The Coliseum Ballroom on Route 66 was a hopping place on Saturday nights. Benld's ballroom boasted the biggest dance floor between Chicago and St. Louis. People gathered from throughout the region to dance to big bands such as Duke Ellington, . . . — — Map (db m157936) HM
During the historical period, the earliest inhabitants of the present-day community of Bunker Hill were the Peoria, Kickapoo, and Winnebago Indians who established an encampment near North Washington and West Morgan Streets. Another Native American . . . — — Map (db m143178) HM
16th, President of the United States
Born: February 12, 1809, Hodgenville, Kentucky
Assassinated: April 15, 1865, Washington D. C.
Presidential Term: March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865
We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
My concern is not whether God is on our . . . — — Map (db m195623) HM
Abraham Lincoln spoke here on August 31, 1858. (sic) In the course of his famous campaign against Stephen A. Douglas, for the United States Senatorship. — — Map (db m144483) HM
Route 66, the Mother Road, is an American icon that symbolizes romance and freedom of the open road. Born in 1926, Route 66 was one of the first numbered U.S. highways, journeying 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Today, you can still "get . . . — — Map (db m144544) HM
The first hard road connecting Chicago and St. Louis passed through the heart of Carlinville. In 1926, Route 66 opened from Chicago to Los Angeles and followed Route 4 through Illinois. The “Mother Road” Circled the Carlinville Square . . . — — Map (db m144482) HM
(305 S. East Street)
John M. Palmer (1817-1900), friend of Abraham Lincoln, Civil War Major General who later became the Governor of Illinois, U.S. Senator, and Gold Democrat Presidential Candidate.
The east wing of the Palmer House was . . . — — Map (db m229840) HM
This garden was planted by volunteers in 2020 and
designed to provide pollinator food and habitat
along with vegetables for local residents.
Continue on Trail 2 to the Carlinville Points of Interest, traveling west on Wilson Street, . . . — — Map (db m271172) HM
This elegant fifty room hotel was built amid scandal in 1870 by Judge Thaddeus Loomis. Judge Loomis was one of the commissioners responsible for the building of the Macoupin County Courthouse. As courthouse costs continued to rise, Judge Loomis . . . — — Map (db m195433) HM
(118 E. Side Square)
Dedicated in 1870, this grand hotel played a part in the Courthouse scandal. Loehr's Drug Store was located on ground floor.
Gustave Loehr, one of the original founders of Rotary International, hosted the first-ever . . . — — Map (db m229835) HM
(205 E. 1st South)
Built in 1869 and used for 118 years, this is one of the few Cannonball Jails still in existence. Surplus Civil War cannonballs were placed within the walls to prevent prisoner breakouts.
Route 66 garden designed and . . . — — Map (db m229839) HM
(210 E. Main)
The present-day County Courthouse opened its doors in 1870 with a price tag of $1.3 million dollars. The longest document known to exist in Lincoln's own handwriting, 43 legal size pages, was found among the records in this . . . — — Map (db m229841) HM
In Memory of
Patriots & Soldiers
of the
American Revolution
Buried in
Macoupin County
Pvt. Samuel Brown Va. · Robert Bushby Va. · John Cheek · Thomas Dodson Md. · William Gatv · Pvt. Wm. Gillespie S.C. · Pvt T. Huriah . . . — — Map (db m196362) HM
This is the second oldest building on the Square. It was built in 1854 and was also the first building on the Square to be three stories tall.
In 1924, Greek immigrant Pete Adam opened the Ariston Restaurant here. Business boomed two years . . . — — Map (db m144480) HM
This garden, located at City Hall, was planted in
memory of past civic servants in Carlinville.
The kiosk includes Route 66 and additional
historical information.
Continue on Trail 2 to Site 16,
continue south on North Broad . . . — — Map (db m271198) HM
(2332 E. Side Square)
A hallmark of Route 66 in Illinois, the Ariston Cafι was originally established in Carlinville in 1924.
