When Northwestern was founded in 1851, there was no Sheridan Road. In fact, there were few formal roads on the 350 acres that would one day be Evanston. The University purchased the large swath of farmland, woods and swamp from a Dr. John Foster (no relation to the Northwestern president) and then subdivided it into lots and blocks, creating the streets of the new city of Evanston in the process.
Included in the 1854 plot of Evanston (and still visible in this 1871 map) was a small parcel of land for the campus bordered by the lake to the east, undeveloped land to the north, and roads to the east and south. To the east, Chicago Avenue continued on from its modern terminus and ran north and south alongside the campus. To the south, University Place continued on across the intersection where the Arch is today and ran all the way to the lake.
This logical configuration of streets existed for many years as Evanston developed into a large community on the North Shore. Although Evanston resisted an attempted in 1894 to be annexed by the City of Chicago, more and more Evanston residents sought better connections with the city. As a result, the North Shore Improvement Association began a campaign to build a thoroughfare that would link the city and the northern suburbs.
The NSIA named their proposed route Sheridan Road, after General Philip Henry Sheridan, a controversial Civil War hero who had become well known for “keeping the peace” during Chicago disasters.
Michael Ebner, in his book Creating Chicago’s North Shore, explains that the NSIA never meant for Sheridan road to become the “dipping and winding” path it is today. Instead, the NSIA envisioned an extension of Lakeshore Drive all the way to South Evanston. Ebner notes that the proposal had several important supporters, including a “Mr. Medill,” who assured the NSIA they could “count upon the co-operation of the Tribune.”
Despite this support, the proposal was met with heavy opposition by the residents of Evanston and other North Shore areas, who feared increases in taxes and the destruction of the lakeshore. When the Sheridan Road bill finally passed the Illinois legislature in 1895, the bill instead called for the creation of a “pleasure drive” alongside the lake from Lincoln Park all the way to the Illinois/Wisconsin border and specified the creation of special park districts where necessary to host the new road.
However, in most cases, new road and park district were never built. Sheridan Road simply absorbed other streets on its path up to Wisconsin while staying as close to the lake as possible in order to save city funds. Among the many streets that were absorbed were the sections of University Place and Chicago Avenue that ran alongside Northwestern, resulting in the odd shape of Sheridan Road as it bends around campus.