Travel Historic Route 66 on the Web

 (May 2009)

Last month’s invitation from our local public library to participate in a new web presence about Historic Route 66, prompted us to see what was already posted on Route 66.  Wow!  We found many sites out there touching on almost every aspect of the old highway.  We decided to note for you, first, a few local items of interest we found. 

This historical marker in Route 66 Park at the intersection of old Route 66 and Main Street informs travelers about old Route 66 through Lexington.      ~ text of marker follows:



"In 1926, construction began on a 2,448-mile highway from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. Route 66 reflected the increased use of motorized vehicles. The road, which cut diagonally across Illinois, passed through Lexington. Sleek restaurants, service stations and motels were built specifically to accommodate travelers. The original two-lane, concrete highway - a section of which is located here - was replaced over a span of thirty years by the more modern interstate highway system. In Illinois, Interstate-55 closely parallels old Route 66."

The original two-lane Route 66 of 1926-1947 follows the four-lane bypass from the south of town,  then takes Grove Street to the east just south of the Oasis Drive-In. Grove curves to the north, passes two former service stations (now the Laundromat and Anderson’s Corner) then sharply turns to the east to become Wall Street. On the north side is Scrogins Cemetery and the old Stitcher Pony Farm.  From there the alignment curves again to the north, heading out of town towards Chenoa. The last portion of this two-lane alignment after it curves to the north is closed to vehicle traffic and serves as Lexington's Memory Lane monument.

With the two-lane already skirting most of the town to the west, the four-lane bypass of 1947-1977 was only a block west of the old alignment - and sometimes even less than that. The four-lane glided around the village before curving east to rejoin the original two-lane's northeast path. 

The entire southbound lanes of the old bypass have been converted into a 2.2 mile walking/cycling path called the Lexington Parkway that takes you from the south border of the town all the way to Memory Lane in the north. While the trip would not exactly be considered scenic, it's still an excellent use of the old, abandoned lanes. Rather than just keeping the old pavement open for the public, a new blacktop trail was constructed over one of the lanes, allowing a smooth journey for your feet or tires over the entirety of the trail. The rest of the retired pavement remains as a relic of the old road. http://www.digitalroute66.com/lexington/

3RD ANNUAL

ILLINOIS ROUTE 66 RED CARPET CORRIDOR FESTIVAL 

MAY 2–3, 2009
www.il66redcarpetcorridor.org/

It‘s all about family fun on the most famous road in America, Route 66. Everyone is invited to experience life in the slow lane.  Twelve Illinois communities have linked together to host a festival containing 90 miles of excitement! The Red Carpet Corridor consists of all the communities on historic Route 66 between downtown Joliet and south to Towanda, Illinois. This area is so interesting that last year Sir Paul McCartney of Beetles fame visited while touring Route 66.  You should too!
 
Each community will produce its own event, from full blown festivals to antique, yard, craft, garage and sidewalk sales along with everything in between. Food, snacks and treats will be in abundance, along with all kinds of live entertainment.  Historic sites, outstanding free museums and unique mom & pop businesses help create a nostalgic journey for all to enjoy. Experience the ride, hang out with the Blues Brothers or get your picture taken in a 1906 two cell jail. There is bound to be a favorite town to discover.   
Join in the fun at any point that is convenient for you.  
The hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 2 and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3.

Route 66 Association of Illinois

2009 Motor Tour - 20th Anniversary

“Cruising the Land of Lincoln"

June 12, 13 & 14, 2009

www.il66assoc.org  for more information

All are welcome to join in rain or shine to motor down the Mother Road, 

from Berwyn to Edwardsville, Illinois!

This year's Motor Tour features stops in:

Berwyn (Line up on Rt. 66 to begin Tour)

Romeoville

Wilmington

Gardner

Dwight

Normal

Lincoln

Springfield

Raymond

Edwardsville

 2009 Hall of Fame Inductees Announced!  April 20, 2009

http://www.rwarn17588.wordpress.com/  reports News of Route 66

Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame Members

www.il66assoc.org

The Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame recognizes "those people and places along Route 66 whose blend of hardy individualism and grassroots community spirit gave the road such special character."

To qualify for election to the Hall of Fame, nominees must have made significant contributions to the character or history of the Illinois portion of Route 66 from 1926 to 1977 while it was an official United States highway in the State of Illinois.

Here is the list of those who through the years have made Route 66 in Illinois the place many know, cherish and vow to preserve the memories. 

Note we have two from Lexington!

We found a couple of sites describing our own Hall of Famers:

  www.roadsidepeek.com/rte66/illinois/joliet/index.htm

As a child, my family traveled this route regularly from Chicago past Springfield to visit my grandparents. Lexington, IL was about half way and a regular stop was the "Oasis" a burger and milkshake drive-in. That's your unidentified drive-in in Lexington, IL. I'd recognize it anywhere. I'm not sure when it shut down, but I do remember stopping there after

I-55 opened up. Ah, the best burgers and shakes!- Joe Szabo

The drive in was called the "Oasis Drive-In". It is actually surrounded by the original Rte 66 (30's-50's) on the east and by the new Rte 66 on the west. It is on the very south, south-west portion of town. Was quite the place for teenagers to "hang-out" and show off cars during the late 60's through the 70's. I believe it finally shut down for good in the mid 80's.

