Route 66 in Chicago Postcard Set
Cover of the 15 Postcard Set
Packed in a clear vinyl resealable pouch, 6.5” x 2.8” Scroll down to see all of the 15 individual Postcards. (Note: the descriptions below are the same as the descriptive captions on the reverse of each card.)
Click above to see larger images of Postcards 1-4
Postcards 1-4. Clockwise from top left: 1. Ogden Avenue Ogden Avenue became a state highway in 1919, and by the start of Route 66 in 1927, the Chicago city directory listed 14 filling stations, eight automobile supply and towing companies, and a half-dozen automobile sales concerns along the thoroughfare. This 1933 photograph shows the service department of Buresch Motor Sales, a Packard dealership, at 4038 W. Ogden Ave. 2. Ogden Boulevard Ogden Boulevard ran southwest towards Douglas Park in the eventual Route 66 corridor. In 1907, grass parkways separated a center driveway for through two-way traffic and streetcars from one-way side drives. 3. Jackson and Michigan This image from about 1916 shows early traffic control equipment at the “route center” intersection of Jackson and Michigan Boulevards, the eastern beginning point of Route 66 starting in 1926. A 1920 traffic check conducted by the B.F. Goodrich Company found 36,665 automobiles passing through the intersection in a 12-hour period. 4. Michigan Boulevard In this c. 1921 image of Michigan Boulevard looking north, the Illinois Central lakefront tracks on the right are shown below grade, and some improvements to Grant Park are evident. Chicago’s route center at Jackson and Michigan Boulevards was emerging in advance of the coming of Route 66.
Return to Gift Shop/Order Page
Click above to see larger images of Postcards 5-8
Postcards 5-8. Clockwise from top left: 5. Grant Park Starting in 1916, Chicago created new parkland east of the Illinois Central tracks with clay and dirt excavated from construction sites and underground tunneling projects. The expanded Grant Park became Chicago’s lakefront emerald jewel. The road in this aerial view running diagonally through Grant Park is Jackson Drive (Route 66 after 1937). 6. Art Institute With the 1953 rerouting of westbound Route 66, the Art Institute of Chicago, pictured here in 1917, became part of the highway’s corridor. This 1893 building was one of the first improvements in the area west of Michigan Boulevard that would become Grant Park in 1901. 7. Douglas Park Structures with a water theme are scattered along Chicago’s Route 66 corridor. This image shows boater on holiday in Douglas Park around 1915. The lagoon served aesthetic and recreational purposes but was also functional; it helped drain the rest of parkland, which had been a swampy prairie. 8. Adams Street Bridge This photograph shows the 1889 Adams Street bridge, a steam-driven swing bridge that would pivot 90 degrees to allow ships to pass. A weakness of the swing bridge design was a need for a pier for the central pivot, which narrowed the navigation channel. Adams Street would become westbound Route 66 in 1953.
Return to Gift Shop/Order Page
Click above to see larger images of Postcards 9-12
Postcards 9-12. Clockwise from top left: 9. Illinois Central Depot The Illinois Central built the station shown here south of Grant Park at Michigan Boulevard and Twelfth Street in 1893. The tracks running north from the station towards the left terminated at a rail yard on the south bank of the Chicago River. Chicago’s railroads made the city the Gateway to the West, blazing the trail for Route 66. 10. Union Station The new 1924 Union Station had the capacity for 700 trains and 400,000 passengers per day. However the new station’s tenants were the same that used old Union Station. Other railroads resisted civic pressure to relocate, citing their investment in their own facilities. Jackson Boulevard (Route 66) is the thoroughfare left of the station. 11. Raklios From the 1900s through the 1930s, John Raklios had over 20 restaurants in Chicago. Four of the chain’s restaurants were on the original alignment of Route 66 and all were within two miles of the route. The Raklios chain was unable to survive the Great Depression. 12. Cable Car Chicago’s first electric trolley began operation in 1893, but city ordinance prohibited overhead electric wires in the downtown area until 1905. The foreground of this photograph shows a State Street cable car just north of Adams Street pulling a horsecar and a trolley car. Streetcar service was terminated on Adams Street in 1952, one year before it would become westbound Route 66.
Return to Gift Shop/Order Page
Click above to view larger images of Postcards 13-15
Postcards 13-15. Left to Right: 13. Chicago Board of Trade Building The 1930 Chicago Board of Trade building, located on Jackson Boulevard (Route 66) and shown here in 1969, was one of Chicago’s tallest buildings when completed. The architectural firm of Holabird and Root designed the limestone-clad art deco masterpiece. A pyramidal roof with an aluminum statue of Ceres at the apex tops the 45-story, 612-foot-tall structure. 14. View from the Straus Building This c. 1929 photograph shows the view from atop the Straus Building (located on Route 66 on Jackson) looking north along Michigan Boulevard. The Peoples Gas Building is in the near foreground. Dominating the skyline are the 1927 Pittsfield Building on the left and the 1929 Willoughby Tower on the right. The slender 1928 Mather Tower is in the center background, left of the Willoughby. 15. Stratford Hotel The Stratford Hotel helped establish Jackson Boulevard (Route 66 starting in 1926) as a thoroughfare with ample amenities for visitors to Chicago. As seen in this photograph taken between 1912 and 1918, motorcars could park in the center of wider thoroughfares such as Michigan Boulevard in the early motor age.
