. people mosh anyway. this is the most chicago sentence i have ever written.

avoid: outbound brown line trains are skipping the western stop in lincoln square from thursday through march 1. if that’s your stop, rockwell exists, technically. the cta confirmed this is intentional, which is the most cta thing possible. not chaos, just destiny.

and hey — if you’d like to put your business in front of the readers of this very email, reply with a little about what you do. small, weird, or local: we like all three.

sand ridge nature center in the south suburbs has free self-guided underground railroad trail walks all month. fresh air, history, and context.

a writer spent 7,868 words in slate defending bar soap against a nation that defected to body wash. not about chicago, but it is about conviction and the quiet war happening in your shower caddy. you will emerge changed, or at least mildly judgmental in the soap aisle at target. growth comes in bars.

tips, sightings, things vibrating in your walls? reply with your neighborhood and one thing that made you stop and text someone “wait, what?” we’re listening. selectively.

talk tuesday.

-the chicago signal