Litchfield, Mt. Olive, and Collinsville, Illinois

As I note in my post on Auburn through Carlinsville,Illinois, Route 66 has two “alignments” south of Springfield, Illinois, that are as much as ten miles apart. When we have a choice of Route 66 alignments, we try to choose the one that looks more interesting--often the older alignment. Here we thought the northern part of the 1926 alignment and the southern part of the 1930s alignment looked interesting, so we decided to experience both. We first drove the 1926 alignment from Springfield to Carlinsville--I shared that leg in my last post. From Carlinsville, we used our GPS to cut over backroads to join the 1930s alignment at Litchfield, which is where this post begins.

Litchfield has two Route 66s, labeled on Google Maps as “Historic Route 66” and “Old Route 66.” They merge at North 13^th Avenue. Old Route 66 has more to see, so we took it into town. We immediately passed the 1951 Skyview Drive-In movie theater with a great neon sign.

Skyview Drive-In sign in Litchfield, Illinois (from CinemaTreasures.org)

Two blocks south, just past Union Avenue, is a Route 66 gem: the 1935 Ariston Café.

Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Illinois

It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately we were too full from an earlier lunch to stop here, but I’ve read that the food is great.

About a half a dozen blocks south of the Ariston Café, at 825 Old Route 66, is another Route 66 treasure: the 1936 Belvidere Café, Motel & Service Station, closed since the 1970s, when I-55 opened.

Former Belvidere Cafe, Motel & Service Station in Litchfield, Illinois (from the-route66.com)

This is another Litchfield property on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the reasons it's special is because so much of the entire complex--restaurant, motel, and service station--is still intact, though in deteriorated condition.

About a mile south of the Belvidere, Old Route 66 merges back into Historic Route 66. We followed it about eight miles into Mt. Olive, Illinois. The southbound side of this stretch of Route 66 was built during World War II. The northbound lanes were built in the 1950s.

Just before Mt. Olive, Route 66 splits, with the World War II alignment bending to the right and a 1930-1940 alignment turning left. The 1930-1940 Old Route 66 then bends right (west), then left (south) through Mt. Olive. Two blocks south of West Main Street, at 710 West 1^st South Street, is yet another Route 66 gem, the beautifully restored 1926 Soulsby Service Station.

Soulsby Service Station in Mt. Olive, Illinois

It’s also on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately it was closed when we visited, but we got a kick out of the old car lift with a tree growing through it!

Car lift at the Soulsby Station in Mt. Olive, Illinois

From the Soulsby Station, we stayed on Old Route 66 until it merged into the newer alignment about two miles south of town. About a half mile later, bear right (southwest) to go back onto the 1930-1940 Route 66 alignment.

Old Route 66 bends around the perimeter of Staunton, Illinois, and passes Henry's Rabbit Ranch, with a replica of an old gas station and a collection of kitsch.

Henry's Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, Illinois (from TrailerLife.com)

Between the Rabbit Ranch and St. Louis, Missouri, Route 66 gets really complicated. I’ve mentioned throughout this blog that Route 66 has had multiple “alignments” over the years. The St. Louis, Missouri, area is a great example of this. Before 1930, Route 66 crossed the Mississippi on McKinley Bridge, a couple of miles north of the Gateway Arch. From 1936 to 1968, there were two Route 66s through this area. “Bypass Route 66” crossed the Mississippi on the Chain of Rocks Bridge, just south of I-270 and about ten miles north of Saint Louis. “City Route 66” crossed the Mississippi on Eads Bridge, just north of the Gateway Bridge. And so far I’ve just described the Route 66 bridges crossing the Mississippi, not the Route 66 roads leading to the bridges, which resemble a pile of spaghetti.

To be honest, there’s not a lot of vintage Route 66 to be seen on any of these approaches. Vintage Americana is more likely to survive in rural areas than in urban areas. Just two stops appealed to us: the 1929 Chain of Rocks Bridge near Madison, Illinois, and the 1949 World’s Largest Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, Illinois. Unfortunately, they’re pretty far apart, so we opted for just one: the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle  at 800 South Morrison Avenue in Collinsville. We used our GPS to get there rather than try to stick to one of the Route 66 alignments.

World's Largest Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, Illinois

The catsup bottle is a water tower built for a now-defunct catsup bottling plant. As you can see, it’s been beautifully restored. There’s no parking along South Morrison Avenue, but we found a parking lot about a block south and walked up to take pictures.

From here we again used our GPS to get to our hotel in Saint Louis, because East Saint Louis can be dangerous—it’s not an area we wanted to spend a lot of time in.

While we enjoyed the World's Largest Catsup Bottle, we were sorry to miss the Chain of Rocks Bridge.

Chain of Rocks Bridge near Madison, Illinois (from Route66news.com)

The National Park Service calls it one of the more interesting bridges in America. It was an unusually massive construction project for the 1920s, and it has an interesting quirk: it bends at a 30 degree angle in the middle of the river. (Click the National Park Service link to find out why.) The bridge closed in 1969 and reopened as a biking/hiking trail in 1999.

One of the reasons we decided not to visit the Chain of Rocks Bridge is that every resource I consulted warned that cars parked at either end of the bridge see frequent break-ins, and everything in your vehicle should be stored out of sight in your trunk. We were driving an SUV, so this wasn’t an option. (The bridge has received a grant from the National Park Service for a variety of improvements, including security.) If we had gone, we would have driven to the Chouteau Island Fishing Area just south of the bridge, which offers a great view of the bridge from the shoreline without leaving our car.