The Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center in Litchfield, Illinois, will celebrate its 10th birthday on June 1 with a celebration two days later, on June 3.
Cheryl Eichar Jett wrote about the initiative and history of the welcome center in the latest issue of The Buzz Monthly.
It all started when Anne Jackson, daughter of longtime Litchfield News-Herald editor David Jackson, and Martha Jackson, David’s widow and Anne’s stepmother, wondered what to do with the huge collection of Litchfield photos, clippings, and memorabilia that Jackson had amassed over his many years at the newspaper.
“After my dad died, we had all this Litchfield stuff,” Anne explained. “One day, I showed Martha a postcard book that had just been done by the Morgan County Historical Society. And I said, ‘I’ve got this gigantic postcard collection of Dad’s. We ought to try and do something like this.’ So she called together other people for a meeting. When we went in, the idea was to put together a Litchfield postcard book. But when we came out, it had been decided that the postcard book was going to be our first fundraiser for a Litchfield museum. I just love the way that meeting went!” […]
At first intended simply as a historical museum, the project was altered slightly when it dawned upon the group that they were right on historic Route 66. And with that, the Litchfield Museum & Route 66 Welcome Center was born. “It was the best thing we ever did. We love being part of the Route 66 family,” Anne emphasized.
About 200 people attended the opening of the center on June 1, 2013.
In October of that year was the relighting of the long-dark Vic Suhling/Gas for Less neon sign, which was restored by a Route 66 Corridor Preservation grant with help from the Route 66 Association of Missouri and longtime Ariston Cafe owner Nick Adam. The Suhling station served as the site for the center and museum, and the Ariston is virtually across the street.
The June 3 celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. includes a re-enactor of Electus Bachus Litchfield, who in the 1850s donated land to help create the town of Litchfield and persuaded the railroad to run its line through the townsite.
The celebration also will host hold children’s arts and crafts, door prizes, a food truck and special Route 66 cookies from Jubelt’s bakery, another Route 66 stalwart.
(Image of the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center in Litchfield, Illinois, via Facebook)
Hey Ron, I am putting together a second book on 66 and this time I am joining forces with Marhsall Trimble, who, as you probably know, grew up in Ashfork. We have both been writing up all the 66 legends we know about from Rimmy Jim to Commordore Perry Owens, from Chief Levi Levi to the Code Talkers, anyone who left a mark on the road and, or, history. We are consentrating mainly in our home stomping grounds, from Topock to Clines Corners and maybe even on into Texas. Anyway, I’d love your feedback and input and when we get a couple put together perhaps we could post a few? Let me know what you think. Thanks.
I’d be happy to read and review your book when it’s available. And if you uncover an important figure who remains obscure but needs more ink, I think that would warrant a story.