| Chicago's Lincoln Avenue runs roughly southeast to northwest, originating in the 1700 block of North Clark Street at Lincoln Park. Now named for Abraham Lincoln, it's one of the oldest streets in town. Before Abe it was called Little Fort Road because it led to Waukegan (then named Little Fort)...and before that it was a trail used by local native Americans.
Along the route you'll find:
- Oz Park, a medium-sized park with a decent playground, tennis courts, and a life-size statue of the tin man from The Wizard of Oz.
- Children's Memorial Hospital, a research hospital with practice limited to pediatrics since 1882.
- the Biograph theater (still standing at about 2430 North) where John Dillinger was shot and killed by agents of the FBI.
- Lots of shops and banks and bars and car dealerships.
- The quaint German-centric shopping district known as Lincoln Square.
- The new home of the Old Town School of Folk Music, in a renovated library building purchased from the city for one dollar.
- Several authentic motels from the 1950s, built when Lincoln Avenue was still a major traffic artery for interstate travellers (though many of these have become nests of criminal activity and the local alderman is trying to have them torn down).
- Lincoln Village shopping center, one of the early, outdoor ones.
Today, it's the major axis of the CTA Brown Line, and the route of its number 11 bus. US Highway 41 (which runs all the way from Copper Harbor in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Miami, Florida) uses Lincoln Avenue to get from Foster Avenue up to Skokie Boulevard.
| 
