View source for Archer Avenue

{{Short description|Thoroughfare in Chicago, Illinois, United States}}
{{about|the section of Illinois Routes 83 and 171 in Chicago|the entire route|Illinois Route 83|and|Illinois Route 171}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox street
|name= Archer Avenue (Archer Road)
|image=Archer Avenue, Chicago, Illinois (11052002023).jpg
|caption=Archer Avenue in [[Garfield Ridge, Chicago|Garfield Ridge]], north of [[Midway Airport]]
|alternate_name=Ronald J. Bragassi Memorial Road<br>State Street ([[Lockport, Illinois|Lockport]] and [[Fairmont, Illinois|Fairmont]] only)
|part_of={{jct|state=IL|IL|83|IL|171}}
|length_mi= 33.6
|direction_a= Southwest
|terminus_a= Dartmouth Avenue (turns into Collins Street locally){{coord|41.59704|-88.053834|format=dms|display=inline|type:landmark_region:US-IL}}
|direction_b= Northeast
|terminus_b= [[State Street (Chicago)|State Street]] (approx. 1900 South) {{coord|41.856514|-87.627172|format=dms|display=inline|type:landmark_region:US-IL}}
|location= [[Joliet, Illinois|Joliet]]–[[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]]
}}
'''Archer Avenue''', sometimes known as '''Archer Road''' outside the [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] city limits, and also known as '''State Street''' only in [[Lockport, Illinois]] and [[Fairmont, Illinois]] city limits, is a street running northeast-to-southwest between [[Chinatown, Chicago|Chicago's Chinatown]] and Lockport. Archer follows the original trail crossing the [[Chicago Portage]] between the [[Chicago River]] and the [[Des Plaines River]], and parallels the path of the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]] and the [[CN Joliet Subdivision|Joliet Subdivision]] of the [[Alton Railroad]]. As a main traffic artery, it has largely been replaced by the modern [[Stevenson Expressway]].

The street was named after the first commissioner of the [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]], [[William Beatty Archer]].<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/browse/bioshell.html?bioA&ArcherWilliamBeatty Encyclopedia of Chicago<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929121913/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/browse/bioshell.html?bioA&ArcherWilliamBeatty |date=September 29, 2007 }}</ref> One early map of Chicago<ref>[http://www.uic.edu/orgs/LockZero/3image/1830bp.html Map of Hardscrabble Area, 1830<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> (ca. 1830) listed what may have been the future Archer Road as "The Road to Widow Brown's"{{#tag:ref|"There is a dispute about the route taken from Chicago to Widow Brown's house in the woods on the north branch of Hickory Creek (east of Mokena). One historian asserts that it went southwest (on Archer Ave. to Justice Park), thence ... . Others assert that it went southward on State St. and Vincennes Ave. on the road to Blue Island, and thence southwesterly on what is now the Southwest Highway."<ref>{{cite web | title= Nature Bulletin 738 Early Cook County Roads -- Park One| url=http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/700-799/nb738.htm | work= Nature Bulletins| publisher= Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois)| date= 1964-01-11| access-date=2009-04-28}}</ref>|group="nb"}}.

==Route description==
The east end of Archer begins in [[Chinatown, Chicago|Chicago's Chinatown]], then passes through the [[Bridgeport, Chicago|Bridgeport]], [[McKinley Park, Chicago|McKinley Park]] and [[Brighton Park, Chicago|Brighton Park]] neighborhoods on its way to [[Archer Heights, Chicago|Archer Heights]] and [[Garfield Ridge, Chicago|Garfield Ridge]].  Outside Chicago, Archer Avenue/Road passes through the villages of [[Summit, Illinois|Summit]], [[Justice, Illinois|Justice]], [[Willow Springs, Illinois|Willow Springs]], and the southern edge of [[Lemont, Illinois|Lemont]] before terminating on the north side of [[Lockport, Illinois|Lockport]]. Between Summit and Lockport, Archer Avenue is designated as a part of [[Illinois Route 171]].

