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| Chicago Heights Incorporated as a village in 1892, Chicago Heights became a city in 1901. Long before either of these dates, however, the first white settlers arrived from Scotland and Ireland and established a thriving agricultural community known originally as Thorn Grove. The growing population in Thorn Grove soon attracted immigrants from other parts of Europe, especially Germany, Italy and Greece. Without the ability to upgrade the vast distances of roadway themselves, the Lincoln Highway Association early on recruited ‘consuls’ from the communities along the highway. The mission of the consuls was to care for the roadway and promote its use. The Chicago Heights consul along with the Chicago Heights Automobile Association knew that it was imperative that the Lincoln Highway be rerouted through the city in order to take advantage of its many garages, hotels, café’s, shops, theaters and parks. Although the streets in downtown Chicago Heights were paved with brick, the country roads in the area were not. On Illinois Good Roads Day, held April 15, 1914, citizens turned out to spread 100 loads of stone on what would become the new highway south of downtown to Sauk Trail and then west on 14 th Street to Western Avenue. Their efforts convinced the Lincoln Highway Association to reroute the highway through the central business district. The Arche Fountain, located at the intersection of Lincoln & Dixie Highways, is an early monument erected along the highway. Commemorating Abraham Lincoln, the fountain was erected in 1916 by the Arche Woman’s Club of Chicago in a wayside travelers rest located at the intersection. Since that time, various memorials have been erected on the other three corners of this crossroads of the nation. During the 1920’s, at the corner of a Cook County forest preserve that edges the highway, a veteran’s memorial was placed to honor those that served during World War I. Since that time, the original ‘mound’ has been expanded to honor all subsequent veterans of war. Most recently, a historical terra cotta mural depicting service men removed from a former veterans building has been erected at the site. Presiding over a third corner is a sculpture depicting Abraham Lincoln receiving a gift of flowers from two girls. Dedicated in 2003, this monument entitled “Lincoln on the Road to Greatness” is one of the few depictions of the president smiling. From the fourth corner, the saintly statue of ‘Our Lady of the Wayside’ watches over this cross roads of the nation.
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