Lexington is also host to an annual "Taste of Country Fair" and has often hosted the Route 66 Association in conjuction with this festival each summer. The "old" original Route 66 through town is no longer connected to the "new" Route 66 but still has a number of antique gas stations along the 2 miles that the original road follows through Lexington. To hear the "old timers" talk of back in the early 30's when the "gangsters" would drive their Cadillacs and Buicks through Lexington on their way to Saint Louis, you could almost hear the "open pipes" that these cars ran as they sped through town at 50-60 mph!- Erik C. Nielsen

From The Pantagraph of Thursday, March 30, 2006

A Lexington trucking company has earned a permanent place in Route 66 history.  The Willie Anderson Trucking Co. was named to the Route 66 Association of Illinois’ Hall of Fame for 2006. The former business was located along the historic roadway and its owner often traveled Route 66 hauling grain and other items.

"I went up and down Route 66 all the time," said owner Willie Anderson, 77. "There was no other way to get around."

 The awards are meant to commemorate the people and places that were a part of the Mother Road, which ran from Chicago to Los Angeles.  Some people based their life or business around Route 66. People and places are the history of Route 66.  Anderson’s company, which once operated 26 trucks, started in the late 1930s as a family-owned trucking company. Anderson closed the business in 1988, but still drives his own truck.  Over the years, Anderson hauled pumpkins for Libby’s in Morton and often took Route 66 to Chicago while hauling cattle.

"There were only a few places to stop," he said. "You stopped when you were really hungry, unlike now when you can stop almost everywhere. It’s a lot different now."

Anderson and his wife, Edna Marie, own a shop in Lexington along the now-decommissioned highway. The renovated gas station has memorabilia from the highway and other items.
 

 History Online

by Mark W. Sorensen   http://www.lib.niu.edu/2002/ih090215.html

   If you ever plan to motor west
   Travel my way, take the highway that's the best, 

   Get your kicks on Route 66!

…..My wife and I exited Interstate 40 near Williams, Arizona, and headed west on old Route 66. We stopped briefly to see the kitsch in Seligman, stayed two nights in the Lodge at Peach Springs, and then headed for the bright lights of the truck stops of Kingman.

It winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than two thousand miles all the way.

Get your kicks on Route 66!

As we waited for road crews on the two-lane, I thought of my parents making this trip in 1953 with no air conditioning. I thought of my newlywed in-laws rolling west to California in 1946 (in a pre-war car) to begin a career in television. Both families were driving the road the way we picture it; they started in Chicago and ended up in Santa Monica, a journey of 2,448 miles.

Now you go through St. Looey, Joplin, Missouri           
And Oklahoma City looks might pretty.
                                                             You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico

                             Flagstaff, Arizona; don't forget Winona,
                      Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.

Although our rental car was a Chevy, with Diet Coke in the cooler there was no way I could pretend that I was "Tod" or "Buz" in my Corvette convertible "way out on the highway looking for adventure" (Martin Milner and George Maharis starred in TV's Route 66, 1960-64) http://us.imdb.com/.  Rather, the words to "Route 66" by the late Bobby Troup kept echoing in my head. Troup wrote this in 1946 after making the trip to Los Angeles to find fame and fortune as a songwriter and actor. I'm partial to the Nat King Cole Trio rendition introduced in March 1946 on the Frank Sinatra "Old Gold" radio show.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip.
Get your kicks on Route 66.

Route 66 purists will tell you that the original road started in Chicago on Jackson Boulevard at Michigan Avenue. It then ran through Cicero, Berwyn, Joliet, Wilmington, Gardner, Dwight, Pontiac, Bloomington, Funk's Grove, Lincoln, Elkhart, Springfield, Edwardsville, and crossed the Mississippi on the currently closed "Chain of Rocks Bridge" Detailed driving instructions for retracing Route 66 in Illinois can be found at http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2489/itinerary/61562

"...and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads, 66 is the mother road, the road of flight." The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck -1939

66's beginnings date back to the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 and the Federal Highway Act of 1921.  In November 1926, Route 66 was christened with 800 miles of "hard roads." The entire route would not be completely paved until 1937. In Illinois the route began as the "Pontiac Trail" in 1915 and paving was started in 1918 with the name becoming the not very lyrical "State Bond Issue 4" http://new.historic66.com/illinois/.

The National Historic Route 66 Federation website http://www.national66.com/ contains a well-written essay about the social, cultural and economic importance of Route 66 to America.   This website http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/route66.htm  has links to web sites in the eight states traversed by Route 66, a list of photo sites, and dozens of association links and articles.

The "Route 66 Association of Illinois" http://www.il66assoc.org/ publishes a magazine, promotes preservation and education efforts, and sponsors the Route 66 Museum and Hall of Fame.  Inductees into the Hall of Fame include both people and places.

Drive-in movie theaters first opened in Illinois in the 1940s. By the mid-1950s there was a string of them strategically placed so youngsters could see them from the major highways and beg their parents to pull in. A complete list of Drive-in theaters along Route 66 http://www.driveintheater.com/route66.htm explains that there were eight in Illinois at one time. Only the Sky View Drive-in in Litchfield is still in operation.

Finally, "Real-Time Route 66 Weather" http://www.hhjm.com/66/ lets you view the weather and temperature simultaneously in eight Route states at one time. So, even if you're a homebody and don't have a flashy 1960 red Corvette, you can still get your "clicks" on Route 66.

Mark Sorensen is Assistant Director at the Illinois State Archives and serves on the Board of the Illinois State Historical Society.

If you still want more on Route 66 check out these additional clicks: 

www.theroadwanderer.net/route66.htm

www.legendsofamerica.com.

www.illinoisroute66.com/template.cfm?page_id=11

www.route66university.com/

www.members.cox.net/jdmount/route66.html

www.route66photographs.com/

www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/Route66/ 

www.mamarocks.com/route_66.htm

Get your kicks on Route 66!

Back to Article Page