Sag Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 41°41′45″N87°56′10″W / 41.69583°N 87.93611°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Illinois |
County | Cook |
Elevation | 623 ft (190 m) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
Postal code | 60439 |
Area code | 708 |
Sag Bridge, Illinois is an Unincorporated community in Lemont Township in southwestern Cook County, Illinois, United States. [1] Sag Bridge is an important waterway junction between the Calumet Sag Channel and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. It is also the junction of IL 83 (Kingery Highway) and IL 171 (Archer Avenue) which meet at Sag Bridge to cross the Calumet Sag Channel together on the eponymous bridge. The community was named for a predecessor of the present bridge. It is within the village limits and postal delivery zone of Lemont, Illinois.
Other than the bridge for which it was named and the canal that the bridge crosses, the most significant feature of the community is the historic St. James at Sag Bridge Catholic Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sag Bridge exists at a significant geophysical point, at the confluence of the Sag Outlet and DesPlaines Outlet from historic Lake Chicago, which joined at this point to form the Chicago Outlet River and eventually flow into the Illinois River and the Mississippi River. Those two outlets isolated a portion of the Valparaiso Moraine called Mount Forest Island, which today forms part of the Palos Forest Preserves, part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.
Later, several Native American trails passed through the area, including the ancient trail that evolved into modern Archer Avenue (Illinois Route 171).
The high bluff of Mount Forest Island overlooking this critical location has served as a lookout for centuries. The French fort on the site was visited by Father Jacques Marquette on his journeys on the Des Plaines River several times in 1673. [2]
The community was settled by workers building the Illinois and Michigan Canal, who established their historic church in 1833. Rock quarries developed there in the mid-19th century due to the combination of an abundant supply of quality stone, and convenient transportation on the nearby canal. Though the quarries themselves no longer operate, businesses selling stone products continue in the Sag Bridge area today. [3]
Nothing remains of the original bridge at Sag Bridge, except for an isolated remnant of Old Archer Avenue leading to the south bank of its former site, which today provides access for fishing and hiking in the Sag Quarries [4] area of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.
On March 27, 1991, a tornado caused significant damage to Lemont and Sag Bridge, including the historic St. James Church and cemetery. [5]
The most recent bridge at Sag Bridge was built in 1934, and carries both IL 83 and IL 171 across the Calumet Sag Channel. This classic, 4-lane Pennsylvania through truss bridge is still structurally sound today; however, it is rated "functionally obsolete" due to growing traffic volumes, especially at the congested awkward 5-way signalized intersection just north of the bridge where routes 83 and 171 diverge. [6]
Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,629 as of the 2020 census. The village is situated on a hillside along the south banks of the Des Plaines River. It overlooks Waterfall Glen's Midwestern Bluff Savanna on the opposite side. Lemont is home to Argonne National Laboratory and other heavy industrial sites, and has a substantial European immigrant population.
Darien is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 22,011. A southwestern suburb of Chicago, Darien was named after the town of Darien, Connecticut. Darien is just north of I-55 and Historic U.S. Route 66. The entire south edge of the town borders Waterfall Glen.
The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the former flowing west from Indiana into Illinois, then turning back east to its mouth at Lake Michigan at Marquette Park in Gary. Now the system is part of the Chicago Area Waterway System and through the use of locks flows away from Lake Michigan to the Cal-Sag Channel.
Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled auxiliary Interstate Highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Forming the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois, I-294 runs from South Holland at I-80/I-94 and Illinois Route 394 (IL 394) to Northbrook at I-94. I-294 is 53.42 miles (85.97 km) long; 5.32 miles (8.56 km) are shared with I-80. It serves as a bypass around the city of Chicago.
Illinois Route 50 (IL 50) is a 66.49-mile-long (107.01 km) north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from the junction with U.S. Route 45 (US 45) and U.S. Route 52 (US 52) in West Kankakee north to US 41 in Skokie. In Chicago and the suburbs, it is known as Cicero Avenue. Before this, Cicero Avenue was previously known as 48th Avenue, owing to its City of Chicago address of 4800 West.
