The 100th birthday of Route 66 is Nov. 11, 2026, and the Mother Road has obviously seen better days. Once chock-full of busy, neon-lit motels, gas stations and greasy spoons, good portions of the original 2,448-mile Chicago to Santa Monica, California, route are now tumbleweed ghost towns.
But if it's true that, at some point, everything old is new again, Route 66 is finding fresh life in many locales, thanks to a breed of innovative entrepreneurs who want to mix the future with the past. Springfield is home to many, and the city is leaning in heavily to the centennial celebration, with several events scheduled before the official anniversary, including two taking place next month.
An exhibit of famed Route 66 nomad hippie artist Bob Waldmire's work will open June 28 at the Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space and remain on display through December 2026. Then a quarter-mile stretch of original Route 66 concrete road at Carpenter Park will be uncovered and transformed into a trail with wayside exhibits, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for July 11.
On the 100th birthday itself, a big bash will happen at Route 66 Motorheads Bar and Grill, with visits from what Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau director Scott Dahl promises as "high-end" entertainment acts and other, yet-to-be-named dignitaries.
While many of the centennial celebrations have expiration dates, Springfield entrepreneurs such as Tom Hart are taking a longer view of a continued future for Route 66. Hart, 52, is opening a retro diner, The Fountain on 66, in the former Sonrise Donut Shop building at 1101 S. Ninth St. Hart has done the research and believes the appeal of Route 66 is nowhere near the end of the road.
"Springfield is getting known as one of the cities you've got to stop in on the Route 66 journey," said Hart, who also owns The Stadium Smokehouse Bar and Grill on Peoria Road, which is part of Route 66. "We're fortunate to be right on part of the original road, in a building that goes way back."
Hart plays in a Johnny Cash tribute band, the Folsom Prison Five, which explains his dyed, jet-black hair and the huge mural of the Man in Black on the Stadium Smokehouse wall. Sitting near the genuine 1941 soda fountain he purchased recently in Chicago, Hart believes there is plenty of untapped hunger for the vibes of Route 66.
"It'll never stop being cool," said Hart, a Pawnee native. "I mean, the grade school I went to is on the old Route 66. And the more young people I meet, the more they seem interested in Route 66 for not only its history but as a real place to take a great road trip, to get off the grid, off the beaten path."
Indeed, it seems as if kids can still get their ... wait for it. ... kicks on Route 66. Casey Claypool, executive director of the Springfield-based nonprofit Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, said Route 66 is not a hard sell to the younger generation.
"Kids in their 20s, 30s – they want experiences. They don't want to go on just a generic vacation – they want experiences, and Route 66 is an experience," Claypool said. "They want to support small businesses; they want to support mom-and-pop. We have something that everybody wants, regardless of age. It's true Americana. It's what America was built on. Here in Illinois, we really focus on the younger generation."
The COVID-19 pandemic did great damage to many of the longtime businesses that were still open on Route 66, with hundreds quickly closing. And while many portions of the road are no longer drivable and now bypassed by the Interstate Highway System, it is still possible to drive most of the original Chicago-to-Santa-Monica route – some estimates put it as high as 85%. Those who want the genuine Route 66 road trip experience know to turn off the GPS and unfold one of Bob Waldmire's original, hand-drawn maps with its authentic, straight-out-of-Kerouac hippie chic.
Josh Waldmire, Bob's nephew who runs the third-generation Cozy Dog Drive In on South Sixth Street, said his parking lot always has tourists who come recommended by one of his uncle's maps. Not all have gray hair, either.
"Route 66 hasn't lost its momentum, especially in the tourism area. It's still very strong and growing," Waldmire said. "We still get many, many travelers from overseas. Just in the last 10 years in Springfield, it's been just astronomical, the awareness the city has brought, with the displays and the Route 66 Experience down at the state fairgrounds. I see more and more businesses trying to open up along Route 66 and get on the bandwagon."
Becky Metzger owns one of those relatively new businesses. She runs Alive on 66, a two-year-old plant and gift shop in the parking lot of Motorheads – owned by her father, Ron Metzger.
"Business has been great," Metzger said. "Every day, we meet people of all ages, from every country you can imagine. Everybody is always wanting to see and know more about the road."
Those kinds of words are music to the ears of Dahl, whose job tenure has seen a marked push to make Springfield more known for its genuine Mother Road history and not just Abraham Lincoln or edible horseshoes.
"The heart of Route 66 in Illinois runs right through Springfield. I think families who come for Abraham Lincoln are now discovering Route 66 as well," Dahl said. "This is part of our culture. It runs deep. A lot of kids, I've noticed, are like, 'Hey, Route 66 is cool.' We have a lot of original Route 66 assets."
That said, Lincoln won't be ignored during the centennial. Dahl said the city is planning a new Route 66 centennial logo that will also feature Honest Abe's mugshot.
Many of the city's original assets can be found inside Motorheads, with its countless original Route 66 signs, including the last remaining one of the Stuckey's restaurants. Also featured is one half of the giant neon marquee that stood atop the original Sonrise Donut Shop and Coffee Bar.
Motorheads has the self-proclaimed "World's Largest Route 66 Sign," created by Springfield's own Ace Sign Company, with a museum inside featuring vintage hot rods, phone booths and restaurant menus listing steak dinners with all the trimmings for $2.50.
Other Springfield businesses with deep ties to Route 66 include the country's first drive-through restaurant, Maid-Rite, and Shea's Gas Station Museum. Even Mel-O-Cream Donuts, which traces its roots back to 1932, is emphasizing its Route 66 connections with plans to install a giant Route 66 shield-shaped doughnut sign at the retail store on South Sixth Street. In May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded Preserve Route 66 Legacy Business Grants ranging from $5,000-$10,000 to small businesses across eight states, emphasizing projects focused on signage, painting and murals to help prepare for the centennial. Sangamon Donuts, the parent company that operates five Mel-O-Cream retail stores, was one of 25 recipients.
