Information about Lawndale Illinois
Facts, Trivia & Useful Info
Elevation: 600 ft (183 m). Population 158 (2010).
Time zone: Central (CST): UTC minus 6 hours. Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5).
Lawndale is a community in Logan County, Illinois, between Atlanta and Lincoln, on Historic Route 66. This is a Map of Lawndale.
Lawndale its history
First inhabited some 11,000 years ago, the region was later peopled by Illinois Indians. French trappers explored the rivers in this area in the 1600s, but only in the mid 1800s did the first settlers arive to the grasslands of central Illinois.
Grain silos & elevators in Lawndale, Illinois
Logan county was created in 1839. The first settler in future Lawndale was Thomas Esten Massachusetts, who arrived in the late 1840s as the agent of the Leanderville company that was going to establish a colony in Logan county.
Esten built a saw mill on the Kickapoo Creek. The community was known as "Kickapoo". The town was platted on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis railroad -which now is the Chicago & Alton RR, in 1854 and post office opened the following year.
The name: Lawndale
Lawndale is quite popular in the U.S. and uses the old English term "dale" (Valley) with lawn: grassy valley.
In 1926 Route 66 was created and aligned along an existing state highway. It passed in front of the town until it was decertified in 1977.
Lawndale: Hotels & Motels
Accommodation close to Lawndale
More Accommodation near Lawndale on Route 66
More hotels & motels nearby:
Hotels east of Lawndale
More accommodation Heading West through Illinois
- 6 miles Lincoln
- 39 miles Springfield
- 75 miles Raymond
- 88 miles Litchfield
- 103 miles Staunton
- 106 miles Williamson
- 112 miles Hamel
- 118 miles Edwardsville
- 125 miles Troy
- 127 miles Glen Carbon
- 131 miles Collinsvile
- 133 miles Pontoon Beach
- 137 miles Fairmont City
- 141 miles Granite City
- 141 miles East St. Louis
Hotels, further west into Missouri
- 144 miles St. Louis
- 155 miles Hotels in Sunset Hills
- 158 miles Hotels in Fenton
- 157 miles Kirkwood
- 170 miles Eureka
- 177 miles Pacific
- 196 miles Saint Clair
- 211 miles Sullivan
- 228 miles Cuba
- 243 miles Saint James
- 253 miles Rolla
- 261 miles St. Robert
- 262 miles Waynesville
- 316 miles Lebanon
>> See the RV campground in neighboring Lincoln
The Weather in Lawndale
With a humid continental climate, Lawndale has wet hot summers and cold winters.
Summer (Jul) average high temperature is 85°F (29.7°C) and the avg. low is 65°F (18.1°C).
Winter (Jan) average high temperature is 34°F (1 °C) and the low is 18°F (-7.8 deg;C).
Yearly rainfall is around 36.6 inch ( 1007 mm) and is highest during summer, reaching 5.08 inches (129 mm) in July (129 mm). It is lowest in winter with 1.93 inches (49 mm) in January.
Snow falls each year between November and late March, and averages 22 inches (55 cm).
Tornado risk
Logan County is struck by some 7 tornados each year (Lawndale is located in Logan County).
Tornado Risk: learn more about Tornado Risk on US 66.
Map of Route 66 through Lawndale in Illinois
See the alignment of US 66 in this town, on our Illinois Route 66 Map, it has the complete alignment across the state with all the towns along it.
Route 66 in Illinois: Historic U.S. 66 in Lawndale
Route 66 across Illinois
Route 66 besides being an Historic highway, has also been designated as a National Scenic Byway and an All-American Road in the state of Illinois.
Read this detailed description of Route 66 in Illinois.
Below you will find More information on Route 66 in Lawndale.
Lawndale's Route 66 Attractions
Not much to see in this village
Getting to Lawndale
You can reach Lawndale by driving along Historic U.S. 66 or, the freeway I-55 (exits 133 or 140). US 136 runs to the north of Lawndale, through McLean.
Lawndale US 66 in 1946
Jack Rittenhouse wrote his classic "A Guide Book to Highway 66" in 1946 after driving from Chicago to Los Angeles. In it he mentions Lawndale, and little has changed since then: "Really not a town at all, since it consists of a couple of red railroad shacks, a few homes, and a pair of grain elevators. No facilities at all on Route 66".
Drive past Lawndale on Route 66
Kickapoo Creek Bridge
Just north of Lawndale,
The concrete "T" beam bridge spans the Kickapoo Creek, it was built in 1954 and is scheduled for rehabilitation before 2020. It is almost 307 ft. long and its deck is just short of 28 feet.
It still carries traffic on Historic Route 66. Note the neat decoration of the bridge railings, so 1950-ish.
"Kickapoo" is the name of the nomad tribe from northern Indiana, north-central Illinois, southern Wisconsin. The word may mean "wanderer". They were later moved beyond the Mississippi after supporting the UK against the U.S. in the 1812 war, and force to cede their land to the American government. They were relocated in the west and now live in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma.
Kickapoo Creek Bridge in Lawndale, Illinois
Trivia: The 1977 Thunderbird Incident
Tunderbirds are a category used in cryptozoology (Cryptozoology is the study of "mythical" animals that are rumored to exist such as Bigfoot, Nessie or the Yeti) that comprises gigantic birds, which form part of the Native American Thunderbird myths and legends.
Marlon Lowe, a ten year old boy was playing with two friends in his backyard when two gigantic birds of prey swooped down on them and one of them grabbed him with its claws.
He fought and yelled and the bird dropped him after carrying him for about 90 feet.
Historic Route 66 in Lawndale
1958 USGS Map showing Lawndale (upper right corner)
Route 66 was aligned parallel to the railroad on a pre-existing Illinois state highway in 1926. It remained so until 1941 when the original road was improved to a four-lane divided highway.
In the late 1950s, the Interstate system was implemented and by 1958 it had bypassed U.S. 66 in Lawndale, the second set of lanes have gone, and are now under the freeway's southbound lanes.
The USGS map of Lawndale from 1958 (see image) shows I-55 with no reference to US 66, even though it still existed at that time.
From Lawndale to Lincoln
This was a four lane divided highway after the mid 1940s, but the southbound lanes are now under I-55 for most of the way, current Historic Route 66 uses the former northbound lanes. It is a short 6.8 mile drive south into Lincoln; this is the Map with directions.
> > See the previous segment Atlanta to Lawndale (east)
> > See the next segment Through Lincoln and on to Broadwell (west)
Sources
Banner image: Dead Man's Curve, Laguna New Mexico by Perla Eichenblat.
Jack DeVere Rittenhouse, (1946). A Guide Book to Highway 66.