Springfield, Illinois

We really enjoyed our stop in Springfield, Illinois. There’s so much to see that you could easily spend a day here, but we spent just a few hours in the morning. We decided our priority would be the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. That turned out to be a good decision--it’s one of the best museums we’ve ever seen.

Springfield, Illinois, is big enough that you have to hunt for parking downtown. Because we arrived early in the morning, we found free parking near the Lincoln Home Visitor Center, on South 7^th Street between East Capitol Avenue and East Edwards Street.

Lincoln Home Visitor Center (from recreation.gov)

We stopped first at the Visitor Center to pick up information on local sights, then we walked about five blocks north to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The entrance is at the corner of North 6^th Street and East Jefferson Street.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

Inside, a very friendly guide ushered us into a huge atrium and pointed out where we could start our self-guided tour. My husband took this 360-degre panoramic shot of the atrium. The floor tile is actually laid out like a star, but in this shot it's a cool optical illusion!

360-degree view of the Lincoln Presidential Museum atrium

The entrance into the atrium is in the center of this photo. On the far right is a recreation of the Lincoln’s cabin. From there the tour goes through recreations of several scenes in Lincoln’s life plus rooms with all kinds of interesting artifacts. The tour exits next to the model White House on the left. Those are mannequins of Lincoln and his family on the left; visitors posed with them for selfies.

Each stop on the tour was fascinating. I was surprised how much we learned about Lincoln. I had no idea how controversial the Emacipation Proclamation was.

The atrium also featured a live musician playing period music.

Musician in the atrium of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

Then, an unexpected treat: We toured the “State of Sound” special exhibit on Illinois musicians. We could see videos and artifacts of Illinois musicians from practically every possible music genre. My husband especially enjoyed the Chicago blues exhibit, and my favorite was a video clip of Steve Goodman in the folk music exhibit.

We then walked back to the Lincoln Home, on South 8^th Street, between East Capitol Avenue and East Jackson Street.

Lincoln Home in Springfield IL

The buildings around the Lincoln Home has been preserved to look like they did in Lincoln’s time, so the street is like stepping back in time.

If you’re interested in Lincoln, there’s a lot more to see in Springfield, most within walking distance: a recreation of his law offices, the train depot where he left for Washington, the church he worshipped at, and the State Capitol where he served. Lincoln’s tomb is a mile or two north.

Springfield also has three iconic Route 66 restaurants, all serving Springfield specialities. The 1926 Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop is at 118 North Pasfield Street.

Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop in Springfield, Illinois (from SangamonCountyHistory.org)

Maid Rite is known for “loose” hamburger sandwiches—not formed into patties.

Just a few blocks south of the Lincoln Home is the Chili Parlor at 820 South 9^th Street. (Some resources call it Joe Roger’s Chili Parlor.)

The Chili Parlor serves Springfield chilli—yes, they spell it with two Ls.

 At the southern end of Springfield is the Cozy Dog Drive In, which invented corn dogs.

Cozy Dog Drive In in Springfield, Illinois (from route66guide.com)

Unfortunately, we finished our visit to Springfield in the morning, too early to stop at any of these places for lunch. If we had stayed for lunch, I don't know which place we would gave gone to--they're all really special!

On our way out of Springfield, we saw one more Route 66 treat: the Lauterbach Giant at 1569 Wabash Avenue. (Some resources say it is in Jerome rather than Springfield.)

Lauterbach Giant on Wabash Avenue in Springfield, Illinois

This is one of the “muffler men” we first saw in Wilmington, Illinois.

South of Springfield, Illinois, we faced a choice of Route 66 routes, which I’ll share in my next blog post.

Atlanta, Lincoln, and Sherman, Illinois

South of Bloomington, Illinois, Route 66 runs alone the northwest side of I-55. Our first stop south of Bloomington was Atlanta, Illinois. As we approached Atlanta, we turned right (west) on Sycamore Street. Here we saw a welcoming billboard.

Atlanta IL billboard (from route66news.net)

Sycamore merges into North East Arch Street, which goes into the center of Atlanta. 

Like Pontiac, this is a good place to get out of the car and walk. There are several interesting sights within a few blocks of each other.

The most eye-catching sight is a “Muffler Man” statue, this one of Paul Bunyon (yes, it's spelled that way) holding a giant hot dog. 

