Landmarks on Route 66

Illinois

Illinois Route 66 Landmarks

Route 66 begins in Illinois for those heading west (and ends for those going east), below we describe the landmarks by category.

Historic Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant in Chicago, Illinois

Henry's Drive-in hot dog-shaped neon sign, Route 66 Cicero

Cafes, Diners and Restaurants

Berghoff Restaurant (Chicago)
Historic Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant (Chicago)
Henry’s Drive-In (Cicero)
The first White Castle (Berwyn)

The Neon Sign of the Historic Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket, Willowbrook. Source

Historic Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket (Willowbrook)
Site of World's First Dairy Queen (Joliet)
Polk-A-Dot Drive-In (Braidwood)
Weitz Cafe (Braidwood)
Former Coffeehouse (Dwight)
Big Al’s Hot Dogs (Dwight) - (Gone)
Cozy Inn Restaurant (Pontiac)
Old Log Cabin Restaurant (Pontiac)

Blues Brothers statues, Polk-A-Dot Alt 66. Source

First Steak ’n Shake (Normal)
Historic Palms Grill Café (Atlanta)
The Mill Museum on 66 (Lincoln)
Pig Hip Marker & Sign (Broadwell)
Double H Bar (Sherman)
Historic Ariston Café (Litchfield)
Decamp Junction Roadhouse (Staunton)
Hamel Haven (Hamel)

Ariston Café nowadays.

Gas Stations

Castle Car Wash former gas station in Chicago

Castle Car Wash (Chicago)
Former Mercury Oil gas station (Chicago)
Former Amoco Gas Station (Chicago)
Former Phillips gas station (Berwyn)

Historic Service Station in Odell, Illinois. Credits

Historical Standard Oil Gas Station (Plainfield)
Rossi’s Service Station (Braidwood)
Historic Ambler’s Texaco Gas Station (Dwight)
Historic Standard Oil Gasoline Station (Odell)
Abandoned Old Mobil Station (Odell)
Archie’s Standard Service (Pontiac)
Anderson’s Corner old gas station (Lexington)
Vintage Gas Station (Normal)
Historic Sprague’s Super Service (Normal)

Soulsby’s Service Station, Mt. Olive. Source

Quinn service station (Bloomington)
Former Evans Gas Station (Bloomington)
Logan Service Station (Lincoln)
Former Dial’s Texaco (Lincoln)
Cottage Style gas station (Lincoln)
Sinclair station (Lincoln)
Vintage Service Station (Lincoln)
Werth Standard Gas Station (Lincoln)
Former Gas Station (Elkhart)
Casey’s Garden Shop (Bloomington)
Hilarious Route 66 Gas Station (Williamsville)

Ambler’s Texaco Gas Station, Dwight. Source

Fawn’s Standard Service Station (Williamsville)
Former Bill Shea’s Gas Station Museum (Springfield)
Mahan’s Filling Station (Springfield)
Historic Soulsby’s Shell Service Station (Mt. Olive)
Former Gas Station (Mt. Olive)
Abandoned gas station (Hamel)
Old gas cottage style station, Eck Auto (Collinsville)
Former Service Station (Collinsville)
Phillips Gull Wing station (East St. Louis)Former Gas Station (East St. Louis)
Another Gull Wing station (East St. Louis)
West End Service Station (Edwardsville)
Former Gas Station (Venice)
Old Gas Station (Granite City)

Classic Route 66 Motels & Hotels

Americana & Wacky Sights

Blues Brothers statues, Joliet. Click for street view

The World’s Largest Laundromat (Berwyn)
Rich and Creamy Ice Cream Stand (Joliet)
Dick’s Towing (Joliet)
Bluesmobile (Joliet)
Gemini Giant (Wilmington)
Sinclair Dinosaur (Wilmington)

