End of US highway 14

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Tom Grier, Don Hargraves; Greg Osbaldeston; Jim Teresco; me
Additional research: Monte Castleman

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1926-1928 Winona, MN Phillip Jct. SD
1928-1929 Winona, MN (near Spearfish, SD)
1929-1932 Winona, MN Rapid City, SD
1932-1933 Winona, MN Phillip Jct. SD
1933-1934 Chicago, IL (Michigan) Phillip Jct. SD
1934-1935 Chicago, IL (Michigan?) Cody, WY (?)
1935-1938 Chicago, IL (Addison?) East entrance Yellowstone National Park, WY
1938-1970s(?) Chicago, IL (Jackson) East entrance Yellowstone National Park, WY
1970s(?)-present Chicago, IL (Broadway) East entrance Yellowstone National Park, WY

US 14 was an original 1926 route, but at the time its east end was at US 61 in Winona MN. The photo below is looking south on modern US 61...

Teresco, Oct. 2004

...and although this junction serves as today's functional equivalent, this is a newer bypass of sorts around Winona, and it hadn't yet been built back when US 14 ended here. Originally US 61 followed 6th Street through Goodview, which becomes 5th Street in Winona (that road runs parallel to this highway, about three blocks to the left at this point). The 1927 map I've seen is a bit unclear, but it appears at some point (either Vila Street or Johnson Street) traffic jogged one block to the south and followed 6th Street (or Broadway) through downtown Winona. Meanwhile, US 14 split off today's route by going east on Gilmore Street (via a bridge that no longer exists), then north on Vila. Depending on the routing of US 61, US 14 would've ended either at 6th or 5th. The photo below is looking south on Vila at 5th:

Grier, July 2006

Southbound US 61 came in from the right on 5th. It may have continued to the left, in which case the beginning of US 14 was straight ahead. But US 61 might have gone straight ahead here before turning left at the next block, in which case the photo below shows the original east beginning of US 14:

Grier, July 2006

That's one block ahead from the previous photo (use the pedestrian skywalk for reference). It's possible that US 61 came south on Vila to this point, and then turned left on 6th (or Broadway). If so, then US 14 would've begun straight ahead. (Incidentally, the bluffs visible in the background mark the edge of the Mississippi River floodplain, in which Winona is situated.)

After 1933, US 14 was extended eastward via southbound US 61 (just as it is today, albeit via the newer highway described above). The two routes don't diverge again until Readstown WI (about 76 miles distant).

Early maps make it look like no one quite knew what to do with the west end of US 14: it wasn't until about 1934 that it was assigned a routing through the Black Hills distinct from US 16 (or more accurately, US 16 was rerouted to go through the Hills, while US 14 was given US 16's old path around the north edge of the Hills). Originally US 14 ended at a lonely junction with US 16 outside Phillip SD. I photographed that spot in March 2004; click here to view photos and more info.

Two years later, the US 14 designation may have been extended west with US 16 to the SD/WY state line near Spearfish. Even if so, that was the west terminus of US 14 only briefly, because the next year the designation was truncated to Rapid City. It's difficult to speculate exactly where signage would've ended there, but my guess is that the terminus would've been at the same intersection where US 216 ended. You can view photos from there on this page.

In 1932 the west end of US 14 was back at Phillip Jct; and in 1934 it was extended either to Rapid City again or to Cody WY (you can view photos from there on this page). In 1938 US 14 was extended west again, this time to the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park, where it remains to this day (you can view photos from there on this page).

Now, back to the east end: as I said, it was 1933 when the east end of US 14 was extended to Chicago. I'm no expert on historic highways in Chicago, but it appears to me that US 14 may have originally ended at the same place US 54 began: at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Don has an old atlas that appears to indicate the same thing, so he snapped a couple shots of that intersection. This first one is looking north on Michigan:

Hargraves

Lake Shore comes in from behind the building on the right, and continues ahead. So the east end of US 54 would've been here, and the east beginning of US 14 was straight ahead. Below, we're looking the opposite direction: south on Lake Shore (which goes left here; Michigan is straight ahead):

Hargraves

That would've been the east end of US 14, and the east beginning of US 54. However, the 1933 map below (scan courtesy of Neil Bratney) makes one wonder whether US 14 ever ended at Addison Street and Lake Shore:

Don sent some photos of that location as well. This first one is looking east on Addison at Lake Shore (US 12/US 41):

Hargraves

US 14 may have ended there once. The next shot is a view up westbound Addison, near the former beginning of US 14:

Hargraves

In 1938, the east end of US 14 was shifted: Perry Huntoon describes it thus:

"At least as late as the 1960's, US 14 continued easterly on Foster (with US 41), then was routed south on Lake Shore Drive (still with US 41) exiting on Michigan Avenue and continuing south to the junction with US 34/66 at Adams Street (westbound) and Jackson (eastbound).  At this point, continuing south on Michigan, US 54 began its westerly route to El Paso.  So, US 14, 34, 54, and 66 all had their eastern termini at the same point, although approaching the intersection from three different directions."

At some point the east terminus of US 14 was changed to its current end on Broadway at Foster Avenue (US 41) in Chicago:

Osbaldeston, June 2000

The photos below are looking the opposite direction, down the east beginning of US 14 on Foster:

Hargraves

On the right side is a sign announcing the beginning of the road; it's shown close-up below:

Hargraves