Text by Tammie

  Fast food and metal artwork are roadside attractions on Route 66 in Braidwood, Illinois. Polk-a-Dot Drive In is at 222 N. Front St. The Braidwood Zoo is nearby at 140 N. Front St. Chester “Chet” Fife served fast food in 1956 from his school bus painted in rainbow polka dots before moving the business to its current location in 1962. The late artist John “Jack” Barker’s metal creations populate the Braidwood Zoo. More about all that here .  

  David J. Schwartz of Lakewood, Ohio, is a professional photographer whose photos of life on Route 66 are in an exhibition in Springfield, Illinois. Also, certain photos are part of the soon-to-be-issued U.S. Postal Service Route 66 Commemorative Forever Stamps. The photo exhibition at The Pharmacy Gallery & Art Space, 623 E. Adams St., Springfield, Illinois, goes through December 2026. The Route 66 “Forever” Stamps will be issued at the First-Day-of-Issue ceremony at 9:15 a.m. (MDT), Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at the National Postal Forum at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. More information is available here .

  The giant catsup bottle water tower in Collinsville, Illinois, was dramatic at 170-foot tall, as well as practical. Some 25,000 gallons of water helped run the catsup plant below it; 75,000 gallons of reserved water was for fire protection. It was built in 1949. A company merger in 1959 meant Brooks Catsup left Collinsville and its factory buildings and Brooks Catsup Bottle Water Tower. The tower was idle and decaying until in 1994 a group of residents raised $80,000 to restore the water tower. Today, the public can celebrate the icon during the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival to take place on Saturday June 20, 2026, in Collinsville. More information is here .  

  A steel silhouette of a coal miner and donkey outside the Illinois Route 66 Mining Museum in Godley, Illinois, symbolizes how miners and their animals worked difficult days and nights to carry coal from underground. Godley, Illinois, was a coal mining town on Route 66. The Illinois Route 66 Mining Museum opened in 2011 and tells the story of coal mining in Route 66 communities like Godley. Godley’s population of nearly 500 people in the 1880s dropped to about 50 when the mines closed in the 1890s, according to the Godley Public Water District’s website. “The town consisted of a store, over 18 taverns and about 8 houses of ill repute,” says the Godley Public Water District. The Illinois Route 66 Mining Museum documents some of mining towns’ lifestyles. More information is available here .  

  A giant of a man has become family at O’Brien Tire & Auto Care in Granite City, Illinois. Earl, the 14-foot, fiberglass, muffler man, stands at the business, which is the oldest and longest-running tire and auto repair center along the entire Route 66. It’s at 3924 Nameoki Road. Nameoki Road was Route 66. Earl is named for the patriarch of the Buenger family, the fourth Granite City family to own, since 1970, O’Brien Tire & Auto Care. When the business was owned by Jim O’Brien, he established two themes: excellent customer service and family. More about that here .  

The village of Gardner, Illinois, has several Route 66 attractions – Two-Cell Jail, World War II hero and former streetcar/diner. The attractions are easy to get to: The Two-Cell Jail is at 400 E. Mazon St. A historical marker is next to the jail, celebrating the Rev. Christian Christiansen who helped sabotage Nazi atomic bomb efforts during World War II. The 1932 streetcar-turned-diner is near the Two-Cell Jail. The Two-Cell Jail, historic 1932 streetcar/diner and the Riviera Roadhouse are key sites that were along Route 66 that passed through the center of Gardner. More information is available here .