For Route 66 experts: Chicago endpoint

[usends]

"The Mother Road" (the well-known song by Alan Rhody and Kevin Welch) includes the lyrics "...from Clark and Ogden Street up in Chicago...", implying that was the eastern terminus of US 66.  But was this ever true? 

First, it should be noted that Ogden and Clark no longer intersect, as the northeastern segment of Ogden has been vacated.  But historically the two roads did intersect, as illustrated on this 1933 map: http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/2558/

That shows US 32 using Ogden all the way to Clark, and when US 34 initially replaced US 32 a couple years later, it too followed Ogden in its entirety.  But all evidence I've seen indicates that US 66 traffic never went that far north on Ogden; rather US 66 was always directed off Ogden to head east on Jackson.

So, other than the song, is there any evidence that US 66 ever went up Ogden all the way to Clark?

[Brandon]

No, it never did.  The eastern end point was originally Jackson and Michigan, later extended eastward to Lake Shore Drive.  Even that 1933 map shows US-66 on Jackson.

[usends]

The eastern end point was originally Jackson and Michigan, later extended eastward to Lake Shore Drive.

That's my understanding too, as I've written about on this page.  But then what's up with those lyrics?  The next line says, "...to Lincoln and Olympic...", which was the exact western endpoint (not the Santa Monica Pier, as so many mistakenly believe).  So if they got the west terminus correct, one has to consider whether they knew something about the east terminus too.  But my pet theory is that they mis-read an early map, not noticing that US 66 made a turn off from Ogden.

[paulthemapguy]

Songwriters may also bend reality in their stories to create the opportunity to write words that fit the rhythm and rhyme scheme.  "Ogden and Clark" might have the syllables needed to keep the rhythm the writer was looking for.  Your guess is as good as mine lol

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Yeah. I mean even if you think about the Bobby Troup song, they jumped back out of order to mention Winona, AZ to fit a rhyme.