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Highland Park, Illinois: Shoe Tree (Gone)

Its branches had been draped with offerings of footwear since the 1960s.

Directions:
From Chicago, take US 94 West. Exit I-22 aka Half Day Road. Make a left on Ridge Rd. The shoe tree is on your right as the road forks. Make sure you look up, the tree is right next to the road on someone's property. There is nowhere to park right next to the tree -- park down the street at the Berkley Prairie Forest Preserve. You will come to it about one minute before the shoe tree.
Hours:
July 2014: Reported gone. Private property. Visible from road.
Status:
Gone

Visitor Tips and News About Shoe Tree

Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.

Shoe Tree

The shoe tree is no more. Neighbors told us the property was sold and the new owner took down all the shoes.

[Hugh Spencer, 07/22/2014]
Shoe Tree

I grew up one block from the magnificent Berkley Road shoe tree. In the 1960s the tree was large, with many branches, and oh so many shoes! When I returned to my home town on a visit, it was sad to see that the tree had aged and had few branches. I now have my own shoe tree up at my cabin in northern Wisconsin, where its branches hold many well-worn shoes from marathons and triathalons. It holds many memories with those shoes. Every time someone asks, "What's with the shoes?," I tell them about the great shoe tree on Berkley Road!

[dconran, 07/31/2012]
Shoe Tree - Vague Recollections

I grew up literally 4 blocks from the Highland Park Shoe Tree. This shoe tree is at Berkeley Rd. and Ridge Rd., on Ridge Rd. I was born in 1969 and have been seeing this tree for as long as I can remember! What an oddball thing, but crazy, kooky, and something we always noticed! What's more, we'd always notice when there were new shoes in the tree!

[Hammstah, 10/20/2009]
Shoe Tree

I was salivating over some of the sweet looking shoe trees on roadsideamerica.com and I was seriously dying to add to one. Unfortunately, I could not find one near me. I was psyched when I saw that there was one in Highland Park, IL, which we would be passing through. Armed with my step-dad's dress shoes we finally hunted it down. Sadly, there was probably only half a dozen pairs on the tree. Still, I added my step-dad's shoes. After all, don't these shoe trees need our shoes the most?

[Jacob Krejci, 04/08/2009]
Shoe Tree

Shoe Tree of Highland Park.

[Jennifer Harrison, 10/27/2004]

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