Later a stationary wooden bridge was constructed,
and still later an iron bridge was erected. The Gurnee Town Centre,
a shopping district in West Gurnee.With the erection of a permanent
bridge, roads were established and this area became the hub of the
township. It was at this junction that the Milwaukee Road crossed
the river from west to east and then continued in a northeasterly
direction to eventually join Chicago to Milwaukee. This road was
"laid out" in 1836 by three early settlers, Thomas McClure,
Mark Noble, and Richard Steele.
The east-west road, now known as Grand Avenue, was a main route
from McHenry County to the port of Waukegan. Stage coaches ran on
this route as late as 1890. The village is named after former Chicago
Mayor Walter S. Gurnee. Just east of the bridge, at the junction
of Milwaukee Road and Grand Avenue, was the Mutaw Tavern, earlier
known as "Marm Rudd's Tavern" and more recently as the
Mother Rudd House. This was a stage coach stop between Chicago and
Milwaukee and was a stopover for farmers from the west traveling
to Little Fort (Waukegan) to barter their crops for supplies and
to ship out from the ports. It also served as a stop during the
underground railroad.
This building was acquired by the Village of Gurnee in 1984, has
been restored, and now houses the Warren Township Historical Society.
In May 2004 Gurnee received major rainfall, causing the worst flooding
in eighteen years. The flood caused major building damage and flooded
roads that overpassed the Des Plaines River. At the intersection
near Viking Middle School (Grand Avenue and O'Plaine Road), people
had to canoe to get out of their house. |