Lauterbatch giant Muffler Man, Springfield. Source

Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup (Funks Grove)
Muffler Man Holding Hot Dog (Atlanta)
Lincoln Watermelon Slice Monument (Lincoln)
Phone Booth on Lincoln City Hall (Lincoln)
World’s Largest Covered Wagon (Lincoln)
Lauterbatch Muffler Man (Springfield)
Rail Splitter: Skinny Abe Lincoln Statue (Springfield)
Barn with 13-star flag painted on it (Nilwood)
Pink Elephant Antique Mall (Livingston)
Henry’s Rabbit Ranch (Staunton)
Historic Largest Catsup Bottle in the World (Collinsville)
Fiberglass Cow store sign (Edwardsville)

Classic Neon Signs and Murals

Neon signs awaken a feeling of nostalgia for bygone days. They were a key advertising tool for diners, motels and restaurants across the nation from the mid 1920s to the mid 1960s.

They were built with kitschy eyecatching colorful designs.

But by the early 1970s neon signs fell out of grace: they were hand made and therefore costly. The appearance of cheap mass made fluorescent-lamp, backlit, plastic box signs for shops and stores marked the end of the neon sign era.

Welcome neon sign, McCook, Illinois

Fabulous McCook neon sign (McCook)
Pontiac Murals (Pontiac)
Selz Royal Blue Shoes Mural (Chenoa)
Lexington Neon Arrow Sign (Lexington)

Turkey Tracks sign, Nilwood, Il. Source

Tropics Neon Sign (Lincoln)
Sonrise Donuts (Springfield)
Vic Suhling Neon Sign (Litchfield)
Nite Spot Café neon sign (Fairmont City)
Kriege Hardware ⁄ Deweys Pizza neon sign (Edwardsville)
Dairy Master neon sign (Madison)

Route 66 stuff

Eastern Terminus of Route 66 (Chicago)
The Lincoln Highway Meets Route 66 (Plainfield)
Lincoln Highway and Route 66 in Joliet (Joliet)
Odell Subway Tunnel (Odell)
Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum (Pontiac)
Cayuga to Chenoa Historic section of US 66 (Chenoa)
Memory Lane (Lexington)
The Route 66 Parkway (Towanda)
Towanda Dead Man’s Curve (Towanda)
Historic Brick Road (Auburn)
Historic Route 66 Girard to Nilwood (Nilwood)
Turkey Tracks on 1926 US66 (Nilwood)

The Chain of Rocks Bridge

Buildings, historic sites, architecture, theaters

And this ends our long list of Illinois landmarks, but there are plenty more, you can find a specific landmark in any of the state's towns that we describe in detail in their respective pages.

Towns on US 66 in Illinois

Check out the Route 66 towns in Illinois learn all about their notable places, history, attractions, wheather, how to get there, where to stay and much more.

Missouri

Gateway Arch. St Louis, Missouri. Source

Misouri US 66 Landmarks

Starting at St. Louis with its "Gateway Arch" Route 66 has quite a few landmarks along its Missouri alignment.
We list them below, categorized, and within each category, detailed from Eeast to West. Enjoy your roadtrip!

Missouri Landmark Categories

Amoco Sign, St. Louis, MO, click for street view

• Route 66 Classics & Wacky
• Stores
• Cemeteries, Churches & Bridges
• Neon Signs
• Museums
• Garages
• Historic Places
• Vintage Gas Statons
• Classic Motels, Hotels and Tourist Camps

Route 66 Red Rocker

Route 66 classics & Wacky sights

Pink Elephant, Fenton Missouri, click for street view

Giant Sign (St. Louis)
Gateway Arch (St. Louis)
Pink Elephant (Fenton)
Route 66 State Park (Times Beach)

Carl the Cheff, Springfield MO. Source

Meramec Caverns painted Barn sign (St. Clair)
Indian Harvest Trading Post Teepees (St. Clair)
Meramec State Park (Sullivan)
Route 66 Viva Cuba Murals (Cuba)
The World's (second) Largest Rocking Chair (Fanning)
Hillbilly Sign (Rolla)
Totem Pole Antiques (Rolla)
Larry Baggett's Trail of Tears Memorial (Jerome)
Uranus Missouri (St. Robert)
Frog Rock (Waynesville)
Giant Bowling Pin (Buckhorn)
Replica of the Hubble Space Telescope (Marshfield)
Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park (Springfield)
Mural on Route 66 (Springfield)
Birthplace of Route 66 (Springfield)
"Carl the Chef" Muffler Man (Springfield)

