At the main office of the Holiday Inn Express in Litchfield, Ill., is a display of memorabilia from the long-gone 66 Motel Court and Route 66 in general, reports The Journal-News of Hillsboro, Ill.
Sisters and hotel owners Jane Martin and Nancy Hyam, created the wall as a tribute to their parents, Lorman and Dorothy Mansholt, who bought their first Litchfield hotel, the 66 Motel Court in 1963. […]
The wall, which has shelves built into the office, starts with memorabilia from the 66 Motel Court, which was originally located across from where Niehaus Cycle Sales is today. […]
Each room featured monogrammed towels and sheets, which are among the collectibles featured on the office wall. They also have hotel soap, an ice bucket and an oscillating fan, as none of the rooms had air conditioning.
Just below the fan is a wooden key box, which used to hold all the motel’s room keys in a time before electronic keys.
“We used actual keys up until the 66 Motel Court closed, as well as handwritten statements and receipts,” Hyam said.
Sitting on top of the key boxes is a novelty item, “magic fingers,” which would vibrate a hotel bed for just a quarter. That remains a favorite among the saved memorabilia.
The Mansholt family operated the motel until the mid-1980s.
An image of the 66 Motel Court’s neon sign can be seen here. An old postcard of the motel can be seen here.
The display also contains items from the Gardens restaurant in Litchfield, which the family purchased in 1978. Among the items is a Mother’s Day menu from the 1960s. The restaurant was sold in 2003.
The family also operated a Best Western hotel, and have displayed a rotary-dial phone, many of brochures and travel guides from the lobby, and a manual route finder (similar to modern-day GPS). The hotel was sold in 2001; it is now an America’s Best Value Inn.
After it closed a man from Hillsboro, Illinois, Lessman bought the property to turn it into the present day car wash. One Friday evening we were in Litchfield, shopping and saw Mr Lessman there. Long story short, he gave us the neon OFFICE sign that had been above the door and several other nick nack stuff, even a few room fobs. Before we left, with an adjustable wrench we had and standing on the front bumper of our VW Ra66it, I had the neon office sign down and in our car. He was always supposed to call me with some more stuff he said he would have, but he never did. I called him a time or two, also. The neon Office sign has been above our office door since 2000 and still works, kinda a pink neon.
Rich-Henrys Ra66it Ranch