My post on Wilmington, Illinois, tells the story of the Muffler Men. This statue was once in front of Bunyon’s, a hot dog stand in Cicero, Illinois, near Chicago. The restaurant was purposely spelled Bunyon, not Bunyan, to avoid any copyright  issues. In 2002, the restaurant closed, the statue was put up for sale, and Atlanta acquired it. A sign near the statue tells more of its story.

Across the street from the Paul Bunyon statue is a historic gem: the 1967 Downey Building

Downey Building in Atlanta IL (from DestinationLoganCountyIL.com)

The Downey Building was built in the Italianate style popular in the mid-1800s. The arched windows are one characteristic of Italianate style. The Downey Building is in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1934 the Palms Grill opened in one side of the Downey Building. Over the years, the interior was altered but today it’s been restored to how it looked in 1934.

Interior of the Palms Grill in Atlanta IL

Look closely at the photo of the Downey Building, and you can see that the Palms Grill was once a Greyhound Bus Stop.

Unfortunately, the Palms Grill and the Atlanta Museum were closed when we visited in October—they’re only open May through September. (In fact, virtually all the shops on South West Arch Street were closed.)

Several murals were added around downtown Atlanta in 2002. This is one of my favorites at 114 South West Arch Street, on the building to the right of Paul Bunyon.

Mural at 114 South West Arch Street in Atlanta IL (photo from DestinationLoganCountyIL.com)

Judy & Sons were once grocers on the first floor of this building. This mural is a recreation of a mural that was on the building around 1900.

Half a block to the left of Paul Bunyon, at the corner of South West Arch Street and South East Race Street, is a lovely Seth Thomas clock built in 1901.

Atlanta IL Clock Tower (from elevation.maplogs.com)

It was originally at the high school, then moved here. The clock is still hand wound by volunteers.

Behind the clock is the beautiful 1908 public library.

Atlanta IL Library (from atlantapld.org)

Behind the library on 1^st Street is the 1903 J. H. Hawes Grain Elevator. It’s also on the National Register of Historic Places.

J. H. Hawes Grain Elevator in Atlanta IL (from DestinationLoganCountyIL.com)

South West Arch Street merges back into Route 66, which we followed to Lincoln, Illinois. We wanted to take the 1926 alignment through Lincoln, so just before town, we turned left on Kickapoo Street. In a bit over a mile, we turned right onto Keokuk Street, which took us back out to the 1940s Route 66, also known as Lincoln Parkway. About a mile down Route 66, on the right, on the grounds of the Best Western Lincoln Inn, is the World's Largest Covered Wagon. Some resources call it Railsplitter Covered Wagon.

World's Largest Covered Wagon in Lincoln IL (from waymarking.com)

It features a statue Abe Lincoln reading a law book. The statue was built in Wisconsin in 2001 and moved to Lincoln in 2007.

South of Lincoln, about a half mile before the Lincoln Parkway intersects with I-55, “Historic U.S. 66” turns off to the left (south). At this point we were nearing the end of a long day and headed straight into Springfield, Illinois, for the night. But near Sherman, Illinois, just north of Springfield, there are some fragments of Route 66 from the 1920s. One is a 1922 segment in Carpenter Park in Sherman that’s on the National Register of Historic Places . If you’d like to walk it (it’s just a quarter mile long), turn right (west) on Cabin Smoke Trail. The 1922 segment will be on your left.

Route 66 segment in Sherman IL (from LegendsOfAmerica.com)

The segment ends at the river, where the bridge that once crossed the Sangamon River is now gone. 

 

 

Lexington, Towanda, and Normal. Illinois

After exploring Pontiac, Illinois, we passed through three more Illinois towns along Route 66: Lexington, Towanda, and Normal.

About a mile before Lexington, Route 66 veers away from I-55. About a half mile later, we turned left onto Parade Road, also known as Memory Lane. This is an original 1926 stretch of Route 66 that now has reproductions of vintage road signs.

Memory Lane in Lexington, Illinois

I’d read that Memory Lane is often closed to vehicles, but it was open for driving when we visited in October 2021. With I-55 and the newer Route 66 bypass out of sight, we got a real sense of what it was like to travel on the original Route 66. 

After Memory Lane, the original Route 66 becomes West Wall Street and then North Grove Street, rejoining the newer Route 66 bypass south of Lexington. Instead of following the original route all the way through town, we turned right (west) onto Main Street to try to see a restored 1949 neon sign pointing travelers from the bypass to downtown Lexington, but we somehow missed it.

