Sag Bridge, Illinois is an

Unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Lemont Township in southwestern

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 2 ...

, United States.USGS description of Sag Bridge, Illinois, retrieved 2012-09-02
bare URL] Sag Bridge is an important waterway junction between the

Calumet Sag Channel The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the ...

and the

Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago R ...

. It is also the junction of IL 83 (Kingery Highway) and IL 171 (Archer Avenue) which meet at Sag Bridge to cross the Calumet Sag Channel together on the eponymous bridge. The community was named for a predecessor of the present bridge. It is within the village limits and postal delivery zone of

Lemont, Illinois Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,629 as of the 2020 census. The village is situated on a hillside along the south banks of ...

. Other than the bridge for which it was named and the canal that the bridge crosses, the most significant feature of the community is the historic St. James at Sag Bridge Catholic Church, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

Sag Bridge exists at a significant geophysical point, at the confluence of the Sag Outlet and DesPlaines Outlet from historic

Lake Chicago Lake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes. Fed by retreating glaciers, it drained south through the Chicago Outlet River. Origin The ...

, which joined at this point to form the Chicago Outlet River and eventually flow into the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the ...

and the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

. Those two outlets isolated a portion of the Valparaiso Moraine called Mount Forest Island, much of which has been preserved in its natural state as the Palos Division of the

Forest Preserve District of Cook County The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are mostly set aside as natural areas ...

. Later, several Native American trails passed through the area, including the ancient trail that evolved into modern

Archer Avenue 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 Chicago's ...

(

Illinois Route 171 Illinois Route 171 (IL 171) is a north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in Joliet north to Illinois Route 72 at the Chicago– Park Ridge border. The section of IL 171 on Archer Av ...

). The high bluff of Mount Forest Island overlooking this critical location has served as a lookout for centuries. The French fort on the site was visited by Father Jacques Marquette on his journeys on the

Des Plaines River The Des Plaines River () is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American H ...

several times in 1673. The community was settled by workers building the Illinois and Michigan Canal, who established their historic church in 1833. Rock quarries developed there in the mid-19th century due to the combination of an abundant supply of quality stone, and convenient transportation on the nearby canal. Though the quarries themselves no longer operate, businesses selling stone products continue in the Sag Bridge area today. Nothing remains of the original bridge at Sag Bridge, except for an isolated remnant of Old Archer Avenue leading to the south bank of its former site, which today provides access for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

and

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

in the Sag Quarries area of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. On March 27, 1991, a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

caused significant damage to Lemont and Sag Bridge, including the historic St. James Church and cemetery.

The Bridge at Sag Bridge

The most recent bridge at Sag Bridge was built in 1934, and carries both IL 83 and IL 171 across the Calumet Sag Channel. This classic, 4-lane Pennsylvania through truss bridge is still structurally sound today, however it is rated "Functionally obsolete" due to growing traffic volumes, especially at the congested awkward 5-way signalized intersection just north of the bridge where routes 83 and 171 diverge.

References

External links

St. James at Sag Bridge Church official site
{{Cook County, Illinois Populated places in Cook County, Illinois Truss bridges in the United States Canals in Illinois Illinois waterways History of Illinois

History

The Bridge at Sag Bridge

See also

References

External links