Continue to Trail 1 or Trail 2 to Site 4. Continue east down East Main Street to 210 East Main . . . — — Map (db m229837) HM
It shot a six pound iron ball, giving it its name, it could also shoot an explosive shell or canister. Six pounders, incidentally, were fired by six man crews and pulled by a team of six horses. It was born in 1839 at the Algar Foundry in Boston. A . . . — — Map (db m195831) HM
(Boundaries: Whitley Street to the North, Burton Street to the South, University Street to the East and High Street to the West)
Standard Oil of Indiana purchased 156 homes built within 9 blocks of which 150 still stand, making . . . — — Map (db m229842) HM
This retail store was owned by the company and sold a limited range of necessities and equipment to miners working in their mines. The company paid the miners in scrip or non-cash vouchers causing the miners to buy only from this company store.
. . . — — Map (db m271173) HM
This building housed the main office for the two
mines Standard Oil of Indiana operated in
Carlinville from 1918 to 1925.
This concludes Trail 2, Silk Stockings and Coal Miners.
Thank you for your interest in Carlinville's Historic . . . — — Map (db m271199) HM
In 1829, Illinois law established Macoupin County.
All business of the court took place near here, at
the home of Joseph Borough until the first log
cabin courthouse was built in 1830. Here, the
first County Sheriff, County Coroner and . . . — — Map (db m271203) HM
Coal miners were the vanguard of the American Labor Movement and Illinois played a major role. In the 1890s tens of thousands of Illinois miners joined the United Mine Workers Union. But in succeeding decades the leadership of UMW President John L. . . . — — Map (db m184782) HM
Waves of European immigrants poured into
Gillespie in the 1880s to work its coal mines.
In the early 1900s, the Chicago and North Western Railroad opened four mines to fuel its locomotives. Locals knew each town by its mine number: . . . — — Map (db m185468) HM
This was the scene at this corner in the years 1926 -1930. The Dippold Drug Store was a thriving business located on this corner during these years when Route 66 ran through Gillespie.
Prominent Gillespie resident, Lincoln Loveless, and his . . . — — Map (db m195484) HM WM
In memory of those who gave their lives for democracy
World War I
Clifford Anderson
Frank W. Baxter
Charles Blevins
James Boston
William Burns
George Folkerts
Roy Gray
Floyd Hitchcock
Joseph Johnston . . . — — Map (db m204637) WM
Russell Soulsby built this station in 1926 with his father, Henry
He ran it with his sister Ola until 1991. For its 65 years of operation; they only sold Shell gasoline. — — Map (db m138433) HM
The advent of a national road system in 1926 ushered in a golden age for small-time entrepreneurs. In Mt. Olive, Illinois, it inspired miner Henry Soulsby to put down his pick and shovel and erect a gas station along what would soon become Route . . . — — Map (db m308406) HM
The Union Miners Cemetery in Mt. Olive, Illinois, is the only labor union-established and union-owned cemetery in the United States. It is the result of the Battle of Virden fought in Virden on October 12, 1898, when the Chicago-Virden Coal Company . . . — — Map (db m184803) HM
You are traveling on one of the most famous roads in the world. On September 25, 2005, Illinois Route 66 was designated as a National Scenic Byway by the U.S. Department of Transportation. — — Map (db m144781) HM
Electrified interurban railways were the rage in the early 1900s before Route 66. They offered clean and efficient service, an advantage over locomotives and horses. The Illinois Traction System connected residents in towns like Staunton to . . . — — Map (db m188715) HM
Battle of Virden Monument State of Illinois Coal Office
UMWA District 12
Illinois AFL-CIO
City of Virden John E Hein John & Sondra Narmont Wayne & Liz Joplin John & Jeannie Alexander
In memory of Stephen & Luriel Narmont by . . . — — Map (db m195832) HM
Miserable wages and working conditions in coal mines made conflict between miners and coal companies inevitable in the 1890s. The battle that erupted here immortalized Virden in the history of labor rights. On October 12, 1898, eight miners, four . . . — — Map (db m149885) HM
We proudly pay tribute to those who gave their lives or their services for the protection and preservation of our Country since the beginning of World war II. — — Map (db m195430) WM
