The Local History Hiding in Northwest Suburban Road Names

If you’ve lived around the Northwest Suburbs for a while, you’ve probably driven on Rand, Golf, Dundee, Higgins, Palatine, Algonquin, Milwaukee or Lake Cook more times than you can count.

Most of us think of them as traffic routes, shortcut debates or places where we hit too many red lights. But a lot of these roads carry pieces of local history, old trails, early settlers, nearby towns and even a few surprises.

Here are a few of the stories hiding in the road names we drive every week.

Rand Road has one of the more interesting local backstories.

The road follows the path of an old Native American trail that passed near the property of Socrates Rand, an early settler who built a tavern near a crossing on the Des Plaines River. Over time, that route became one of the major northwest suburban roads we know today.

So while the name “Rand” might make some people think of Rand McNally, the road’s local history points back to Socrates Rand and an early travel route through the area.

Today, Rand Road is part of U.S. Route 12 and runs through communities like Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Palatine and beyond.

Golf Road sounds like it was named after the sport, and in a way, it was.

The name connects back to the tiny Village of Golf, Illinois, and the Glen View Club, one of the oldest and most historic golf clubs in the area. In the late 1800s, Chicago-area businessmen traveled by rail to play golf at the club. A stop near the course became known as the “golf stop,” and the name eventually stuck.

The village of Golf was incorporated in 1928, and Golf Road went on to become one of the busiest east-west roads in the north and northwest suburbs.

Not bad for a road name that started with people literally “going to golf.”

Dundee Road gets its name from the Dundee area, including East Dundee and West Dundee along the Fox River.

The Dundee name itself has roots tied to Dundee, Scotland. Local histories describe the Dundee name as coming from Scottish naming traditions brought by early settlers, with the name eventually becoming attached to the township, villages and the road that connects the area eastward across the suburbs.

Today, Dundee Road is also Illinois Route 68 through much of the Northwest Suburbs, running through or near places like Palatine, Arlington Heights, Wheeling and Northbrook.

Higgins Road is more than just a busy road through Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village and Rosemont.

It is also part of Illinois Route 72 and follows a route with a much older transportation story. Historic route descriptions note that Route 72 was once part of the Galena-Chicago Stagecoach Trail, an important early route connecting Chicago with communities to the west.

In other words, before modern traffic, tollway ramps and O’Hare-area congestion, this corridor helped move people and goods across northern Illinois by stagecoach.

Milwaukee Avenue is one of the clearest examples of a modern road that grew from an older route.

The street began as a Native American trail and eventually became a major northwest path out of Chicago toward Wisconsin. True to its name, the road points travelers toward Milwaukee, passing through places like Niles, Wheeling, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, Libertyville and Gurnee before connecting farther north.

In the city, Milwaukee Avenue became known for immigrant neighborhoods, small businesses, transit and bike traffic. In the suburbs, it remains one of the region’s major north-south routes.

Algonquin Road is named for the Village of Algonquin, located along the Fox River.

Before European settlement, the area was home to Native peoples, including the Potawatomi. The village went through several possible names in its early days, including Denny’s Ferry and Cornishville, before the name Algonquin became official in 1847.

Today, Algonquin Road is Illinois Route 62 through much of the Northwest Suburbs and connects areas from Algonquin through Barrington Hills, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Mount Prospect and Des Plaines.

Palatine Road takes its name from the Village of Palatine.

Palatine was founded around a Chicago and North Western Railway station in the 1860s, and the village is thought to have been named after a town in New York. Like many suburban communities, Palatine grew around rail access, farming, early settlement and later waves of suburban development.

Today, Palatine Road remains a major east-west route through the Northwest Suburbs, connecting communities like Palatine, Arlington Heights, Wheeling and Prospect Heights.

Arlington Heights Road has roots that go deeper than the village name alone.

Local history notes that the road developed from an old Native American trail that ran between what was once called Naper Settlement, now Naperville, and Indian Creek, now the Half Day area. It was also once known as State Road before later becoming Arlington Heights Road.

Today, it runs through the heart of Arlington Heights and continues through nearby suburbs including Elk Grove Village, Buffalo Grove and Long Grove.

Lake Cook Road is one of the most straightforward names on the list.

For much of its route, the road runs along or near the border between Lake County and Cook County, which explains the name. In some areas, it is also known as County Line Road.

The road stretches across a wide section of the northern suburbs, passing through or near communities like Barrington, Deer Park, Palatine, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park and Glencoe.

Northwest Highway also tells you exactly what it was built to do.

Now part of U.S. Route 14 through much of the region, it runs northwest from Chicago through suburbs like Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, Palatine, Barrington and Crystal Lake.

It became one of the region’s key northwest routes, closely tied to suburban growth, commuter rail towns and the expansion of communities along the Chicago and North Western Railway corridor.

Schaumburg Road carries the name of the village and township it runs through, but the Schaumburg name itself has German roots.

Many early settlers in Schaumburg Township came from Schaumburg-Lippe, a former German state. Local tradition says the township name was chosen during a meeting in 1850, when Friedrich Heinrich Nerge strongly argued that the area should be called Schaumburg.

Today, Schaumburg Road still runs through one of the area’s busiest suburban communities, but the name reaches back to the German farming roots that shaped the area long before Woodfield Mall, office parks and modern development.

These roads are easy to take for granted because we use them so often. But behind the traffic, shopping centers, restaurants and daily commutes, many of their names point back to older trails, early settlers, rail stops, farming communities and nearby towns.

So the next time you’re sitting at a red light on Rand, Golf, Dundee or Higgins, at least you’ll have a little local history to think about.