==Points of interest==

Southwest of Lemont, Archer passes [[Cog Hill Golf & Country Club]], site of numerous [[Professional Golfers' Association of America|Professional Golfers Association]] tournaments.

==History==
Historically, this section of Archer was a part of [[Illinois Route 4]], the original 1924 highway connecting [[Saint Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] and Chicago.<ref>{{Illinois road map|year=1924}}</ref> In 1926, Route 4 was rerouted to the north side of the [[Des Plaines River]] on an alignment that subsequently became [[U.S. Route 66 in Illinois|U.S. Route 66]], and its former route on Archer was redesignated as Illinois Route 4A.<ref>{{Illinois road map|year=1926}}</ref> By 1939, Route 4A had been extended along most of Archer Avenue into Downtown Chicago.<ref>{{Illinois road map|year=1939}}</ref> In 1967, Route 4A was truncated back to Summit and merged into Illinois Route 171.<ref>{{Illinois road map|year=1967}}</ref>

==Historical sites==
The former site of [[Argonne National Laboratory]] and its predecessor, the [[University of Chicago]] [[Metallurgical Laboratory]] in the forest preserve near [[Red Gate Woods]], can be entered from an access road on Archer Avenue.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/66.html Argonne National Laboratory] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616161408/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/66.html |date=June 16, 2007 }}</ref>  This was once a secret [[Manhattan Project]] site, and is now known as the [[Site A/Plot M Disposal Site]].  [[Chicago Pile-1]] (CP-1), the world's first nuclear reactor, was moved from [[Stagg Field]] to this site in 1943 and renamed Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2).  The remains of CP-1, CP-2, and [[Chicago Pile-3]] (CP-3) remain buried at this site.

A defunct Playland Amusement Park opened in mid-summer of 1950 which, at the time, was located in Willow Springs, Illinois. Back then, Willow Springs used to be an unincorporated community. The amusement park was located at 9300 West 79th Street in present-day Justice, Illinois.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/57525552608/10151509226392609 Playland Amusement Park Facebook Group]</ref>

==In popular culture==
[[Image:Resurrection Cemetery Justice IL 1.jpg|right|500px|thumb|The main gate of Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue, reputedly the home of [[Resurrection Mary]]]]
Archer Avenue was made famous by [[Finley Peter Dunne]] in his books and sketches about the fictional [[bar (establishment)|saloon]]keeper [[Mr. Dooley]], whose tavern was on "Archey Road". The fictional Dooley "lived" in the real-life [[Bridgeport, Chicago]] neighborhood.

Archer Avenue is also famous as the purported haunting place of [[Resurrection Mary]], a [[vanishing hitchhiker]] who is said to travel between the [[Willowbrook Ballroom]] and Resurrection Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.prairieghosts.com/archerave.html |title=Haunted Archer Avenue!<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2007-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814120148/http://www.prairieghosts.com/archerave.html |archive-date=2007-08-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Ursula Bielski, ''Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City'', 2nd ed.,  Chicago: Lake Claremont Press, 1997.</ref>
{{Clear}}

==Major intersections==
{{jcttop|length_ref=<ref>{{cite web |title=Archer Avenue (Chicago-Joliet) Map |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/S+Archer+Ave+%26+S+State+St,+Chicago,+IL+60616/Dartmouth+Ave+%26+S+State+St,+Fairmont,+IL+60432/@41.5676354,-88.0855943,13z/data=!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x880e2c87949e0b3b:0x8ba14270001306ee!2m2!1d-87.6270905!2d41.8565178!1m5!1m1!1s0x880e6722fc73e305:0x2cb4a2416603ca9c!2m2!1d-88.0726955!2d41.5529634!2m1!1b1!3e0}}</ref>}}

