SW Plank Road

SW Plank Road. . Ogden Avenue runs roughly the same path as the Southwest Plank Road. , , In the 1800s, Chicago was growing rapidly. As the city grew, the areas surrounding the city became increasingly important for providing goods. Lisle was becoming an important producer of dairy and other agricultural products. Back then, a trip to Chicago was a long and exhausting journey over dirt roads and muddy riverbanks. To facilitate faster and easier travel, plank roads were built by laying down wooden boards, as seen by the reproduction (no nails would have been used in the original road). , , By 1851, the Southwest Plank Road stretched from Chicago, through Lisle, to Naperville. People using this plank road could travel from Beaubien's Tavern to Chicago in about one day's time. Businesses, like Beaubien's Tavern, were successful along the road as they gave travelers easy access to food, drink and rest during their trips. , , Beaubien's Tavern also served as one of the toll gates along the road. The tolls were used to upkeep the road, but that was a difficult task as the wooden planks quickly warped and deteriorated due to our weather or were stolen by thieves. After several years, the road proved to be a failure and transporting goods along plank roads declined. The Southwest Plank Road was abandoned for transporting goods with the rise of railroads.