Route 66 in Chicago: A Beginning and An End

Jackson Blvd. & Adams St., at Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
Phone:

East < GO > West

This is where we started our first trip down the Mother Road in 2009. Route 66 moved around a lot between it's origin in 1926 and it's final decommissioning in 1985, as you'll see that was true at the very east end in Chicago as well as along most of the highway between there and Santa Monica in California.

Today the "Begin Route 66" sign is located on W. Adams St. just west of S. Michigan Ave. Adams is a one-way heading west that wasn't part of the original Route 66, but it became the westbound alignment when Jackson Blvd. became a one way eastbound street in the mid-1950's.

This 2009 photo shows the End Route 66 sign on Jackson Blvd. just west of Michigan Ave.This was the original eastern end of U. S. Route 66. At the time Jackson was a two way street and carried traffic going both east and west. That end point only lasted until the mid-1930's when the east end of 66 was moved about three blocks farther east to it's intersection with Lake Shore Drive.

That realignment happened when U.S. Hwy. 41 was moved from Michigan Ave. to Lake Shore Dr. That lasted until Route 66 was decommissioned in Chicago in 1976.

Today Jackson Blvd. is a one-way east bound street west of Michigan Ave., but a two way street from east of Michigan to Lake Shore Drive. Because of the way streets are named in Chicago those last few blocks are called Jackson Drive.

This is the view looking west on Jackson through Grant Park from Lake Shore Drive.

This is what you see when you get to Lake Shore Drive. I don't know how many sail boats are moored here (Monroe Harbor), but it's a pretty cool thing to see so close to the center of the city. If you look carefully towards the left and just beyond the boats in this photo you can see the breakwater protecting the harbor.

Photo(s): 2009