The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. In Illinois, it ran 96 miles (154 km) from the Chicago River in Bridgeport, Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru. The canal crossed the Chicago Portage, and helped establish Chicago as the transportation hub of the United States, before the railroad era. It was opened in 1848. Its function was partially replaced by the wider and deeper Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and it ceased transportation operations with the completion of the Illinois Waterway in 1933.
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 census, the city was the third-largest in Illinois, with a population of 150,362.
U.S. Route 12 is an east–west United States highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan, for almost 2,500 miles (4,000 km). The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90) and I-94, but unlike most U.S. routes that have been superseded by an Interstate, US 12 remains as an important link for local and regional destinations. The highway's western terminus is in Aberdeen, Washington, at an intersection with US 101, while the highway's eastern terminus is in Downtown Detroit, at the corner of Michigan and Cass avenues, near Campus Martius Park.
U.S. Route 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Missouri, in the west. Today, the highway's eastern terminus is in Independence Township, Michigan at an intersection with I-75, and its western terminus is near Minturn, Colorado at an intersection with I-70. The highway transitions from north–south to east–west signage at the Ohio-Michigan state line.
US Highway 16 (US 16), also called Grand River Avenue for much of its length in the state, was one of the principal roads prior to the post-World War II construction of freeways in the state of Michigan. Before the creation of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926, the highway had been designated as a state highway numbered M-16. The modern route of Grand River Avenue cuts across the Lower Peninsula in a northwest–southeast fashion from near Grand Rapids to Detroit. Before the late 1950s and early 1960s, US 16 followed other roads between Muskegon and Grand Rapids, and then Grand River Avenue through Lansing to Detroit. In the years immediately preceding the creation of the Interstate Highway System, US 16 was shifted from older roads to newer freeways. Later, it was co-designated as an Interstate. When the gap in the freeway was filled in around Lansing, the US 16 designation was decommissioned in the state. The freeway was solely designated Interstate 96 (I-96) east of Grand Rapids and I-196 west of that city.
Illinois Route 171 (IL 171) is a 38.61-mile-long (62.14 km) north–south state road 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.
Illinois Route 1 (IL 1) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Illinois. Running parallel to the Indiana border, the highway starts at the free ferry crossing to Kentucky at Cave-in-Rock on the Ohio River and runs north to the south side of Chicago as Halsted Street at an intersection with Interstate 57. This is a distance of 325.59 miles (523.99 km).
State Road 2 (SR 2) in the U.S. State of Indiana is an east–west route running from the Illinois border at Illinois Route 17 east to the outskirts of South Bend, Indiana, at the U.S. Route 20/U.S. Route 31 freeway, also known as the St. Joseph Valley Parkway. This is a distance of 80.98 miles (130.32 km).
U.S. Route 66 was a United States Numbered Highway in Illinois that connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, the Mother Road or Main Street of America, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. The highway had previously been Illinois Route 4 (IL 4) and the road has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55 (I-55). Parts of the road still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
U.S. Route 30 (US 30) is an east–west arterial surface road in northern Illinois. It runs from across the Mississippi River from Clinton, Iowa, to Lynwood at the Indiana state line. This is a distance of 153.79 miles (247.50 km).
US Highway 12 (US 12) is an east–west US Highway that runs from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan. In Michigan it runs for 210 miles (338 km) between New Buffalo and Detroit as a state trunkline highway and Pure Michigan Byway. On its western end, the highway is mostly a two-lane road that runs through the southern tier of counties roughly parallel to the Indiana state line. It forms part of the Niles Bypass, a four-lane expressway south of Niles in the southwestern part of the state, and it runs concurrently with the Interstate 94 (I-94) freeway around the south side of Ypsilanti in the southeastern. In between Coldwater and the Ann Arbor area, the highway angles northeasterly and passes the Michigan International Speedway. East of Ypsilanti, US 12 follows a divided highway routing on Michigan Avenue into Detroit, where it terminates at an intersection with Cass Avenue.
Shabbona, also known as Shabonee and Shaubena, was an Ottawa tribe member who became a chief within the Potawatomi tribe in Illinois during the 19th century.
Westchester Township is one of twelve townships in Porter County, Indiana. It is included in the Calumet, Northwest Indiana, and Great Lakes regions. It is located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Chicago. It stretches from the famous Indiana Dunes on its northern border, south to the Valparaiso Moraine, a ridge of rolling hills left by the last glacier to pass through the area. As of the 2010 census, its population was 19,396.
Door Village is an unincorporated community in Scipio Township, LaPorte County, Indiana. It was founded in 1836.
The Valparaiso Moraine is a recessional moraine that forms an immense U around the southern Lake Michigan basin in North America. It is the longest moraine. It is a band of hilly terrain composed of glacial till and sand. The Valparaiso Moraine forms part of the Saint Lawrence River Divide, bounding the Great Lakes Basin. It begins near the border of Wisconsin and Illinois and extends south through Lake, McHenry, Cook, DuPage and Will counties in Illinois, and then turns southeast, going through northwestern Indiana. From this point, the moraine curves northeast through Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties of Indiana into Michigan. It continues into Michigan as far as Montcalm County.
The Vincennes Trace was a major trackway running through what are now the American states of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Originally formed by millions of migrating bison, the Trace crossed the Ohio River near the Falls of the Ohio and continued northwest to the Wabash River, near present-day Vincennes, before it crossed to what became known as Illinois. This buffalo migration route, often 12 to 20 feet wide in places, was well known and used by American Indians. Later European traders and American settlers learned of it, and many used it as an early land route to travel west into Indiana and Illinois. It is considered the most important of the traces to the Illinois country.
U.S. Route 6 (US 6) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway that runs from California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. In Indiana, it is part of the Indiana State Road system that enters the state concurrent with the Borman Expressway between Lansing, Illinois, and Munster, Indiana. The 149.0 miles (239.8 km) of US 6 that lie within Indiana serve as a major conduit. Some sections of the highway is listed on the National Highway System. Various sections are rural two-lane highway and urbanized four-lane divided highways. The easternmost community along the highway is Butler at the Ohio state line.
The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It consists of routes for circumnavigating the lakes, either individually or collectively.
The Indiana Dunes are natural sand dunes occurring at the southern end of Lake Michigan in the American State of Indiana. They are known for their ecological significance. Many conservationists have played a role in preserving parts of the Indiana Dunes. The Hour Glass, a museum in Ogden Dunes, showcases some of the ecological import of the Dunes.
Territorial Road was the first main road through Michigan, from Detroit to Chicago, Illinois. In the 19th century, it led people from the Eastern United States through Michigan Territory. It was also called the Chicago Road.
