Joliet draws attention to historic Route 66 and Lincoln Highway crossroads

JOLIET – It was one “small step” for the Crossroads of Mid-America.

But Joliet hopes to bring more attention to the fact that the city is home to the intersection of two classic roads – Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway – with a historical marker at the downtown spot where the two met.

The 7-foot-tall metal marker at Chicago and Cass streets bears images of both the Route 66 and Lincoln Highway signs and is seen as a photo opportunity for the many travelers who tour the roads, especially those who make Route 66 a vacation plan.

“If you build it, they will come,” said Greg Peerbolte, director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum, which has its own exhibits for both highways. “These kitschy photo ops work so well. The two Blues Brothers statues that we have [at the museum] are continuously photographed.”

Peerbolte said foreign visitors taking Route 66 vacations have been stopping at the museum every day for weeks, which is not unusual once the weather warms up and the travel season starts.

Recognizing that fact, Joliet decided to create a photo op to encourage visitors to spend more time – and hopefully money – in town during their Route 66 travels.

“This historical intersection between Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway is something we really have not played up in Joliet,” city Economic Development Director Steve Jones said Wednesday at a brief ceremony dedicating the marker.

“The motto of Joliet is the ‘Crossroads of Mid-America,’ ” Jones said. “Can you pick two better roads that say crossroads than Route 66 and Lincoln Highway? I don’t think so.”

The Joliet city seal bears the words “Crossroads of Mid-America.” Although that commonly is viewed as a reference to the crossing of interstates 55 and 80, Route 66 and Lincoln Highway existed decades before the modern interstates.

Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk at the ceremony called the marker “another small step in our efforts to promote Joliet and downtown.”

Plainfield connection

Joliet is not the only community calling attention to the fact that it lies on a meeting point of Route 66 and Lincoln Highway.

The Joliet marker contains the date 1926-1940, which is a reference to the fact that Route 66 was altered in the World War II years when the road became loaded with industrial traffic going to and from the old Joliet Arsenal in Elwood.

At that point, a Route 66 bypass was created that ran along Route 59 in Plainfield, which the Lincoln Highway also crosses.

Plainfield Director of Planning Jonathon Proulx noted that Plainfield may be the only place where the two historic routes actually overlap for three blocks. The stretch is on Route 59 from Lockport Street to Joliet Road.

“There are a significant amount of travelers that are interested in Route 66 and Lincoln Highway,” Proulx said.

Plainfield, too, is trying to promote more "heritage tourism," Proulx said. The village in recent weeks posted several decorative wooden signs along both routes to notify motorists that they are on the historic roads.

Lincoln Highway tourism

While Lincoln Highway, also Route 30, may not have the international tourist appeal of Route 66, a road celebrated in film and song, it has its share of travelers.

Bearing witness to the interest in Lincoln Highway travel was a meeting held Wednesday in Joliet of the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition. The coalition is a group of tourism bureaus in northern Illinois that promote the use of markers, murals and other attractions to tell the story of the first paved highway in the nation’s history.

Diane Bausman, chairwoman of the coalition, was at the dedication ceremony and liked the idea of marking the point where the two historic routes crossed.

“We have a series of interpretive murals and markers that go all the way across the state to Fulton, Illinois,” Bausman said. “Having a crossing-point marker is important because it makes people realize there is something else besides Route 66.”