ROUTE 66 ROLLED STRAIGHT THROUGH ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
Rolled Down Main Street, Through the Heart of Campus
By Tom Emery
Celebrations are being held across the area this year for the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
Among the many attractions along the legendary road are various colleges and universities, as institutions of higher learning are found on the highway’s corridor from Chicago to Los Angeles.
At Illinois State University, however, Route 66 didn’t just pass by; it actually ran straight through the campus. For generations of ISU students, Route 66 was not just another highway; it was part of daily life in Bloomington-Normal.
The route rolled directly through the university on Main Street. Along the entire highway from Chicago to L.A., ISU is one of the few schools that is literally on Route 66 itself.
To the south, Route 66 took drivers through the Central Business District and McLean County Square in Bloomington. For those who needed a faster drive, there was also a Route 66 bypass around the Twin Cities.
Many ISU students used Route 66 to drive to and from Bloomington-Normal, as the highway stretched from Chicago to St. Louis, a distance of 301 miles over its main alignment, on its way to its western terminus in California.
Route 66 carried legions of Illinois State athletic teams to and from road games, and ferried numerous students on field trips and other academic pursuits. On June 23, 1938, the Vidette, the campus newspaper, reported on the Red Bird Tour, a play on the nickname of the athletic teams at ISU, the Redbirds.
The tour included 26 students and three faculty members who embarked on an 8,500-mile “study and vacation trip” through the American West. The group was to “follow Route 66” and visit many of the nation’s geologic and cultural landmarks along the way, including the Ozark Mountains, the Great Plains, the Grand Canyon, and others.
It wasn’t always easy to travel Route 66, however. On July 2, 1943, a columnist in the Vidette griped that “Route 66 defies Isaac Newton” with a different take on the road.
“Anyone who has ever ridden over that wonderful artery, Route 66,” complained the columnist, “knows that contrary to all rules the road goes up and down and a car and its occupants go with it…finally we limped into Normal more dead than alive.”
On Sept. 21, 1960, the Vidette reported on two female ISU students who were cut off in their lane near Dwight on Route 66, forcing them off the road. One young woman suffered a broken foot, while the other had bruises. They were driving “a shiny blue and white car” that one of them had purchased just two days earlier.
The famed highway, though, had a lighter reference in an ad for Read’s, a longtime Normal bookstore, in the Vidette on Oct. 6, 1964. The ad was topped by a joke: “What was the elephant doing on Route 66?” The answer: “About four miles per hour.”
Route 66 also became a marketing tool for Illinois State. During a student Senate meeting in May 1965, there was an update on plans for a billboard along Route 66 to promote the businesses of Normal, and the university itself.
The end of Route 66 in 1977, though, seemed to be a bittersweet moment for ISU students. That January 20, three days after the last sign came down, a report in the Vidette informed readers of the sad event.
“Route 66 which, as Nat ‘King’ Cole used to sing ‘winds from Chicago to L.A.,’” lamented the paper, “is no more.”
The ongoing efforts to restore and promote Route 66 as a historic tourist destination have been covered by the Vidette in the decades since. Then and now, Illinois State students always seem to find a way to “get their kicks on Route 66.”
Tom Emery may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.
