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You might get lost using this 1960s road map today

A lot has changed in the past half-century! For most people, Interstate 74 has always bisected the Quad Cities and the zoo has always been in Coal Valley (inste...
quadcities

A lot has changed in the past half-century! For most people, Interstate 74 has always bisected the Quad Cities and the zoo has always been in Coal Valley (instead of West Davenport). For me, being a road geek I can stare at these old road maps for hours.

A couple things, it’s obvious that US-Highway 6 was still the major route through the Quad Cities in this 1960s-era Rand McNally map. Also, where US-Highway 150 now ends near the Quad City Airport, it once went right into downtown Rock Island. And Iowa Highway 150 continued northwest from downtown Davenport along Harrison Street. The 1960s was way before 23rd Avenue was changed to “Avenue of the Cities.” And at this time, 23rd Avenue was officially Illinois Highway 2. “John Deere Road” didn’t yet exist and the area around South Park Mall was called “Fruitland.” In Bettendorf, an “air park” existed along Middle Road.

Maybe the biggest tidbit I found on this map? East Moline has a larger font size than Bettendorf which could prove that East Moline was an original member of the Quad Cities!

What else can you find of interest on this old map? Let me know on my Facebook page.

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And of course, I had to examine the road map of my hometown: Rockford, Illinois. The major highway (Bypass 20) was completed in the 1950s and is shown at the bottom of the map. Like the Quad Cities, many of the roads have also changed names and numbers. Charles Street was once Illinois Highway 5. Which is weird because nowadays, the only Illinois Highway 5 is here in the Quad Cities! Forest Hills Road is labeled as Illinois Highway 173 (which now ends at Illinois 251 in Machesney Park. Speaking of 251, this was about 20 years before US-51 was moved to the new Interstate-39 and the old road became Illinois Highway 251.

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