Neon sign pointing to Lexington, Illinois (from TheRoadWanderer.net)

A few miles further down Route 66 from Lexington is Towanda, Illinois. Back around Odell, Illinois, we saw stretches of an abandoned Route 66 roadbed that runs parallel to today’s Route 66. That abandoned roadbed appears again in Towanda. Here it’s been converted into a really nice roadside walking path, shown on Google Maps as Historic Route 66 Trail and sometimes called the Parkway or Route 66 Walking Tour.

Original Route 66 (on right) through Towanda, now a walking trail (from Route66 Towanda.org)

The trail runs about 3 ½ miles. This would be a great place to stretch your legs.

 Also in Towanda is Dead Mans Curve, a spot where the 1926 Route 66 made a sharp 90-degree turn. 

Towanda's Dead Man's Curve (from CuriousTraveler66.wordpress.com)

To reach it, turn right (north) at the intersection of Route 66 with South Jefferson Street on the left and North 1900 East Road on the right. Take the next left on Jackson Street. Jackson Street was once part of the 1926 “alignment” and soon take a sharp left turn onto Quincy Street. This is Dead Mans Curve. There are plenty of signs, including some Burma Shave signs, so you can’t miss it.

Illinois is mostly flat, so many of original roads ran either north-south or east-west, in simple grid patterns. When Route 66 was created in 1926, it was intended to run through Illinois on a diagonal, from Chicago southwest to St. Louis, Missouri. In many sections there was no existing diagonal road, so Route 66 zigzagged west and south, west and south, along existing roads. This created a lot of sharp 90-degree turns. I’m sure signage was poor in those days, and a lot of travelers didn’t expect those turns and ended up tipping over.

I’m not sure why this particular segment is notorious as Dead Mans Curve when the 1926 “alignment” had many such sharp turns. Here the road is only 18 feet wide—maybe that narrow width contributed to more accidents than usual.

Quincy Street took us back to Route 66, and from there it was just a few miles into Normal and Bloomington, Illinois.

Normal got its odd name from the university it’s home to: Illinois State University. The university was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, a teachers college. American teachers colleges in the 1800s were called normal schools after the first teachers school, which was founded in France in the 1600s. It was called Ecole Normale because it educated teachers in the norms of the day. Illinois State Normal University was one of the first public teachers colleges in the United States. Here's what it looked like in 1914. 

Illinois State Normal University in 1914 (from Library of Congress)

Today Illinois State is huge, with about 20,000 studnets, and so is the community around it. The town of Normal now blends into Bloomington to the south. The total population of Normal and Bloomington is over 150,000.

We didn’t try to stay on Route 66 through Normal and Bloomington. Instead, we set our GPS to reach a Route 66 gem: the 1931 Sprague Super Service Station at 305 Pine Street in Normal. 

1931 Sprague Super Service Station in Normal, Illinois

Sprague’s service station, on the National Register of Historic Places, is the only gas station in Illinois built in Tudor Revival style. It once had a restaurant on the first floor and apartments for the owner and an employee on the second floor. A Route 66 bypass built in the 1940s (now Veterans Parkway or Business I-55) ended Sprague’s heyday, and the building has housed a variety of businesses over the years. The National Park Service has a photo of what it looked like in 1966.

Sprague Super Service Station in 1966 (from nps.gov)

Today it’s officially called Ryburn Place at Sprague’s Super Service. It’s a visitor center and gift shop owned by the Town of Normal. Unfortunately it was closed when we stopped by.

Half a block west at 208 Pine Street is another 1930s gas station: Snedaker’s Station.

Snedaker's Station in Normal, Illinois (from Google Maps)

It is now a private home, but you can see the canopy where gas pumps once were.

Getting back on Route 66 south of Normal-Bloomington is a bit tricky. We took South Veterans Parkway. Just before it intersects with I-78 and I-55, we turned right (west) at the intersection with West Hamilton Road on the left and Historic Route 66 on the right. After crossing I-55/74, we turned left (south) to stay on Historic Route 66. It parallels I-55 on the northwest side.

About 8 miles south is Funks Grove Maple Sirup (yes, spelled that way) in Shirley, Illinois. Funks is a local institution since 1891. We had just visited Vermont a few months earlier, so we skipped Funks and continued to yet another Route 66 gem: Atlanta, Illinois.