Historic Route 66: Pontiac, IL

I had driven through Pontiac before for some work-related activities and, of course, knew about the state correctional facility located in town.

But I had never stopped to get a glimpse of the really neat downtown area that is so full of history.

First, Pontiac really does roll out the red carpet for Route 66 sightseers like me.

For one thing, the town is home to the Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum which, I'm sad to say, I was closed by the time I came to town. The back alley behind the museum, however, had a number of great murals and and other nostalgic items that I also feature in my photos.

Speaking of murals, Pontiac has twenty of them plastered around town, each of which depicts a little bit of local history. I've was able to capture just a few in my photo set, and I encourage you to click here to view a more complete set of the downtown mural collection.

At the center of downtown Pontiac is the historic Livingston County Courthouse, construction of which began in 1874. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

As with Lincoln and Bloomington, Pontiac was also a stop on the famed 8th Judicial Circuit that was traveled by then-lawyer Abraham Lincoln. In 2006, this Lincoln statue was dedicated on the grounds of the Livingston County Courthouse.

Speaking of Honest Abe, Pontiac was also home to an impromptu debate in 1840 between Lincoln and then-lawyer Stephen Douglas on the banks of the Vermillion River (see photo of the historical marker here.) It's not considered one of the official "Lincoln-Douglas Debates", but it was a debate between these two men, nonetheless, and Pontiac is darn proud to have hosted it.

Pontiac was created by an Act of Congress in 1937 and is named for the Ottawa Indian Chief Pontiac, for whom this memorial sits on the courthouse grounds. Pontiac came to Illinois after gaming notoriety for the "Pontiac's Rebellion" near what is now the city of Detroit, Michigan. That rebellion involved a violent struggle against British occupation in the Great Lakes Region. He continued to encourage rebellion against the British, in Illinois and over in the Ohio Region, until he was murdered near Cahokia, IL (not far from what is now St. Louis) by a Peoria Indian.

In future posts, we'll come back to discussing Pontiac and the Ottawa tribe in Illinois. In the meantime, here is a helpful link that describes in more detail the Indian tribes of Illinois.

Unfortunately, it was getting late, and my trip to Pontiac was all too brief. I'll definitely be back, if only to stop by the Route 66 Museum and try Bernardi's restaurant, which sits on the courthouse square and has a reputation for excellent food.

I was only able to post a few of my photos from Pontiac here, so I encourage you to click here to view my entire collection.

Historic Route 66: Towanda, IL

During my many trips to Springfield over the past fifteen years, I've driven past the tiny town of Towanda many times. This was the time I finally stopped to check it out.

It's a must-stop for any Route 66 sightseer — not because of any key historic sites, but because of the obvious work the town has put into building a shrine to the "Mother Road."

As you can see from the pictures I've included in the slideshow below, Towanda has preserved what is left of the old Route 66 and build an outdoor museum along a 3.5-mile stretch of the road. There are a series of kiosks along the preserved road that tell the history of Route 66 and Towanda's part in that history.

As for the town, Towanda was founded, in part, by a well-known land developer named Jesse W. Fell. According to Wikipedia, Fell also had a hand in founding other Illinois towns, including Clinton, Dwight, Normal, Pontiac, and was the driving force behind the establishment of the school that would become Illinois State University (which is located in nearby Normal, IL)

I wasn't able to fit all of my Towanda photos in this post. You can click here to view all my photos.

Historic Route 66: Chenoa, IL

Our next stop along Route 66 was the small town of Chenoa. We've included some pics here of our quick stop.

Chenoa is home to the state historic site home of Matthew T. Scott -- the de facto founder of the town.

Scott was a local "agriculturist" and real estate developer. He was born in Kentucky and spent some time in Ohio before coming to central Illinois to develop farmland. As part of that effort, he created the town of Chenoa, which was officially founded in 1854.

A little later in his career, he also founded the McLean County Coal Company, in partnership with Adlai Stevenson I, whose grave we visited in this post.

According to Wikipedia, "the area surrounding Chenoa boasts some of the richest soil in the world," rivaled only be patches of farmland in Argentina, the Ukraine, and along the Yellow River in China."

The population of Chenoa was 1,851 in 2009, and the town is currently home to antique dealers and a handful of small manufacturers.

Closing the loop on Bloomington

Just to close the loop on my trip through Bloomington (read my previous posts here and here), it's a great city, with a lot more history than what I saw on my brief stop.

