Archer Avenue
| Ronald J. Bragassi Memorial Road State Street (Lockport and Fairmont only) | |
Archer Avenue in Garfield Ridge, north of Midway Airport | |
| Part of | IL 171 from Joliet to Summit IL 83 in Sag Bridge |
|---|---|
| Length | 33.6 mi (54.1 km) |
| Location | Joliet–Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Southwest end | Dartmouth Avenue (turns into Collins Street locally) in Joliet |
| Major junctions |
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| Northeast end | State Street (approx. 1900 South) in Near South Side, Chicago |
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 Chinatown and Lockport. Archer follows the original trail crossing the Chicago Portage between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River, and parallels the path of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Joliet Subdivision of the Alton Railroad. As a main traffic artery, it has largely been replaced by the modern Stevenson Expressway.
The street was named after the first commissioner of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, William Beatty Archer. One early map of Chicago (ca. 1830) listed what may have been the future Archer Road as "The Road to Widow Brown's".