Sheridan Road

Last updated
Sheridan Road
Philip H. Sheridan Memorial Road
Historic Illinois Route 42
Entrance to Loyola Park, Chicago.jpg
Sheridan Road at Greenleaf Avenue, located at Loyola Park
Sheridan Road
Sheridan Road in red
Signed alternative streets in blue
Closed portion in black
Part of
Length62.1 mi (99.9 km)
South end Diversey Parkway in Chicago, IL (2800 North)
North end25th and Racine Streets in Racine, WI

Sheridan Road is a major north-south street that leads from Diversey Parkway [1] in Chicago, Illinois, north to the Illinois-Wisconsin border and beyond to Racine. Throughout most of its run, it is the easternmost north-south through street, closest to Lake Michigan. From Chicago, it passes through Chicago's wealthy lakeside North Shore suburbs, and then Waukegan and Zion, until it reaches the Illinois-Wisconsin state line in Winthrop Harbor. In Wisconsin, the road leads north through Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha, until it ends on the south side of Racine, in Mount Pleasant.

Contents

From North Chicago to the state line, Sheridan Road is signed as part of Illinois Route 137 in Illinois, and Wisconsin Highway 32 through Kenosha and Racine in Wisconsin. Sheridan Road is known for its historic sites, lakefront parks, and gracious mansion homes in Evanston through Lake Bluff.

Chicago path

History

A suburban extension of Chicago's Lake Shore Drive to Waukegan was first promoted by the North Shore Improvement Association in the late 1880s. [4] In 1889 this road was named Sheridan Road for Philip Henry Sheridan, [5] a general in the Civil War who coordinated military relief efforts in Chicago following the Great Chicago Fire. Much of the route had been laid out by 1893, [6] and in 1894 it was proposed that the new road should be extended to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. [4] Progress on the construction of the road was slowed by local opposition in some of the communities that it was to pass through, and construction was not completed until 1918. [7]

A statue of Sheridan by artist Gutzon Borglum was placed alongside Sheridan Road and Belmont Avenue in Chicago's Lincoln Park in 1924. [8]

Illinois 42.svg
Illinois Route 42
Location Winthrop HarborChicago, Illinois
Existed1918–1972 [9]

Sheridan Road in Illinois was signed as Illinois Route 42 in 1924; the original route ran along Sheridan Road from the Wisconsin border to Waukegan, then turned west along Washington Street, south along Green Bay Road (now part of IL 131), east along Rockland Road (now part of IL 176) before running south along Waukegan Road (now mostly part of IL 43). [10]

In 1925, Route 42 was realigned to include all of Sheridan Road in Illinois; the route continued south to the Indiana border at Hammond, and the old route became Illinois Route 42A. [11]

In 1929, the southern terminus of Route 42 was changed to the south end of Sheridan Road as US 41 supplanted the southern part of the route. This made the route coextensive with the Illinois portion of Sheridan Road. [12]

In 1930, Wisconsin Highway 42 was designated along the road in Wisconsin.

In 1951, the WIS 42 designation was replaced by a WIS 32 one.

Throughout the 1960s, much of the road was rebuilt with the construction of Interstate 43.

Route 42 was removed from the state highway system in 1972. [13] [9]

In 1974, as part of the Amstutz Expressway's construction, [14] the road was narrowed to two lanes and a overpass built in Waukegan.

The road was designated as part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour in 1988. [15]

Browse numbered routes
Illinois 41.svg IL 41 IL 42Illinois 43.svg IL 43

Places of interest

There are several landmarks and places of interest along Sheridan Road. In order from southernmost to northernmost:

See also

Footnotes

  1. "Sheridan Road" (Map). Google Maps .
  2. "Sheridan Road" (Map). Google Maps . Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. Hayner, Don & McNamee, Tom (1988). "Sheridan Road". Streetwise Chicago. Loyola University Press. p. 117. ISBN   0-8294-0597-6.
  4. 1 2 Ebner, Michael H (1988). Creating Chicago's North Shore: A Suburban History. University of Chicago Press. pp. 105–114. ISBN   0-226-18205-3.
  5. "It Is 'Sheridan Road': Chicago's New Drive Has Now A 'Local Habituation and a Name'". Chicago Daily Tribune. February 24, 1889.
  6. "Winds Down Ravines. Completion of the Sheridan Road in the Woods". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 16, 1893.
  7. Smith, Ray (February 1918). "Sheridan Road, Connecting Chicago and Milwaukee, to be Completed in 1918". Municipal Engineering. 54 (2): 87. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  8. "Sheridan Now Rides Forever on North Side". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 17, 1924.
  9. 1 2 Illinois Department of Transportation (1972). Illinois Official Highway Map (Map). [1:772,500]. Springfield: Illinois Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 27, 2013 via Illinois Digital Archives.
  10. Illinois Secretary of State (1924). Illinois Official Auto Trails Map (Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State. Retrieved February 27, 2013 via Illinois Digital Archives.
  11. Illinois Secretary of State (1925). Illinois Official Auto Trails Map (Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State. Retrieved February 27, 2013 via Illinois Digital Archives.
  12. Illinois Secretary of State; H.M. Gousha (1929). Illinois Official Auto Road Map (Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State. Retrieved February 27, 2013 via Illinois Digital Archives.
  13. Illinois Division of Highways; Rand McNally (1971). Illinois Official Highway Map (Map). [1:772,500]. Springfield: Illinois Division of Highways. Retrieved February 27, 2013 via Illinois Digital Archives.
  14. Flink, John (May 17, 1998). "The Road to Nowhere: If Traffic Were Meant to Fly, All Roads Would Be Like the Amstutz Expressway". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017.
  15. "About Schooner Coast, Manitowoc, Two Rivers". Manitowoc–Two Rivers Travel Information. Retrieved November 10, 2020.

42°3′17.2″N87°40′37.9″W / 42.054778°N 87.677194°W / 42.054778; -87.677194