Local Illinois Roads Way Back When-- Part 1-- 1917

The Route 66 Association of Illinois has an excellent spot on their website where you can go back inti state road maps of the state back to 1917 as shown on the Illinois Digital Archives.

http://www.il66assoc.org/ Look for historical maps in upper right corner and click on it.

The 1917 was a map showing marked roads, not necessarily (and most likely not) paved ones.

There was one going from Waukegan through to Warrenton (no longer a town in Lake County, but probably where Gurnee is today), Hainesville, Volo, McHenry, Woodstock, Marengo, Garden Prairie, Belvidere, Cherry Valley, Rockford.

After Rockford, it had the name Grant Highway. Then, on to Freeport, Pearl City, Kent, Stockton, Woodbine, Elizabeth, Galena, East Dubuque and then Dubuque, Iowa.


The stretch between Waukegan and Woodstock is today Illinois Highway 120. From Marengo to Dubuque, the road is today US-20 and within the last several years has had US Grant Highway signage installed.

I also looked at the road going from Marengo to Chicago through Hampshire, Pingree Cove, Elgin, Ontarioville (no longer exists), Bloomingdale, Addison, and Maywood. It corresponds with US-20 today.

Of course, back in 1917, this was before the roads were numbered.

Something Worth Checking Out If You're Into Old Roads. --RoadDog