A plan to convert land in Plainfield, Ill., into a park that pays homage to Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway has run aground after an effort to secure a National Park Service grant failed, reported the Plainfield Patch.
The property known as the old Carlson house at the corner of U.S. 30 and Route 59 was the last roadblock to clearing the .925-acre site that Plainfield Historical Society President Michael Bortel would like to see made into Gateway Park, commemorating the point at which old Route 66 intersected with the Lincoln Highway.
However, he was unable to secure a $5,000 matching grant from the National Park Service that would have funded a redevelopment study, the first step in getting the park built.
Bortel also said he’s had no success in convincing the property’s owner, G.C. Real Estate of Lincolnshire, that the site – a triangular lot where a gas station and a couple of other structures once stood — is unlikely to be sold for a commercial development and should be donated to the village.
Bortel says he’ll apply again for the grant in the fall.
A Google Street View image of the Plainfield intersection can be seen here.
The Lincoln Highway goes nearly 3,400 miles from New York City to San Francisco. It was founded in 1913, predating Route 66 and other U.S. highway by more than a decade.
The Lincoln Highway and a more-prominent alignment of Route 66 also intersect in Joliet, Ill. (map here).