Illinois’ ‘Weirdest Tourist Attraction’ Is About An Hour From Rockford
If you find yourself bored and want to see something you think you'd probably never set eyes on, all you need to do is drive an hour east of Rockford.
Seriously, have you dreamed of going to Italy but know it's not going to happen?
Always wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa in all of it's angular glory?
Well, you're kind of in luck. That's because just down the road from us in Niles, sits the Leaning Tower of Niles. It's for real, I've seen it. It didn't make any sense to me the first time I saw it but yes, it exists.
America's Leaning Tower was built in 1934 (600 years after the original) by businessman Bob Ilg, who anchored it in concrete so that its lean would stay consistent. Originally it was a utility tower, made from steel, concrete, and precast stone, designed to hide water filtration tanks for Ilg's employee swimming pool.
Cheapism thought it's such a weird thing, they included it in their list of 87 Weird Tourist Attractions Across America.
No matter how weird it might be, it's an Instagram worthy stop in Illinois that now makes total sense.
After a bit of researching, I found this interesting nugget: Niles has an Italian sister city. Any guesses? Pisa. You know, the city that's home to the original Leaning Tower of Pisa.
How about that for sister city synergy?
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