This Was Countryside, Farms and Quarries marker - Countryside, IL - Route 66 - The Mother Road on Waymarking.com

Inscription:
"Early travelers on Route 66 raced through open lands once they left Chicago. This was truly "countryside," a rich region of farms and quarries on the outskirts of the city. Few farms remained by the time the City of Countryside was incorporated in 1960. Fields gave way to businesses and homes fueled by the growing suburbs.

Quarries and Route 66
The Route 66 roadbed from Chicago to Joliet was made of crushed limestone from quarries about a mile east of here. They have produced rock and aggregate since 1881.

The Marx Brothers' Chicken Farm
The Marx Brothers were a famous family comedy act from the early to mid 1900s. In 1917, they began chicken farming near here to avoid being drafted into World War 1. Groucho remembers... "When we first got the farm we got up every morning at 4 o'clock. After awhile we got up at 5, then 6, then 7, then 8 and Chico discovered that LaGrange was near the Chicago Cubs ball park. We didn't farm anymore, but we made sure to catch the train to the ballpark..."

NOTE: The Marx Bros farm was just to the east on the NE corner of Joliet and LaGrange Roads. Their mom was the one who moved out here from Chicago in an effort to avoid having her sons get drafted into WW1. The Cubs Ballpark reference was not the current Wrigley Field, but the old Cubs ballyard now the location of the medical centers on Chicago's west side, south of the Eisenhower Expressway. See the waymarked historical marker at (visit link)

I really like these informational signs, and have seen them here in Chicagoland on Ogden Avenue (see my waymark (visit link) plus elsewhere along the Mother Road at the Largest Covered Wagon in Lincoln, IL (see waymark image (visit link) and at the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, IL (see waymark image (visit link)

Americana: Other Icon Significant Interest: Road Sign Milestone or Marker: Event Marker Web Site Address: [Web Link] Address of Icon: south side of Joliet Rd., west of LaGrange Rd., across from the Holiday Inn Countryside, IL USA

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