The Region's Past (History)

THE CHICAGO SOUTHLAND...THE NATION'S CROSSROADS

Since the time of our nation's discovery and initial exploration centuries ago, the Chicago Southland has been a region of crossroads. Native Americans and the country's first European settlers, explorers, trappers and traders used the Chicago Southland as a crossroads for moving from one region of the country to the other.

Native American foot trails crisscrossed the region, with names like the Vincennes Trail leading north to south, and Sauk Trail, running from the Fort of Detroit to the Mississippi River and crossing south of what is today Interstate 80. As the United States grew, the Southland remained a crossroads, most notably through the nation's canal and railway system. Many Southland communities began as trading posts and supply stops along trails, canals or railway lines that led to Chicago.

The Illinois and Michigan Canal ran through the southern section of the growing metropolitan region, connecting Chicago to the Illinois River and then on to the Mississippi River. Construction of the I & M Canal brought thousands of immigrant workers to the area and spawned the Chicago Southland community of Lemont, one of the an historic village that to this day offers a glimpse into the past.

Major railroads entered Chicago from the south, providing the transportation needed to move thousands of people every year from the East Coast to the Midwest and beyond. Americans planning to settle in the West often stopped in Chicago Southland communities built along the railway lines. Many of them remained in the Southland.

Early settlers to the Chicago Southland were third- and fourth-generation families from the eastern United States, along with families of German, Dutch and Irish and Italian origins, and as the region grew, virtually every other nationality migrated to the area. Several Southland communities, including Crete, Glenwood, Park Forest and Riverdale, are near sites of Underground Railroad stops, once farms and homes that sheltered slaves in their quest for freedom.

As decades passed and the region grew, railways took over the bulk of transportation needs for the Chicago Southland and the Chicago metropolitan area. With the arrival of the automobile, population exploded in the region.

A young Lt. Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower accompanied a platoon on the first motorized cross-country military truck convoy several years after World War I. The convoy took Lincoln Highway, the nation's first transcontinental paved roadway, which developed starting in 1913. Later, when Eisenhower became President, his memories of that convoy contributed to the development of the Interstate Highway System. The federal government recognized the historical significance of the Lincoln Highway, and in the year 2000 it was named a National Scenic Byway.

Dixie Highway is another famous route in the Chicago Southland, and was first identified in 1915, when the founder of the Lincoln Highway movement, Indianapolis automobile executive and Florida land developer Carl Fisher, charted a route to bring Northerners south to buy land in the Sunshine State. The Lincoln and Dixie Highways crossed in Chicago Heights, which was known for many years as "The Crossroads of the Nation."

The Chicago Southland remains a crossroads to this day as five major interstates cross through the region, I-80, I-94, I-57, I-55 and I-294. Many notable U.S. Highways, too, pass through the Southland: U.S. Highways 6, 12, 20, 30, and 45. Literally millions of visitors pass through the Chicago Southland every year, and the Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomes each and every one to our exciting region!