The Pontiac Daily Leader in Pontiac, Ill., reported on Thursday night’s annual Governor’s Home Town Awards. The City of Pontiac and the Illinois Route 66 Association received the award for establishing the new Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame Museum.
This excerpt from the story is worth reading, and helps explain why the two groups were so honored:
“When word got out that the Dixie Truck Stop, home of the Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame, had been sold, Betty Estes, City of Pontiac Tourism Director, approached the Mayor and City Administrator about finding a new, permanent home for the Association,” a summary of the Pontiac award says in a news release from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).
“After much discussion,” the summary continues, “it was decided that the old, abandoned fire station would be rehabilitated into a museum and visitors center for the Association. Volunteers pulled together to ‘fix up’ the Association’s new location, gather items and set up displays, and collect donations and loans. Finally, the museum opened early in 2004. Within its first six months of operation, more than 6,000 visitors – coming from 43 states and 21 countries – passed through its doors.”
That many visitors in a fledgling museum in six months? Remarkable.
It also shows, yet again, what a viable tourist attraction that Route 66 is.