This Illinois metropolis needs to be the primary cease in your Route 66 street journey

World-renown Route 66 begins in downtown Chicago. But you’ll need to motor west to Springfield, roughly 200 miles from the Windy City, to seek out  the most effective of the Mother Road.

“The big cities don’t have as much of a Route 66 feel because they don’t rely on something like that for tourism,” says creator Joe Sonderman, who has written 13 books in regards to the iconic freeway, which celebrates its a centesimal anniversary in 2026. Sonderman provides, “Chicago has its Route 66 spots, but when you get to Springfield, you really feel it.”

The Illinois capital boasts dozens of websites linked to the Main Street of America, from outdated diners and classic fuel pumps to new points of interest, like a quarter-mile stretch of the unique street that debuted as a walking trail this summer season.

“We have about 60 Route 66 attractions in Springfield. That’s a lot,” says Scott Dahl, director of the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We want to keep building on that leading into next year’s centennial.”

Here’s learn how to get your Route 66 repair in Springfield, a great street journey from each Chicago and St. Louis.

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Head for the fairgrounds

Some 300 miles of historic Route 66 slices by means of the Land of Lincoln from Chicago to the Mississippi River. Take a stroll by means of a scaled-down model of Illinois’s portion of the federal freeway on the Route 66 Experience. 

Opened in 2023, the free exhibit on the Illinois State Fairgrounds contains kitschy billboards, a drive-in movie show display screen and a tribute to “muffler men,” the large statues companies put as much as seize the eye of Route 66 motorists. (One of those fiberglass giants nonetheless stands exterior Lauterbach Tire & Auto Service. A twister took off his head practically twenty years in the past, however he’s again to regular now.) The strolling path meant to loosely mimic Route 66 results in a sequence of sheds stuffed with photographs from the 92 Illinois communities alongside the legendary street. 

“If anybody wants a quick history of Route 66, that’s the place to go,” says Dwight Cannon, president of the Route 66 Association of Illinois.

The fairgrounds are additionally dwelling to Legends Neon Park, a group of replicas of roadside indicators that after solid their colourful glow on Route 66. For the complete impact, go at evening when the indicators are lit up. If you’re itching for extra, take a tour of the museum at Ace Sign Co., a long-running enterprise whose neon creations flanked the enduring street.

Learn about Black historical past

An outdated Texaco fuel station has been reworked right into a classroom of kinds, with displays and know-how telling tales of the Black expertise on Route 66 through the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras. 

Book an appointment upfront on the Route History Museum for a 20-minute digital actuality session. You’ll don a headset to journey again in time to Illinois cities featured in The Negro Motorist Green Book, a information directing Black vacationers to protected companies within the racially segregated Jim Crow period, in addition to “sundown towns” that had been harmful for Blacks after darkish.

“It’s a unique Route 66 story you don’t find being told in a lot of places,” Dahl says. 

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New kicks on 66

Mother Nature had virtually reclaimed a bit of Springfield’s unique Route 66 alignment, a 16-foot-wide concrete ribbon wending by means of the woods. As of July, it as soon as once more began welcoming site visitors—foot site visitors—when it reopened as a walking trail in Carpenter Park.

“It’s a quarter mile of untouched pavement,” Cannon says about this phase of the route, which was deserted in 1936 in favor of a four-lane different. “Now you can see what people first drove on: this little, narrow road, the original superhighway,” he provides.

Another new Route 66 attraction revolves round former Springfield resident Bob Waldmire, a nomadic hippie and artist whose detailed maps, postcards, and murals are identified across the globe.

“For a lot of people, Bob Waldmire epitomizes Route 66,” Cannon says. 

The Fillmore character in Disney-Pixar’s Cars film franchise was modeled after Waldmire and his 1972 Volkswagen van. The yellow VW Microbus is on show on the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum in Pontiac, about 100 miles northeast of the state capital. 

An exhibit showcasing the late artist’s work—and his eccentric character—debuted this summer season at The Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space in Springfield. It runs by means of Dec. 19, 2026. 

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Fill up on meals—and extra

Waldmire’s father, Ed, was a Route 66 establishment, too. Not due to his artwork, however due to his cooking. 

In the Nineteen Forties, Ed Waldmire Jr. created the comfy canine, a battered, deep-fried scorching canine on a stick. He offered the crunchy concoction at his Cozy Dog Drive-In on Route 66. 

More than 75 years later, the Waldmire household nonetheless makes use of Ed’s batter recipe to make its requisite Route 66 deal with at Springfield’s retro diner, the place you possibly can wash down a comfy canine with a bottle of Route 66 Root Beer. You can also top off on loads of Mother Road merch, together with Route 66 postcards designed by Bob. (Fun truth: Bob was a vegan.) 

As you would possibly guess from its title, much more than meals is on the menu at Route 66 Motorheads Bar & Grill, Museum and Entertainment Complex. The sprawling compound is tricked out with neon indicators, memorabilia, basic automobiles and what claims to be the world’s largest Route 66 emblem.

Save room—a lot of room—for Motorheads’ spin on a Springfield staple, the horseshoe. It’s an open-faced sandwich of thick slabs of toasted bread topped with meat, fries, and cheese sauce. The horseshoe title stems from the form of the reduce of ham used within the unique sandwich, first served in 1928 at a now defunct lodge on Route 66.  

Some of Motorheads’ Route 66 artifacts had been salvaged from Shea’s Gas Station. The outdated filling station was became a beloved museum by its proprietor, auto fanatic, and collector Bill Shea. After Shea’s demise in 2013, the constructing was offered, and its contents had been placed on the public sale block. But like different treasures on Route 66, Shea’s is making a comeback. The exterior has been restored and the previously fenced-off grounds reopened to the general public in 2024. 

“We’ve added some gas pumps and keep enhancing it,” Dahl says. “We can’t guarantee it, but we’re hoping to have the interior open for the centennial year.”