Chicago Road

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Chicago Road is the name of a road from running Detroit, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois. It follows the general route of the old Sauk Trail, an important Indian trail. In 1680, the explorer Robert La Salle was probably the first European to travel along it. The disasters suffered in the War of 1812 taught the Government the bitter lesson that it could not defend the western country without roads over which to move its armies. In 1824, the United States Congress appropriated money for the survey of roads of national importance (General Survey Act of 1824), and the U.S. President allocated one third the entire sum to surveying a military highway connecting Detroit with Fort Dearborn at Chicago. From about 1830 on, an ever-increasing flood of settlers poured into the Old Northwest and thousands of them traveled the new highway leading to Chicago, which has ever since been called the Chicago Road. Its route is approximately represented by the former route of US 112 (now US 12). From Detroit to Ypsilanti, the road is known as Michigan Avenue

Source: Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940

[edit] External links

• Branch County Michigan Historical Marker for the Chicago Road
• Wayne County Michigan Historical Marker for the Chicago Road
• The Old Sauk Trail in Illinois
• Michigan's US 12 Heritage Trail
• Press Release for Educational DVD on the Chicago Road
• Press Release announcing US 12 designation as Historic Heritage Route