Our thanks to Pontiac Tourism Director, Ellie Alexander, for providing the following press release for us to share:

The City of Pontiac and Pontiac Tourism recently announced the results of the 2012 tourist season. According to Ellie Alexander, director of Pontiac Tourism, the city experienced a 25% increase in the number of visitors last year. “In 2011 we had just over 18,000 visitors. Last year (2012) we had just short of 23,000 visitors sign our guest books. As only a portion of the visitors actually sign in, the total number of visitors was estimated to be somewhere near 30,000.”

By Jim Robinson

On Christmas 1996 my wife Twila gave me the book “Route 66 Remembered.” Inside the cover she wrote “…For help in planning our own journey over the Mother Road.” We had done several Illinois Route 66 road trips and one Missouri Route 66 trip but we had never done the big trip until 2012.

On Saturday April 21 of this year, Twila and I slid into our rented 2012 Camry and with our luggage and Tom Snyder’s “The Route 66 Travelers Guide and Roadside Companion” we began our journey in front of the Art Institute in downtown Chicago. Immediately hitting detours and traversing some questionable neighborhoods, we made our way toward Santa Monica. We stayed the night in Bloomington, IL and Sunday morning we headed toward St. Louis.

By Josh Friedrich

It has been a whirlwind of travel on the ol' double sixes these past few months. When we last checked in we had just wrapped up a memorable Motor Tour in June.

We'd like to thank Misty L. Bell of Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County for providing the following press release about an exciting, first annual contest, Route 66 Reinterpreted Art Project. Let your creativity flow!

Click to read the press release in its entirety.

Work on the Jason W. Strevell house exterior is nearing completion for this year as engraving begins on the bricks for the memorial walkway that will run from the public sidewalk to the front door. The Livingston County Historical Society has been working towards the completion of this phase of the home’s restoration since 2009 when the building was rescued from possible demolition. The Strevell house is the only remaining structure in Livingston County known to have hosted Abraham Lincoln. Work on the bricks is being done by Pontiac Granite Company.

Our thanks to Grundy County Representative, Ike Widner, for writing and submitting the following account of a Halloween-season excursion taken recently by Association members to Bachelor's Grove Cemetery.

On October 27th, 2012, members of the Route 66 Association took a ride up to Bachelor's Grove Cemetery around 2:30 pm. The day was crisp and the sun was shining with some clouds over the horizon. The park was filled with many spectators walking to the cemetery to see if one could see a ghost or an impression of any figure that lay in the distance or any orbs of colors that filled the air. As we approached the cemetery with our group, we noticed many other thrill-seekers and adventurers out as well. Reaching the point of the entrance many people were walking around the cemetery, looking at the ruins that laid under their feet, hoping that an apparation would appear to them.

We are grateful to local historian and author, Joseph D. Kubal for researching, writing and submitting this informative and comprehensive article about the history and future of St. Mary Carmelite Church in Joliet, Illinois. The saving and repurposing of the grand structure represents a huge win for preservation efforts along Route 66.

Be certain to scroll past the Bibliography for a complete Timeline of the life and times of St. Mary Carmelite Church provided by the author.

By Joseph D. Kubal

It has all the earmarks of that classic 1945 movie, “The Bells of St. Mary’s” starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, but with some unusual twists. In the Academy Award-winning film, Crosby, as Father Charles "Chuck" O'Malley, portrays an unconventional priest who helps save a Catholic school from being demolished. Does life now imitate art? Perhaps.

Scott Henry, an unconventional developer with Celadon Holdings, LLC, of Northbrook, Illinois is trying to save another St. Mary’s. St. Mary Carmelite Church at 113 North Ottawa Street is in the heart of downtown Joliet. Located on Historic Route 66, this unoccupied Catholic Church also may be spared from a wrecking ball – but this is where the similarity to the movie ends. Henry proposes the renovation of the old church complex from a dormant, physically dilapidated church building complex into a vibrant 40-unit senior housing center for low income residents age 55 and older. And he has complete faith that this will happen.

Henry is an ardent fan and booster of Route 66. He believes in promoting the adaptive reuse project as a stopping point of interest for those traversing old Route 66 (its downtown detour along Ottawa skirts the front of the building). The housing project’s name reflects that interest: it’s been dubbed The Limestone Residences along the Mother Road. Henry’s plans include the creation of a Route 66 visitors’ center with displays highlighting Route 66 churches and other historical themes. The visitors’ center would be located in the remodeled building’s ground level foyer and would be open to the public during normal business hours. One display may be modeled after the wayside markers installed along the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway – or may even be created in association with the state’s scenic byway authority.

Our sincere thanks to Brian L. Alexander for writing and submitting the following article about the restoration of the Route 66 icon, the Boots Motel, in Carthage, Missouri.

By Brian L. Alexander

Fran and I decided to go with the Route 66 Association of Missouri, September, two years ago, on their Road Tour. We had so much fun the previous year; we had to do it again the following year. We started in Miami Oklahoma, not too far from Joplin Missouri. We drove a short thirteen miles of Route 66 through Kansas and made our way, back through Missouri, all the way back to Leasburg. The entire group had lunch at Skippy’s, a bar and grill in Leasburg, the tours’ end. (Leasburg is little more than hour southwest of St. Louis, on Route 44 - (Actually Skippy’s is on Old Route 66). The Ozark Countryside was as beautiful last fall, as it was the previous year.

We toured the thirteen miles of US Route 66 through Kansas, our tour then took us through Joplin, Missouri and then onto Carthage Missouri.

The Boot’s Motel was one of our Passport Stops. We pulled up to the Boots Motel in Carthage Missouri; as a Route 66 Roadie I knew the buildings were going to be remodeled. My second thought was how did this place miss the wrecking ball? In fact it was purchased by a developer who intended on tearing it down and plans were in the works for it to be a Walgreens Drug Store but preservationists lobbied for its survival.

Our thanks to Keith Yearman, associate professor of geography at the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, and co-author of the upcoming book, The Curious Traveler’s Guide to Route 66 in Metro Chicago, form which this story is partially excerpted.

By Keith Yearman

One of the more dramatic and tragic incidents in the history of U.S. Route 66 played out in the air on July 6, 1930. What began as a stunt ended in death. Had it not involved a fatality, it would have been grist for a screwball comedy of the decade.

A reader named Helen has written into our website with the following question about a highway sign. Can you help her out? If so, please answer in the comments of this post.

Hello Everyone...We have had this sign in our garage for decades. I just began exploring the history of Route 66 and I am fascinated. However, all of the old signs I see posted read "ILLINOIS U.S. 66" whereas ours reads only "ILLINOIS 66." On the back it reads "State of Illinois Div. of Highways Dist. No.". It is made of a very heavy steel and definitely genuine. Can anyone tell us when this was manufactured and used on Route 66?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Click the photo to view a full-size image of the sign.