Meanwhile, renovations are underway at the former Sonrise Donuts building. Hart's new diner will feature '50s-style shakes and ice cream sodas, with smashburgers, fries, meatloaf and plenty more. He's been hard at work for six months restoring the building that's housed several other restaurants since Sonrise moved years ago, with the hope that visitors will experience some of that old Route 66 vibe made famous in movies, TV, books and song.
"For me, it's all about being a place where locals and tourists alike can come in and feel like they're in an authentic, homey spot. Nothing fancy, nothing too expensive," Hart said. "I mean, this building alone has so much great history to it. You want places like that to keep going, to not have to die. I think people just want authenticity if they can get it. Our goal is to provide some of that."
Said Dahl, who led the charge for the city to spend $22,000 on the original Sonrise Donuts sign and other items: "We took some heat for that because we spent (the money) on it with hotel tax money. But I said, 'We cannot let our assets leave the city.' I think we're seeing the benefits of not doing too much of that."
The city of Springfield is making a concerted effort to market the area's Route 66 assets to potential visitors. Last week, Visit Springfield and the Illinois Office of Tourism hosted a three-day "familiarization trip" for 125 inbound travel agents and travel writers. According to Dahl, the primary focus of the visit was to immerse the group in all things Route 66 to help promote tours related to the centennial in 2026.
And it's not just Americans who are fascinated by the historic road. One eye-popping statistic brought up by Claypool: About 40% of Route 66 travelers, she said, are from outside the United States.
"What they will say is, 'We want to experience the real America.' So that's why they do it," Claypool said. "They want to see what America was before it got all big-box corporate, when every store, every hotel, every restaurant had a unique name and owner."
To that end, Claypool's nonprofit "only works with local businesses. Nothing corporate," she said.
"Our goal is to make sure our tour is about our small businesses and their communities. There are 90 communities in Illinois that Route 66 traverses. There's a lot of road to cover," Claypool said. "You can take the quick 300-mile route from Chicago to the Chain of Rocks Bridge (in St. Louis), or take one of three alignments. If you drive all the alignments in Illinois, it's about 420 miles of Route 66. So much is still intact. But there's a new part of 66 now, a lot of new businesses. They weren't here 50 or 100 years ago. But they're giving something to the traveler, and the traveler is stopping. It doesn't just consist of the old."
Just how drivable a majority of Route 66 remains is subject to debate. The roadway – the country's first true gateway to the West – was officially decommissioned by the U.S. Highway System in 1985, its iconic shield signs sold off to the public. While some of the original routes were adopted by several states and can be seen on maps today as State Route 66, much of the original route carries an implied "proceed at your own risk," off-the-grid caution. To some, however, that's what gives it much of its lure.
While nobody tries to ride across the country in a rickety eyesore automobile like the fictional Joad family in John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning Great Depression-era novel, The Grapes of Wrath, many of Route 66's most ardent travelers love to hit the open road in souped-up, restored classic cars and trucks. Put on some Elvis or the Nat King Cole song dedicated to Route 66, put the top down, and just drive, baby.
"If parts of the road are truly impassable, they are quickly taken care of, and that's why a lot of it has so many alignments," Claypool said. "But most of the routes are perfectly fine to drive and they go right through these downtown communities that once were thriving, because people were being transported right through them, including soldiers and weapons. It was the only artery in the middle of the country."
Inside the Cozy Dog on a recent night, original proprietor Ed Waldmire's Memorial Library sat in the middle of the store (think lots of Plato and other philosophers) while customers ponied up for the original recipe corn dogs he is credited with perfecting in 1946 when he began selling them at the Illinois State Fair. Copies of son Bob Waldmire's original maps are readily available, along with plenty of other vintage items such as cash registers and 45-RPM records.
"We're not as old as Route 66 itself, but I know my family will always be proud of our connection to it," Josh Waldmire said. "It's going to be really exciting when the 100th birthday happens. We've got some special things planned."
One of them, Waldmire hinted, might involve a Cozy Dog-eating contest. Could competitive eaters such as Joey Chestnut, of Coney Island's Fourth of July Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest fame, take part? Waldmire said it's too soon to say, but he and the other local businesses plan to take full advantage of what should be a significant amount of national press coverage of the centennial celebrations.
"I think it's really going to give the Springfield economy a nice boost," Waldmire said. "There are obviously a lot of towns along the way in a road of 2,448 miles, but few of them have as much original stuff as Springfield."
Claypool, who also owns a Route 66 pharmacy and drugstore in Girard that dates to 1884, wants the centennial to pay full, proper homage to the Mother Road's past. After that, though? She wants Route 66 travelers to be looking more through their windshields, literally and figuratively, than the rearview mirror.
"Our goal is to continue luring in new people, so that in 2030 or 2040, people are still traversing the road. We will want a 125th birthday celebration and a 150th," Claypool said. "This is an ever-changing, living, breathing piece of history."
Ribbon cutting at Carpenter Park for the Original Route 66 Pavement
Wednesday, July 2, 9 a.m.
This quarter-mile stretch of road was hidden away, untouched and overgrown, for nearly 90 years. Wayside signage will provide information about the iconic Mother Road. Parking is available across the street from the trail entry and/or along Cabin Smoke Trail.
Ribbon cutting at the Pharmacy Gallery & Art Space for the Bob Waldmire Exhibition
Friday, July 11, 3 p.m.
Springfield native Bob Waldmire was a gifted artist and cartographer who captured the essence of Route 66 through his whimsical maps and detailed drawings. The exhibit will be on display from 12-6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 19, 2026.
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