The "Hillbilly" at The Mule Trading Post

1923 Route 66 Bridge in Devil’s Elbow, Missouri

Munger Moss Motel Neon Sign, Lebanon MO

Historic Sites

Cuba Jail built in 1908, Source

Chain of Rocks Bridge (St. Louis)
International Shoe Company Building (St. Clair)
Cuba City Jail (Calaboose) (Cuba)
Dillon House (1857) (Rolla)
Historic County Jail (1860) (Rolla)
Fort Leonard Wood (St. Robert)
George M. Reed Roadside Park (St. Robert)

Historic Gillioz Theatre. Click image for Street View

Site of Waynesville Fort (Waynesville)
Historic Stagecoach Stop (Waynesville)
Historic County Courthouse (Waynesville)
Woodruff Building (Springfield)
Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Mosque (Springfield)
Gillioz Theatre (Springfield)
Old Jail: Calaboose (Springfield)
Pythian Castle (Springfield)
Historic Rock Fountain Tourist Court (Springfield)
(continues below)

Original photo of Bonnie and Clyde's hideout (15-04-1933)

66 Drive-In Theatre, US 66, Carthage MO

Avilla's Phillips 66. Source

Historic Sites (cont.)
Post Office (Avilla)
Whee Bridge (Carthage)
66 drive-in theater (Carthage)
Red Oak II (Carthage)
Superman museum (Carterville)
Praying Hands statue (Webb City)
Dales Ole 66 Barber (Joplin)
The Route 66 Mural Park (Joplin)
Bonnie and Clyde Garage Apartment (Joplin)

Vintage Service Stations

Gary's Gay Parita Sinclair

Classic Route 66 Motels, Hotels and Tourist Camps

The Ozark Court motel neon sign. Stanton MO. Credits

Missouri has many classic motels, some abandoned, others repurposed, and quite a few still alive and kicking lodging Route 66 travelers. Below we list some of them.

Neon sign of Boots Court

From East to West

Classic Motels from St. Louis to St. Robert

Historic Wagon Wheel Motel, Route 66 in Cuba, Missouri

Vintage Motels from St. Robert to Joplin

Keys Cafe at Route 66 State Park

Lit Beacon Neon sign, Route 66, Pacific Missouri. Source

Find More Landmarks in Missouri's US 66 Towns

Our list of Missouri's Route 66 Landmarks ends here but you can check each town individually to find more of them:

Learn all bout Missouri's Route 66 towns and their landmarks.

>> Book your Hotels in Missouri

Kansas

U.S. 66 Landmarks in Kansas

This is the shortest segment of Route 66, and there are only three towns on its algnment (from east to west): Galena, Riverton, and Baxter Springs.

Route 66 American flag

Nelson's Old Riverton Store, Riverton KS

Rainbow bridge, side view of its arches, US 66 Riverton. Source

Kansas and its Top Ten Route 66 Landmarks

Independent Oil and Gas Service Station. Source

1. Kan-O-Tex (Galena)
2. Tag Flag and Texaco (Galena)
3. Galena Historic District (Galena) Historic Site
4. Litch Historical and Mining Museum (Galena)
5. Williams Store - Eisler Brothers Old Riverton Store (Riverton) Historic Site
   The oldest continuously operating store on Route 66
6. Independent Oil & Gas (Baxter Springs) Historic Site
7. Historic Rainbow Bridge (Riverton) Historic Site
8. Fort Baxter site (Baxter Springs) Civil War battleground
9. The shortest alignment of Route 66 (13 miles in Kansas)
10. Cafe on Route 66 (Baxter Springs)

Continue your Journey on the Next Page

End of Page 1

This concludes the list of landmarks in the states of Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. Visit our Page 2 to see more Route 66landmarks in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California

We describe the western landmarks along Route 66 in our Landmarks Page 2

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Credits

Banner image: Hackberry General Store, Hackberry, Arizona by Perla Eichenblat.

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