A few days ago, a YouTube account called hudson501 posted a video from the 1990s of the long-gone Coral Court Motel in St. Louis and the now-closed Tri-County Truck Stop in Villa Ridge, Mo.
Today, the account-holder uploaded a video of the induction of the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame on June 8, 1991. The event occurred at the Dixie Trucker’s Home in McLean; it was only the second Hall of Fame ceremony.
Inductees were the family of Ed Waldmire of the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Metha Jensen of Dwight, who co-owned a Phillips 66 station and Paulsen’s Deluxe Motel, and Cotton McNabney of Cotton’s Village Inn of Bloomington.
You’ll also see author and Illinois Route 66 Association co-founder Tom Teague, Pig Hip restaurant owner Ernie Edwards, and Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire.
Most of the people in the video are gone now, but it’s good that someone made the video available for posterity.
A great video that brought back memories. This was the first award ceremony I attended. I had just stayed at the Carefree Motel in Dwight (formerly Paulson’s) the night before. This ceremony is where I first met Bob and Ed Waldmire, and I have a photo of Russell Soulesby (who was still operating his station) driving his classic Olds Toronado through the yellow arch that is seen briefly in the video. Later that summer I interviewed Mr. Soulesby, and I posted my notes from that interview in the files section of the Route 66 egroup at Yahoo. You may be able to get there from here — you’ll have to copy and paste: