The city of Joliet, Illinois, long has been known by historians as boasting the intersection of two historic roads — Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway.
Now casual travelers will learn of this major crossroads with a new, 7-foot-tall marker at Chicago and Cass streets (map here) in Joliet, reported the Herald-News.
Local officials see the marker that features the Route 66 and Lincoln Highway insignia as a photo opportunity for tourists passing through town.
“If you build it, they will come,” said Greg Peerbolte, director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum, which has its own exhibits for both highways. “These kitschy photo ops work so well. The two Blues Brothers statues that we have [at the museum] are continuously photographed.” […]
“This historical intersection between Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway is something we really have not played up in Joliet,” city Economic Development Director Steve Jones said Wednesday at a brief ceremony dedicating the marker.
“The motto of Joliet is the ‘Crossroads of Mid-America,’ ” Jones said. “Can you pick two better roads that say crossroads than Route 66 and Lincoln Highway? I don’t think so.”
The crossroads is where Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway met from 1926 to 1940. The Lincoln Highway spans more than 3,300 miles from San Francisco to New York City and predates Route 66 by more than a decade.
The article points out there is another town where Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway cross paths — in Plainfield, Illinois. There, the postwar Route 66 Bypass alignment, aka Route 59, met the Lincoln Highway and merged together for three blocks.
(Image of the dedication for the new Route 66-Lincoln Highway marker by Joliet City Center Partnership via Facebook)
It’s about time!! We were there a few years ago and could barely tell the two famous roads crossed. We live right near the Lincoln highway in Ohio and have driven several states of it.