Illinois Route 66 - Auburn Brick Road
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Illinois Route 66 - Auburn Brick Road
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The historic Auburn Brick Road is a beautifully restored 1.53-mile-long hand-laid brick segment of the original 1926-1930 alignment of US Route 66 through Illinois. Only used briefly as Route 66, it was abandoned in 1930 when the Mother Road was straightened and realigned between Springfield and Litchfield.
This abandoned segment of Route 66 reverted to its original designation as State Highway 4, which was constructed in 1921 to provide a hard road connecting Chicago to Springfield and St. Louis. It is unclear why the brick was laid over the preexisting concrete roadbed in 1931, but it was abandoned again when Illinois straightened State Highway 4 in 1932.
The Auburn Brick Road was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 for its value to engineering history, not Route 66 history. An excellent example of 1930s brick road construction, the roadbed has been virtually untouched since 1932.
Copyright 2022 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
June 14th, 2022
Statistics
Viewed 1,537 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/28/2024 at 5:35 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet