Postcard: A Suburb Hopes for One More Delay at O'Hare

As one of America's most congested airports modernizes, a suburb in its shadow faces demolition. Hoping for one more delay at O'Hare

Chris Strong for TIME

Bob Rackow is one of the last remaining residents of his Bensenville neighborhood.

When the people left, the animals moved in. Deer, skunks and rabbits creep through the streets of Bensenville, Ill., a blue collar community nestled against the edge of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Rows of houses, a few still ribboned with Christmas lights, lie empty, their doors boarded up. Low-flying jets pierce the silence. Police still patrol for vandals, and contractors tend to unkempt lawns, but in the fading afternoon light, parts of this eerie village resemble a ghost town.

The exodus from Bensenville was spurred not by decay but by development. The suburb squats in the crosshairs of a $15 billion...

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