Ogden Avenue is a street extending from the Near West Side of Chicago to Montgomery, Illinois. It was named for William B. Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago.

Ogden Avenue
William B. Ogden Memorial Highway
Ogden Avenue at Pulaski and Cermak, looking toward the Loop
Part of US 34 / Historic US 66
Length37.5 mi (60.4 km)
LocationChicago
West end US 30 in Montgomery
North endChestnut St., just past Milwaukee Ave. and Chicago Ave. in Chicago

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]

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.

The street intersects Interstate 90/Interstate 94/Kennedy Expressway in Chicago, Interstate 294/Tri-State Tollway in Western Springs, Interstate 355 in Lisle.

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. Because of this, 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. Further outside Chicago, a portion of the roadway from Harlem Avenue through the western suburbs carries U.S. Route 34. U.S Route 34 carries the name of Ogden Av. from Chicago westbound to Aurora, Illinois. Ogden Av. 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, Illinois; and Oswego, Illinois.

Major intersections

edit
CountyLocationmi[3]kmDestinationsNotes
KendallOswego 
 
US 34 west
Continuation beyond Ogden Falls Boulevard
OswegoMontgomery line0.00.0 
 
US 30 west (Ogden Falls Boulevard)
Western terminus; western end of US 30 concurrency
Montgomery0.40.64 
 
  US 30 east / Lincoln Highway (Hill Avenue)
Eastern end of US 30 concurrency
Kane
No major junctions
DuPageAurora3.96.3 
 
CR 33 east (75th Street)
AuroraNaperville line5.08.0  IL 59
Naperville7.411.9 
 
CR 1 north (Raymond Drive)
Ogden continues at right fork, northern section continues as Raymond Drive
9.014.5 
 
CR 32 north (Mill Street)
11.117.9 
 
CR 23 north (Naper Boulevard)
Lisle12.620.3  CR 40 (Yackley Avenue)
13.321.4  IL 53 (Lincoln Avenue)Interchange
Downers GroveLisle line14.523.3 
 
 
 
 
 
I-88 Toll (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) / I-355 Toll (Veterans Memorial Tollway) / IL 110 (CKC)
Downers Grove15.524.9 
 
CR 52 north (Cross Street)
15.925.6  CR 2 (Finley Avenue (north) Belmont Avenue (south))
16.927.2 
 
CR 9 north (Main Street)
17.728.5 
 
CR 25 north (Fairview Avenue)
Westmont18.730.1 
 
CR 15 north (Cass Avenue)
WestmontClarendon Hills
Hinsdale tripoint
20.232.5  IL 83 (Kingery Highway)Interchange
CookHinsdaleWestern Springs line22.035.4 
 
I-294 Toll (Tri-State Tollway) – Wisconsin, Indiana
Western SpringsWestchester line22.836.7  CR W22 (Wolf Road)
La Grange24.339.1    US 12 / US 20 / US 45 (LaGrange Road)
La GrangeBrookfield line24.839.9CR W27 south (East Avenue)
Lyons26.242.2  IL 171 (1st Avenue)
LyonsRiverside
Berwyn tripoint
27.944.9  
 
IL 43 (Harlem Avenue) / US 34 ends
Eastern end of US 34 concurrency; eastern terminus of US 34
Cicero31.250.2  IL 50 (Cicero Avenue)Quadrant interchange
Chicago32.452.1CR W43 south (Pulaski Road)
34.655.7CR W96 (Western Avenue)
37.259.9 
 
 
 
I-90 west / I-94 west (Kennedy Expressway)
Westbound I-90/I-94 entrance; eastbound I-90/I-94 exit
37.560.4West Chestnut StreetEastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

edit
  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. ^ "Overview map of Ogden Avenue" (Map). Google Maps.
edit

  Media related to Ogden Avenue, Chicago at Wikimedia Commons

41°52′29.7″N 87°40′25.9″W / 41.874917°N 87.673861°W / 41.874917; -87.673861