If you mentioned meeting someone at the four way stop in Marion, Illinois anywhere between 1940 and 1970 there wouldn’t be much question about where that was. When the town had two state routes passing through it at the intersection of State routes 37 and 13 there was only one significant four way stop. It wasn’t always so, as illustrated from the 1930 photo showing that at one time Illinois Route 13 had priority over route 37 and only justified a two way stop. The intersection lost its status when the Deyoung street extension was completed around 1968 and Main street became Old Route 13 and New Route 13 bypassed the downtown section. There was also the completion of Interstate 57 around 1964 which created new intersections and traffic flow in Marion.

This intersection was plagued for decades during periods of heavy rainfall when the local creeks would rise and cause the intersection to become impassable often getting up to three or four feet deep over the road surface. This problem was corrected in the late 1990’s when the city got federal monies to clean and widen drainage ditches and creeks. Note that in the 1918 map the creek used to go around the intersection to feed a mill pond in the NE corner. For decades the creek has passed directly under the intersection as it does today in 2013.

Numerous businesses have come and gone over the years including diners and resteraunts. Oddly enough, there are no gasoline service stations at the intersection today.

(Photos from 1995 Marion Daily Republican History Edition and Williamson County Historical Society; written by Sam Lattuca on 01/20/2013)