Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway awards $4,000 in grants for varying projects

The Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway this week announced it awarded a total of $4,000 in grants to four byway members, including one that has created the Largest Tire on Route 66.

It is the second round of grant awards from the byway. According to a news release:

Byway Project Funds are to support events, marketing and advertising efforts, and projects that help preserve the heritage of Illinois Route 66 and promote travel to Illinois Route 66 communities and sites. Byway Project Funds cannot be used for general operating or construction expenses. Byway Project Funds range from $500-$1,000 and up to ten members may receive the funds.

The byway stated another grant recipient will be announced at a later date.

— O’Brien Tire and Auto Care, Granite City, $1,000 award. This business has operated on the original alignment of Route 66 in Granite City since 1932. It claims to be the longest-running auto repair shop on Route 66.

Owner Beth Buegner said she’s spent about $35,000 returning her shop to a Route 66 theme, with midcentury furniture, turquoise-colored bathroom tile, new flooring, a neon sign and a Route 66 insert with its “largest tire on Route 66” outside of its building. The tire, by the way, is eight feet tall and weighs 12,000 pounds.

Buegner said she wants to use the byway funds to paint a Route 66-themed mural on the building’s exterior.

— Logan County Tourism Bureau/The Mill Museum, Lincoln, $1,000 award. The Mill Museum wants to build a pavilion behind the facility that can be used for event space that can be rented by the public. Museum volunteers envision the pavilion being used for musical concerts and food-truck gatherings on Sundays, when many area restaurants are closed.

— City of Atlanta tourism, $1,000 award. At Route 66 Park in the village, the tourism department will create signs and an exhibit telling the African-American experience in the area since the Civil War. It will tell of the African-American Civil War veterans who settled in the village after the war, the Atlanta Fair barbecue that commemorated the 12th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the first African-American graduate from Atlanta High School in 1884 and oral histories from those residents.

— DeCamp Station, Staunton, $1,000 award. DeCamp Station is a roadhouse along Route 66 south of Staunton since 1931 with a baseball/softball diamond and sand volleyball courts in the back. The owners will waterproof the basement to stabilize the foundation and so it can add more storage for restaurant equipment.

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