Durelle Pritchard of Pontiac, Ill., owned a nuisance pine tree in his yard.
Instead of simply cutting it all down, he had part of it carved into what looks like a gas-station pump as a memorial to Route 66 in town. You can see it here at the Pontiac Daily Leader.
According to online directories, Pritchard’s residence is at 601 W. Reynolds in Pontiac (map here). However, I haven’t verified that this is where the memorial is; I called Pritchard’s residence and left a message.
If it is at his residence, it’s about three blocks east of the 1926-45 alignment of Route 66, which would be South Ladd Street.
UPDATE: Pritchard called me back on Sunday. He says the gas pump is at his residence at Court and Reynolds streets (map here), and that the carver should be done with it sometime today or Monday. The gas pump will include the Route 66 shield on the upper globe.
Pritchard said he’s only one block from Vermillion Street, which is an old alignment of Illinois Route 4, and thus an early routing of U.S. 66.
UPDATE2: Pontiac Community News has posted a more recent photo of the carving, along with some color that’s been added. Excellent craftsmanship.
UPDATE3: Pritchard e-mailed me photos of the completed carving, which was finished on Aug. 31:
(Photos courtesy of Durelle Pritchard)
Nice work, but he’ll have fun down the road when it checks and turns gray, then splits. A tree that big would have made some neat boardfeet if cut and used that way.