Berwyn Route 66 Museum, 7003 W. Ogden Avenue, Berwyn IL
Ghost Towns of Route 66 by Jim Hinckley (click above to visit Jim's blog, Route 66 Chronicles
Explore the beauty and nostalgia of these abandoned communities along America’s favorite highway! Ghost towns lie all along the Mother Road. The quintessential boom-and-bust highway of the American West, Route 66 once hosted a thriving array of boom towns built around oil mines, railroad stops, cattle ranches, resorts, stagecoach stops, and gold mines. Join Route 66 expert Jim Hinckley as he tours more than 25 ghost towns, rich in stories and history, complemented by gorgeous sepia-tone and color photography by Kerrick James. Also includes directions and travel tips for your ghost-town explorations along Route 66!
Hardcover • 160 pages
151 color & 21 b/w photos, 1 map
$25.00 US
Route 66 in Chicago by David G. Clark
Vintage photographs and postcard views, as well as contemporary images, are weaved together with narrative and captions to tell the pictorial history of the world’s most famous highway and the city in which it began.
“Much as Route 66 and the city of Chicago share a kindred history, so do the art and text, paired perfectly so that readers get plenty of information and are able to see what the author is talking about” –Jon P. Callender, American Road Magazine.
“David Clark has produced an excellent volume tracing the Route 66 corridor through the Chicago of today and back to early Native American trails and waterways…Clark is noted for his outstanding research and entertaining writing style and this book does not disappoint in either category”—Bob Moore, Route 66 Magazine.
First place winner, nonfiction history book, 2008 Illinois Women’s Press Association Communications Awards.
Softcover: 128 Pages, 6 1/2″ wide x 9 3/16″ tall, 195 photos & illustrations. $19.99.
Both authors will have these titles and more available for purchase and signing. Come by for casual conversation about Route 66, other U.S. Highways, your travels, local and U.S. history, or to just say hello!
Berwyn Route 66 Museum, 7003 W. Ogden Ave., 708-484-9349 http://www.berwynrt66museum.org- info@BerwynRt66Museum.org
Driving through Pontiac IL in 1915
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011Motorists did have a few tools to help them find the best available roads in those days. Some named auto trails were beginning to get marked. Those wishing to travel from Joliet to Iowa could follow the Lincoln Highway whose red-white-blue symbols with a large “L” had been painted on posts and trees all along the way. From Chicago to Bloomington, you could theoretically follow the signs for the Pontiac Trail, whose sign is shown here.
Or could you? A 1915 article in Illinois Highways, a publication of the state highway department, discussed the plans and general routing of the Pontiac Trail. The Trail was also included on the state’s “Map showing Marked Through Routes in Illinois” published in February 1917. However, other sources from the era do not mention the Pontiac Trail at all.
Several years ago, I started a page on my website titled “The Mystery of the Pontiac Trail.” I detailed some research into a primary source: the 1914 Automobile Blue Book, where detailed turn-by-turn directions are given for a trip between Chicago and Bloomington, with NO mention of the Pontiac Trail along the way. This is not surprising since it depicts the state of the roads a year before the trail was described in Illinois Highways.
1915 King's Official Route Guide, Section Four for Illinois & Iowa
Click above to see 1915 routings through Pontiac Illinois
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