Get Your Chicks on Route 66

White Fence Farm
1376 Joli et Road, Romeoville
City folk yearn for the farm. That‘s the theory behind rural atmosphere of this 1920s restaurant.  Stop in and dine family-style on the "World's Greatest Chicken." Illinois has chickens, but most of them are raised to produce eggs, not to end up on your plate. Illinois produces more than a billion eggs each year.  More on White Fence Farm

Odell Gas Station
West Street, Odell
Imagine smartly dressed men running out to fill your tank and check under the hood. It’s easy to do at this restored gas station. More on Odell Gas Station

 J. H. Hawes Grain Elevator Museum
1st Street, Atlanta
“Next floor, penthouse.” No, it’s not that kind of elevator. From 1904 to 1976, farmers stored corn here, before it was loaded onto railcars. For Route 66 drivers, grain elevators were the beacons that marked towns and a promise of gas, food, and lodging.
More on J.H Hawes Graing Elevator

Did Route 66 Kill Elevators?
Grain elevator used to be every 6 miles along the train track – close enough that a farmer could drive his horse wagon to it and back home again, within a day. With paved roads, trucks, today’s elevators are bigger and farther apart.

Railsplitter Covered Wagon
1006 Woodlawn Road, Lincoln
A 350 pound, 12-foot high Abraham Lincoln sits on top of the what the Guiness Book of World Records calls the "World's Largest Covered Wagon." More on the Railsplitter Covered Wagon

What’s a Railsplitter, Anyway?
Grab your axe, split some logs to build fences, and next thing you know, you’re a railsplitter. In Lincoln’s day, fences weren’t used to keep cows in pens. Fences kept livestock out of the corn and wheat fields.

Ramsey Barn
11400 Log Cabin Lane, Glenarm
In the early 1900s, the University of Illinois encouraged dairy farmers to invest in round barns because they were more efficient. When the Mother Road opened, there would have been several along the road. Today, this is the only one left on Illinois’ Route 66.

Barns Gone High Tech|
Today’s farmers keep farm animals in climate-controlled buildings with electric heating, cooling, and ventilation systems.  That’s good news with Illinois’ wild weather. You know what they say, “If you don’t like the weather in Illinois, wait a day. It’ll change.

Manske-Niemann Farm
13 Franks Lane, Litchfield Illinois
Yup, looks pretty old. This site has some of the best examples of 19th and early 20th-century farm architecture including barns, a smokehouse and a windmill.

A Windmill Comeback
Up until the 1930s, farmers used wind to generate power. Today, Illinois farmers use modern turbines to harness these gusty gales and provide clean renewable electricity for everyone, from small town schools to the city of Chicago.

Meramec Caverns Barn
Hamel, Illinois
Escaping Lady Bird Johnson’s goal to beautify America's highways in the 1960s, this painted barn is a nostalgic remnant of a bygone era. It is one of two remaining barn advertisements along Illinois Route 66. (The other is near Cayuga.) More on Meramec Caverns Barn 

Lewis & Clark State Historic Site Visitors Center
1 Lewis and Clark Trail, Hartford
See the 55-foot full-scale replica of the Lewis and Clark’s keelboat. Plus, this museum is located in the same place that Lewis and Clark had their winter camp. More on Lewis and Clark Visitor Center
 

A Couple of Dirty Boys
President Thomas Jefferson was worried that there wasn’t enough farmland to feed the growing U.S. population, so he sent Lewis and Clark to see if the western lands of the Louisiana Purchase were good for farming. Lewis and Clark conducted the first soil surveys on this land. We’re still looking at soil today. Since 2000, more than 80 new soil types have been found on Illinois farms.