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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
US route endpoints in
1926-1937
US 30 has never entered Chicago. From the outset, traffic approaching from the west gets only as far as the Fox River Valley before being directed to follow a sharp jog to the south. US 30 then passes through Aurora and Joliet before resuming its westward direction of travel, bypassing Chicago to the south. Initially, US 30 followed what is now IL hwy. 38, so its change of direction was located in Geneva. That turn was also the location where two branch routes began: US 330 was a spur into downtown Chicago, while US 430 went north to connect with US 12 near Crystal Lake:
c. 1928, IL DoT
That is how US 330 was described in AASHO's April 1927 route log...
...although their description of US 430 differed slightly:
Instead of Geneva, that route log specified Aurora as the south terminus of US 430. However, I am quite certain that was in error. US 30 served the Aurora-Geneva corridor, and there was no reason for US 430 to overlap US 30 between the two towns. Furthermore, I have never seen a map labeling the road between Aurora and Geneva as US 430; it was always shown only as US 30:
c. 1927, Rand McNally
c. 1928, IL DoT
Geneva
This more detailed map shows that US 30 came into Geneva on State Street, and then turned south on 3rd Street...
c. 1934, IL DoT
...so that intersection marked the west beginning of US 330 (which went east on State) and the south beginning of US 430 (which also went east on State, but only for two blocks, before turning north on 1st Street). This image was taken looking east on State:
Dienhart, Nov. 2020
Historically, that was the perspective of a driver on eastbound US 30, which continued to the south (right) on 3rd. Straight ahead was the beginning of both US 330 and US 430. Those routes diverged two blocks ahead, where US 430 turned north (left) on 1st, passing through St. Charles, Elgin, and West Dundee before reaching its terminus at Crystal Lake.
Crystal Lake
At the time, it was US 12 (not US 14) that was routed through Crystal Lake. Until about 1931, US 12 came into town on Smitana Road, then turned north on Sands Road. US 430 came in from the south on Sands, ending at its intersection with Smitana. This photo was looking west on Smitana. For about five years, this was westbound US 12, which continued to the right on Sands. To the left on Sands was the original north beginning of US 430:
Balsarotti, Aug. 2010
The 1932 map was the first to show US 12 traffic using today's US 14 in Crystal Lake, but drivers were directed north via modern IL hwy. 31. US 430 came into town on IL 31, and ended at today's junction with US 14. At the time these roads would have had an at-grade intersection, but this location marked the north end of US 430:
Hargraves, Aug. 2002
West Dundee
In 1933, the US 14 designation was extended eastward into Chicago. On the way, it entered Crystal Lake, then went south to West Dundee (via what had been US 430) before resuming southeast along today's IL 72. So the US 430 designation was truncated to West Dundee...
c. 1934, IL DoT
...but that action nearly halved the mileage of US 430, leaving it only about 16 miles in length. Perhaps it was for that reason that the following year, the US 430 designation was eliminated, and instead the US 330 designation was extended north from Geneva to West Dundee along what had been US 430:
c. 1934
This shot was taken looking north on 8th Street (IL 31) at Main Street (IL 72). Westbound US 14 was straight ahead; eastbound was to the right. For about one year, this was the north end of US 430, and then for a few more years it marked the terminus of US 330:
Hargraves, Aug. 2002
In about 1937, the route of US 30 was changed... and as a result, the route of US 330 also. Use the links below for more information:
Research and/or image credits: Joe Balsarotti; Rich Carlson; Paul Dienhart; Don Hargraves; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2002;last updated Jun. 08, 2025.
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