{{ILint
|county=Will
|cspan=5
|location=Joliet
|mile=
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|171|dir1=south|name1=Collins Street}}
|type=concur
|notes=Continuation beyond Dartmouth Avenue
}}
{{ILint
|location1=Joliet
|location2=Fairmont
|mile=0.0
|road=Dartmouth Avenue
|notes=Southwestern terminus
}}
{{ILint
|location=Lockport
|lspan=2
|mile=2.7
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|7|name1=9th Street}}
|notes=
}}
{{ILint
|mile=6.7
|road={{Jct|state=IL|I-Toll|355|name1=Veterans Memorial Tollway}}
|notes=
}}
{{ILint
|location=Lemont
|lspan=3
|mile=9.2
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=will|CR|35|dir1=west|name1=135th Street - Romeo Road}}
}}
{{ILint
|county=Cook
|cspan=15
|mile=10.3
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=cook|CR|B51|dir1=east|name1=131st Street|noshield=1}}
}}
{{ILint
|mile=11.2
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=cook|CR|B50|dir1=west|name1=127th Street|noshield=1}}
}}
{{ILint
|ctdab=Cook
|location=Lemont Township
|mile=12.1
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=cook|CR|W18|dir1=south|name1=Bell Road|noshield=1}}
}}
{{ILint
|location=Sag Bridge
|lspan=2
|mile=12.3
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|83|dir1=south|name1=111th Street}}
|type=concur
|notes=Southern end of IL&nbsp;83 overlap
}}
{{ILint
|mile=13.1
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|83|dir1=north|name1=Kingery Highway}}
|type=concur
|notes=Northern end of IL&nbsp;83 overlap
}}
{{ILint
|location=Willow Springs
|mile=17.7
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=cook|CR|W79|noshield1=y|dir1=south|name1=Nolton Avenue}}
}}
{{ILint
|location1=Willow Springs
|location2=Justice
|mile=18.7
|road={{Jct|state=IL|US|12|US|20|US|45|name3=[[La Grange Road]]|I-Toll|294|name4=Tri-State Tollway|dir4=south}}
|type=incomplete
|notes=I-294 southbound entrance only; to mainline toll barrier
}}
{{ILint
|location=Justice
|mile=19.2
|road=79th Street
|type=incomplete
|notes=Northbound IL&nbsp;171 exit; southbound IL&nbsp;171 entrance
}}
{{ILint
|location1=Bedford Park
|location2=Bridgeview
|mile=21.1
|road={{Jct|state=IL|County=cook|CR|W32|dir1=south|name1=Roberts Road}}
}}
{{ILint
|location=Summit
|mile=22.8
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|171|dir1=north|name1=[[1st Avenue (Chicago)|1st Avenue]]}}
|type=concur
|notes=Northern end of IL&nbsp;171 overlap
}}
{{ILint
|location1=Summit
|location2=Chicago
|mile=23.2
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|43|name1=South [[Harlem Avenue]]}}
|notes=
}}
{{ILint
|location=Chicago
|lspan=4
|mile=26.3
|road={{Jct|state=IL|IL|50|name1=South [[Cicero Avenue]]}}
|notes=
}}
{{ILint
|mile=29.3
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=Cook|CR|W94|noshield1=y|name1=California Avenue}}
}}
{{ILint
|mile=31.2
|road={{Jct|state=IL|county=Cook|CR|W48|noshield1=y|dir1=south|name1=Ashland Avenue}}
}}
{{ILint
|mile=33.6
|road=South [[State Street (Chicago)|State Street]]
|notes=Northeastern terminus
}}
{{jctbtm|keys=concur,incomplete}}

==Notes==
[[Image:Dompodhalan.JPG|thumb|300px|The seat of the [[Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America]] along Archer Avenue just northwest of its intersection with [[Pulaski Road (Chicago)|Pulaski]].]]

<references group="nb" />

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Archer Avenue (Chicago)}}

{{Chicago}}
{{Streets in Chicago}}

[[Category:Streets in Chicago|Archer Avenue]]
[[Category:Roads in Illinois]]
[[Category:Transportation in Joliet, Illinois]]
[[Category:Lockport, Illinois]]