The Shea’s Route 66 Museum along Route 66 in Springfield, Illinois, will reopen at 4 p.m. Monday after receiving extensive renovations at the former gas station.
According to the Springfield State Journal-Register (subscription required), Scott Dahl of the city’s convention and visitors bureau said it would be the first time the site, now owned by Randy Pickett, has been open to the public in over 10 years.
More details:
The $623,000 grant from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity accepted by the city of Springfield last year went to upgrade the grounds area and helped in paving the parking area, repainting the building and putting up reproduction signage from Ace Sign Co., Dahl added.
The original signage from Shea’s is at Route 66 Motorheads Bar & Grill, which also maintains a museum. Gas pumps, other signs and license plates are from Pickett’s collection.
Pickett hasn’t ruled out operating a “pickers” store inside the station. A Route 66 organization, he added, has expressed interest in promoting a visitors center inside.
“I’m glad it’s getting revitalized,” said Pickett, who is retired from the Illinois Department of Transportation and works as an over-the-road truck driver. […]
A planned auto-repair and maintenance shop with a Route 66 theme never came to fruition and Pickett said he rebuffed overtures to turn the building into other businesses.
The city announced plans about a year ago to reopen the site.
Bill Shea Sr. started his gas station business shortly after leaving the military in 1946, which including him surviving Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion.
He owned Marathon and Texaco stations in Springfield. Shea was old enough to recall when his section of Route 66 in Springfield was paved with bricks.
Later in life, Shea converted the Marathon station on Route 66 into a museum filled with memorabilia. Shea greeted thousands of Route 66 travelers from dozens — perhaps even hundreds — of countries while running his museum.
Shea was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 1993. Dec. 30, 2011, was declared Bill Shea Day in Springfield in honor of his 90th birthday.
The increasingly frail Shea was admitted to a nursing home a year before his death in 2013 at age 91.
His son, Bill Jr., periodically opened the gas station at 2075 Peoria Road by appointment. Bill Jr. died at age 74 in July.
(Recent image of the Shea’s Route 66 Museum in Springfield, Illinois, via Facebook)
Great to see this reopening!