Illinois Route 171 (IL 171) is a 38.61-mile-long (62.14 km) north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in Joliet north to Illinois Route 72 at the Chicago–Park Ridge border. The section of IL 171 on Archer Avenue from Joliet to Summit is historically significant, originating as a Native American trail, and later serving for a time as part of the first numbered highway between St. Louis and Chicago.
Roads and expressways in Chicago summarizes the main thoroughfares and the numbering system used in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.
Riverdale is one of the 77 official community areas of Chicago, Illinois and is located on the city's far south side.
Archer Avenue, sometimes known as Archer Road outside the Chicago, Illinois city limits, and also known as State Street only in Lockport, Illinois and Fairmont, Illinois city limits, is a street running northeast-to-southwest between Chicago's Chinatown and Lockport. Archer follows the original trail crossing the Chicago Portage between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River, and parallels the path of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Joliet Subdivision of the Alton Railroad. As a main traffic artery, it has largely been replaced by the modern Stevenson Expressway.
Lake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes. Formed about 13,000 years ago and fed by retreating glaciers, it drained southwest through the Chicago Outlet River.
The Calumet-Saganashkee Channel, usually shortened to the Cal-Sag Channel, is a 16-mile-long (26 km) drainage and shipping canal in southern Cook County, Illinois, operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). A component of the Chicago Area Waterway System, it connects the Little Calumet River at its eastern end to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at its western end.
The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages land containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes. These land holdings are primarily managed as undeveloped natural areas and for outdoor recreation. The Forest Preserve District encompasses approximately 70,000 acres of land or approximately 11% of the land in Cook County, which contains the city of Chicago and is the most densely populated urban metropolitan area in the Midwest. The Forest Preserves also owns the lands on which the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden operate, and its Chicago Portage area preserve is also affiliated with the United States National Park Service.
The 11th congressional district of Illinois is represented by Democrat Bill Foster.
Lemont Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,645 and it contained 8,580 housing units.
Palos Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 56,836, with its most populous municipality being Palos Hills. The vast majority of the township's population resides in its eastern half; the half west of La Grange Road consists of the Palos Forest Preserves, a section of the Cook County Forest Preserves. In 1850 the small town of Trenton, Illinois changed its name to Palos; this recommendation was made by M.S. Powell, the local postmaster, whose ancestor supposedly sailed with Christopher Columbus from Palos de la Frontera. When it incorporated as a village in 1914, Palos officially became Palos Park. Nearby communities incorporated later: Hickory Hills, in 1951, and Palos Hills, in 1958. All three municipalities lie completely or substantially within Palos Township. Palos Heights, partially in Worth Township, incorporated in 1959.
U.S. Route 45 in the state of Illinois is a major north–south U.S. Highway that runs from the Brookport Bridge over the Ohio River at Brookport north through rural sections of eastern Illinois and then through the suburbs of Chicago to the Wisconsin state line east of Antioch. This is a distance of 428.99 miles (690.39 km). US 45 is the longest numbered route in Illinois.
The Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway, or C&JE, was an electric interurban railway linking the cities of Chicago and Joliet, Illinois. It was the only interurban between those cities and provided a link between the streetcar network of Chicago and the cities along the Des Plaines River Valley in north central Illinois, which were served by the Illinois Valley Division of the Illinois Traction System.
95th Street is a major east–west highway on Chicago's South Side, and in the southwest suburbs, is designated as 9500 South in Chicago's address system. 95th Street is 11 miles (18 km) south of Madison Street.
St. James Catholic Church and Cemetery, also known as St. James at Sag Bridge Church is a historic church and cemetery in the Sag Bridge area of the village of Lemont, Illinois. It is situated on a high bluff at the western tip of the glacier-carved Mount Forest Island, overlooking the Calumet Sag Channel and the community of Sag Bridge.
Horace Meach Singer was an American businessman and politician from New York. Coming with his father to Lockport, Illinois work on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, Singer rose to become superintendent of repairs. In the course of his work, he came across a large quarry near Lemont, Illinois and established a company to mine it. Singer & Talcott was in operation until 1889. In 1866, Singer served a term in the Illinois House of Representatives, then was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in the 1870s.