End of US highway 330

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Don Hargraves; Matt Salek; me
Additional research: Neil Bratney; Robert Droz

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1926-1933 Chicago, IL Geneva, IL
1933-1934 Lynwood, IL Geneva, IL
1934-1937 Lynwood, IL West Dundee, IL
1937-1939 Lynwood, IL Elburn, IL
1939-1941 Lynwood, IL Dixon, IL
1941-1942 Lynwood, IL (near Sterling, IL)

US 330 was an original 1926 route. For its first seven years, its east end was in downtown Chicago. Maps from this timeframe aren't real clear as to exactly where, but more than one of these maps indicate that Roosevelt Road wasn't a through street at the time (Morton Raff points out that was because there was a railroad station in the way). So my best guess is that US 330 was originally co-signed with US 66 and US 32 to a common endpoint on Jackson Boulevard at Michigan Avenue (you can see photos and learn more on this page).

In about 1933, Roosevelt was extended to the east, so the US 330 designation was extended along with it, and then quite a ways to the south, where it ended at US 30 in Lynwood. Look at the lower right of this 1934 map scan:

That's where US 330 ended for the remainder of its existence; looks like Torrence Avenue at the Lincoln Highway. But upon inspection of a more detailed map, we find that US 330 used a small segment of Glenwood-Dyer Road between US 30 and Torrence:

The photo below is looking north on westbound US 30/Lincoln Hwy, which goes left here:

Hargraves, June 2002

IL hwy. 83 (and former US 330) begins straight ahead on Glenwood-Dyer. That veers to the northwest and meets Torrence after about a mile. The shot below was taken from the opposite direction:

Hargraves, June 2002

IL 83 ends here, as did historic US 330. Straight ahead is eastbound US 30.

As you can see from the chart above, the other end of US 330 shifted around quite a bit during the course of its short life. Originally it was in Geneva IL:

It's a little uncertain whether US 30 came in on 1st Street or 3rd Street. Today IL 31 uses 1st; the shot below is looking east on State Street (IL hwy. 38) at its junction with 1st:

Hargraves, Aug. 2002

That's the perspective of a traveller on historic eastbound US 30, who would've turned right here. From 1926-1934, the west beginning of US 330 was straight ahead.

The shot below is looking the opposite direction on State, at an historic end of US 330:

Hargraves, Aug. 2002

Westbound US 30 was straight ahead; eastbound was south (left) on what is now IL 31.

In 1934, US 430 was decomissioned, so the US 330 designation was extended to the right (north) from there, along what had been US 430: connecting with US 20 in Elgin, and ending at US 14 in West Dundee:

The shot below is looking north on 8th Street (IL 31) at Main Street (IL 72):

Hargraves, Aug. 2002

For about one year, that used to be the end of US 330. Westbound US 14 was straight ahead; eastbound was to the right. Below we're looking the opposite direction (south on IL 31), from the perspective of historic eastbound US 14, which went left here:

Hargraves, Aug. 2002

US 330 began straight ahead.

Starting in about 1937, the US 330 designation was truncated back to Geneva, and over the next few years, it was extended incrementally westward. In 1937 the west end was at Elburn:

Salek, Oct. 2007

That's looking east on IL 38; US 330 once began straight ahead. In 1939 the designation was extended westward to reconnect with US 30 at Dixon (at the time, US 30 followed what is now US 52 northwest into Dixon, and then old IL hwy. 2 west through Sterling, connecting with its current alignment near the little community of Galt). So US 330 came into Dixon on today's IL 38, ending at US 52 (old US 30):

me, Aug. 2005

Downtown is a few blocks ahead (Dixon struck me as a very appealing little city). Below is a shot from the opposite direction:

me, Aug. 2005

That would've been eastbound US 30, which continued to the right. The west beginning of US 330 was straight ahead. Lastly, here's a photo from the perspective of historic westbound US 30...

me, Aug. 2005

...which continued to the left, while US 330 began to the right.

Not long after that, US 30 was rerouted along its current path, which heads due west through Rock Falls, bypassing Dixon and Sterling. So in 1941, the US 330 designation was extended west along former US 30 through Dixon and Sterling, ending just west of Sterling near Galt. The photo below is looking east on US 30:

me, Aug. 2005

Until recently, a left turn there put you at the west beginning of IL hwy. 2. But in the early 1940s, that would've been the west beginning of US 330. However, that lasted only a couple years, when US 330 was decommissioned and re-designated as an alternate route for US 30.