Ogden Avenue

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 34 in Chicago. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 34.

Ogden Avenue

William B. Ogden Memorial Highway
Ogden Avenue at Pulaski and Cermak, looking toward the Loop
Part of	US 34 from Oswego – Montgomery line to the Lyons – Riverside – Berwyn tripoint US 30 in Montgomery
Length	37.5 mi (60.4 km)
Location	Kendall, Kane, DuPage and Cook counties in Illinois, United States
Southwest end	US 30  / US 34 at the Oswego – Montgomery line
Major junctions	US 30  / Lincoln Highway in Montgomery IL 83 at the Westmont – Clarendon Hills – Hinsdale tripoint I-294 Toll in Hinsdale – Western Springs line US 12  / US 20  / US 45 in La Grange IL 171 in Lyons US 34  / IL 43 at the Lyons– Riverside – Berwyn tripoint IL 50 in Cicero I-90  / I-94 in West Town, Chicago
Northeast end	Chestnut Street

Ogden Avenue is a street extending from West Town of Chicago to Montgomery in the U.S. state of Illinois. It was named for William B. Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago.

A portion of Ogden Avenue west of Harlem Avenue is part of U.S. Route 34. Ogden Avenue ends when U.S. Route 34 leaves Aurora at the intersection of U.S. Route 34 and U.S. Route 30 on the border of Aurora, Montgomery, and Oswego.

The street intersects Interstate 90/Interstate 94 (Kennedy Expressway) in Chicago, Interstate 294 (Tri-State Tollway) in Western Springs, and Interstate 355 in Lisle. The intersection of U.S. Route 34 (Ogden Avenue) and U.S. Route 12/U.S. Route 20/U.S. Route 45 (LaGrange Road) is one of the few places where four U.S. Routes intersect.

History

The street follows the route of the Southwestern Plank Road, a plank road opened in 1848 across swampy terrain between Chicago and Riverside, Illinois, and, by 1851, extended to Naperville. ^[1]

In the 1920s the broad avenue became an important arterial carrying auto traffic through the city's West Side. Portions of the avenue carried U.S. Route 66 from the city through adjacent suburbs. It carried US 32 until 1934. Ogden Avenue used to carry U.S. Route 34 to its end as well.

Former extension to Lincoln Park

The 1909 Plan of Chicago recommended an entire network of new diagonal streets, but the only one ever built was the extension in the 1920s of Ogden from Union Park through the Old Town neighborhood to end at Clark Street opposite Lincoln Park. This extension, largely built in the 1920s, was completed in 1934 with bridges and a connecting viaduct across Goose Island and the North Branch of the Chicago River. ^[2] In the late 1960s, as part of an urban renewal project for Old Town, the street was vacated in this area and sold off for development. In recent decades, additional portions of Ogden have been abandoned and vacated. The avenue now ends a short distance north of Chicago Avenue. ^[3]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi [4]	km	Destinations	Notes
Kendall	Oswego–Montgomery line	0.0	0.0	US 30 west (Ogden Falls Boulevard) / US 34 west	Western terminus; western end of US 30 and US 34 concurrencies
	Montgomery	0.4	0.64	US 30 east / Lincoln Highway (Hill Avenue)	Eastern end of US 30 concurrency
Kane	No major junctions
DuPage	Aurora	3.9	6.3	CR 33 east (75th Street)
	Aurora–Naperville line	5.0	8.0	IL 59
	Naperville	7.4	11.9	CR 1 north (Raymond Drive)	Ogden continues at right fork, northern section continues as Raymond Drive
		9.0	14.5	CR 32 north (Mill Street)
		11.1	17.9	CR 23 north (Naper Boulevard)
	Lisle	12.6	20.3	CR 40 (Yackley Avenue)
		13.3	21.4	IL 53 (Lincoln Avenue)	Interchange
	Downers Grove–Lisle line	14.5	23.3	I-88 Toll (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) / I-355 Toll (Veterans Memorial Tollway) / IL 110 (CKC)
	Downers Grove	15.5	24.9	CR 52 north (Cross Street)
		15.9	25.6	CR 2 (Finley Avenue (north) Belmont Avenue (south))
		16.9	27.2	CR 9 north (Main Street)
		17.7	28.5	CR 25 north (Fairview Avenue)
	Westmont	18.7	30.1	CR 15 north (Cass Avenue)
	Westmont–Clarendon Hills– Hinsdale tripoint	20.2	32.5	IL 83 (Kingery Highway)	Interchange
Cook	Hinsdale–Western Springs line	22.0	35.4	I-294 Toll (Tri-State Tollway) – Wisconsin, Indiana
	Western Springs–Westchester line	22.8	36.7	CR W22 (Wolf Road)
	La Grange	24.3	39.1	US 12  / US 20  / US 45 (LaGrange Road)
	La Grange–Brookfield line	24.8	39.9	CR W27 south (East Avenue)
	Lyons	26.2	42.2	IL 171 (1st Avenue)
	Lyons–Riverside– Berwyn tripoint	27.9	44.9	IL 43 (Harlem Avenue) / US 34 ends	Eastern end of US 34 concurrency; eastern terminus of US 34
	Cicero	31.2	50.2	IL 50 (Cicero Avenue)	Quadrant interchange
	Chicago	32.4	52.1	CR W43 south (Pulaski Road)
		34.6	55.7	CR W96 (Western Avenue)
		37.2	59.9	I-90 west / I-94 west (Kennedy Expressway)	Westbound I-90/I-94 entrance; eastbound I-90/I-94 exit
		37.5	60.4	West Chestnut Street	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi        Concurrency terminus        Electronic toll collection        Incomplete access

References

1. Chicago's Highways Old and New From Indian Trail to Motor Road, Milo M. Quaife, D. F. Keller & Company, Chicago, 1923
2. "Begin Final Link of Ogden Avenue Drive This Week," 1934 . Retrieved October 9, 2014.
3. Beaubien, Greg (November 25, 1993). "The Disappearing Street". Chicago Reader. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
4. "Overview map of Ogden Avenue" (Map). Google Maps .

External links

• Media related to Ogden Avenue, Chicago at Wikimedia Commons
• Ogden Avenue history and photography at Forgotten Chicago