Chicago, Illinois, has a reputation for being a "gridded" city.

The story of the grid begins with Fort Dearborn. Established in 1803 at the mouth of the Chicago River, Fort Dearborn was a federal military outpost that helped protect American traders in what was then the Northwest frontier of the United States. The commissioners in charge of the state-built Illinois & Michigan Canal chose the mouth of the Chicago River as their northern terminus. The canal (completed in 1848) would join the Chicago River with the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, thus creating a water link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, and thereby shifting the center of Midwestern trade from St. Louis to Chicago.

These same commissioners platted a small grid of streets in 1830 at the junction of the north and south branches of the Chicago River, and thus the "gridded" city began, though Chicago does not official incorporate as a city until 1837. Private developers begin to extend this street pattern in the following years, and the city’s growth is also shaped by the square-mile grid of the federal land survey, whose section lines would become major arterial streets.

However, diagonal streets would become vital arteries radiating outward from the heart of the city.

Avenues such as Milwaukee Avenue, Elston Avenue, and Lincoln Avenue on the North Side, and Ogden Avenue and Archer Avenue on the South Side violate an otherwise highly gridded city.

Where some of these diagonal roads intersect the north-south and east-west streets on the grid, we encounter some of the unique and dynamic six-way intersections of Chicago. It comes as no surprise that these important junctions are vibrant and interesting locations in the city landscape just outside the Loop, and a trademark feature of this great city.

To many visitors of Chicago unacquainted with the workings of a six-way intersection, these spots can be a confusing and dangerous experience, particularly if driving a car or simply trying to walk across the street. But to us locals, six-ways are where we want to be.

This website is a photographic exploration of some of these six-ways in the city.

Enjoy.