Chicago Portage National Historic Site

The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is located in Portage Woods Forest Preserve and Ottawa Trail Woods Forest Preserve. Portage Woods Forest Preserve is located at 4800 S. Harlem in Lyons, Illinois on the west side of Harlem Avenue (7200W) just north of the Stevenson Expressway (Interstate 55). The Chicago Portage is the birthplace of Chicago. A small portion of the historic connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi waterways is preserved in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s Portage Woods and Ottawa Trail Woods in Lyons, Illinois. It is one of only two National Historic Sites in Illinois and one of the few in the country that is not owned by the National Park Service.