I encourage you to visit the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site to learn more about how you can visit these great historic sites.

One fun, non-historic site I stopped by during my trip is the Beer Nuts Factory. Yes, the world famous Beer Nuts are made right here in Illinois in the city of Bloomington. Click here to view the company's history.

A few days after my Route 66 trip, my family and I circled back to Bloomington visit the Miller Park Zoo — and we were not disappointed. We have three small children, so the zoos in Chicago always end up being overwhelming, due to large crowds, traffic, and the sheer size of the parks.

No so with the Miller Park Zoo. It's the perfect size (our entire visit lasted about 90 minutes) and they have some great exhibits. They have giant tortoises, a petting zoo, wolves, an American bald eagle, red pandas, a tiger, a bear, a sea lion, a river otter and leopard — and more. Perhaps best of all, they're located in a great park with a splash pad right outside the zoo. Pack a picnic and swim trunks and head to Bloomington for an fun — and inexpensive — outing with the kids.

Click here to view more about the Miller Park Zoo.

Historic Route 66: Bloomington, IL (Part II: David Davis Mansion)

Earlier this week, we posted about our first stop in Bloomington, IL: — the Stevenson graves.

We then headed on over to the historic David Davis Mansion (pictured, right).

As we learned in our tour of the Postville Courthouse, David Davis had served as judge on the same 8th Judicial Circuit (from 1848 to 1862) traveled by then-lawyer Abraham Lincoln. Prior to that, Davis had served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1845 and a delegate to the Illinois constitutional convention in McLean County, 1847.

Davis served as a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, where Lincoln received the nomination for president. Davis went on to serve as Lincoln's campaign manager in that election.

In 1862, Lincoln appointed Davis to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1972, he received the nomination of the Labor Reform Party to be president of the United States — but then dropped out of the contest when he failed to receive the Liberal Republican Party nomination. Ulysses S. Grant, of course, went on to win that election (the U.S. Grant home in Galena, IL, will certainly be a future stop documented on this blog).

In 1977, the Illinois legislature selected Davis to serve as U.S. Senator (senators were not popularly elected in most states in those days), and resigned his seat on the Supreme Court.

During his first and only term as U.S. Senator, he ascended to the President Pro Tempore position, and then retired in 1883 to his home in Bloomington. He died in 1886, and is actually buried at Evergreen Cemetery, which we visited to find the Stevenson graves earlier on our trip.

I invite you to read the full Wikipedia post on Davis' life, which details some key, historic decisions he handed down while on the Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, I arrived at the Davis Mansion after it had closed to visitors for the day. I encourage you to visit the historic site's Web site to learn about the ongoing exhibits and events they feature on a regular basis.

Historic Route 66: Bloomington, IL (Part I: Evergreen Cemetery)

The next stop on my Route 66 sightseeing tour: Bloomington, IL.

I have to be honest, by the time I rolled into Bloomington, I was running way behind. There are many more great sites to visit here, and I just hit three "quickies".

First, I stopped at Evergreen Cemetery, which is "home" to the graves of Adlai Stevenson, former Congressman and Vice President under Grover Cleveland (1893-1897). His wife, Letitia Green Stevenson, is also buried at Evergreen.

His son, Adlai Stevenson II, is also buried here. The younger Stevenson served as the Governor of Illinois (1949-1953), Ambassador to the United Nations (1961-1965), and twice served as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Presidency (1952 and 1956).

In addition to his various posts in government and politics, Stevenson is also remembered for his role in helping bring an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. On October 25, 1963, he addressed a special session of the U.N. Security Council, forcefully confronting the Soviet Representative. As Wikipedia reports:

He forcefully asked the Soviet representative, Valerian Zorin, if his country was installing missiles in Cuba, punctuated with the famous demand "Don't wait for the translation, answer 'yes' or 'no'!" Following Zorin's refusal to answer the abrupt question, Stevenson retorted, "I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over." In one of the most memorable moments in U.N. history, Stevenson then showed photographs that proved the existence of missiles in Cuba, just after the Soviet ambassador had implied they did not exist.

You can click here to read the full text of Stevenson's speech to the U.N. Security Council.

Tomorrow, I'll a recap of my next Bloomington stops: the David Davis Mansion and the Beer Nuts Factory (yes, I said the Beer Nuts Factory).