End of US highway 32

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Neil Bratney

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1926-1931 Chicago, IL Council Bluffs, IA
1932-1934 Chicago, IL Rock Island, IL

The east end of US 32 was in Chicago. The map scan below is from 1933 (the final year of US 32's existence):

Bratney

I'm not clear on what happened the next year - when US 34 was extended eastward along what had been US 32. Did US 34 go all the way up to Lincoln Park, along former US 32? Or did it always turn off Ogden at Jackson Boulevard, and end with US 66? If you have any info on this, please let me know!

Anyway, here are some photos from Lincoln Park:

Bratney, June 2002

About that shot, Neil writes: "This is looking at the end of Stockton Drive (historic US 32). The stoplight in the background is Diversey and Sheridan (N) / Lincoln Park West (S)."

Below: "A view from the opposite direction: Stockton and Cannon (old Lake Shore Drive) split. John Hancock Center in the background, as well as a gold Hamilton statue."

Bratney, June 2002

Below is a close-up of the sign:

Bratney, June 2002

The west end of US 32 was originally in Council Bluffs IA; you can view photos from there on this page.

In November 1931, the US 6 designation was extended far to the west of its former terminus in Erie PA. West of Princeton IL, it was routed over the top of US 32 through the remainder of that state and through all of Iowa. So US 32 in Iowa was decommissioned that year. However, perhaps because there was still a portion of US 32 in Illinois that was separate from US 6 (Princeton - Chicago), the route survived in that state for another two years. At that point, the west end of US 32 was at the Iowa stateline in Rock Island IL (you can view photos from there on this page). Then in 1934, the US 34 designation was extended eastward from Sheffield IL, swallowing up the remainder of US 32.