Editor’s Note: This is the second column in a series featuring the author’s travels along Route 66

On our second day of travel on the route that has four names-Will Rogers Highway, The Mother Road, Main Street of America and its given name, Route 66, we made a stop at Funk’s Grove Maple Sirup. The family has operated the business since 1891 and today it is under the watchful eye of the great-great-grandson of the founder of Funk’s Grove, Illinois. Historically “sirup” was the preferred spelling when referring to the product made by boiling sap. Syrup spelled with a “Y” was defined as the end product of adding sugar to fruit juice. Hazel Funk Holmes insisted on the “i” spelling in her lifetime and the family has carried it on.

An Amtrak line with speeds that exceed 80 mph runs along this stretch of the historic route. Two tracks carry passengers to and from Chicago and St. Louis. The old beside the new.

Downtown Atlanta, Illinois has many interesting structures. Some of these date back to the days when flurries of people were heading west. Others are historic, but much newer than the Dust Bowl Era. The town has an octagonal library built in 1908 with a 40-ft clock tower standing in the front yard. The clock is hand-wound every 8 days.

During its heyday, hundreds of signs, murals and various forms of roadside advertising were displayed along Route 66. Some of the most famous were the fiberglass giants created during the 1960s by International Fiberglass of Venice, California. In 1965, H.A. Stephens purchased one of the giants, traded the axe for a hot dog and placed it in front of his restaurant on the route in Cicero, Illinois. The statue remained at the location for 38 years, becoming a Route 66 landmark. When Stephens sold the business in 2003, even though large cash offers had been made, because of its central location, enthusiasm and support, the statue is on loan to the City of Atlanta, Illinois.

The City of Lincoln, Illinois, with a population of around 14,000 is the only city in the United States that was named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president. Lincoln practiced law there from 1847-1859. Although there are many statues of Lincoln placed throughout the town, the one that is most noticeable is the giant Lincoln sitting in a very large covered wagon, one that holds the Guinness Book of World Record as the largest in the world. It was voted No. 1 Roadside Attraction in America by Readers Digest Magazine.

While stopping in Elkhart, Illinois, my husband became curious when he noticed a sign that pointed the direction to “Bridge and Chapel.” We became enlightened after traveling a short distance and discovering a cement arch crossing the narrow country road near a small country chapel. Gov. Richard J. Oglesby, who served as a United States Senator, a Civil War Union General and three terms as governor of Illinois, built a home in Elkhart in 1882 across the road from the chapel. It was from this home that Oglesby’s body was carried across the original bridge, now replaced by the cement bridge held up by the arch, for his final journey to Gillett Chapel. Four thousand mourners were in attendance, including Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the governor’s longtime friend, Abraham Lincoln. It is said that Oglesby declined an invitation by President Lincoln to attend a play at Ford Theater on the day Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

After spending the night in Springfield, we set out for Day Three. The third and last of the three giant “brothers” in Illinois is located at Lauterbach Tire and Auto on Wabash Avenue in Springfield.

Even though we see brick streets in and around the Jamestown area, a 1.4 mile stretch of brick road that was part of a 1926-1930 era of Route 66, situated in the middle of nowhere, between Chatham and Auburn, Illinois, is pretty cool to see.

As we continued we came across Doc’s Soda Fountain in Girard, Illinois, and learned that the current owners had purchased the building that once housed Deck’s Drug Store. I had a lengthy conversation with Wyman “Bill” Deck, a retired pharmacy technician, who along with his late brother, Bob, was the third generation to operate the store.

“My grandfather, Lewis C. Deck, purchased the building in 1884 from the Post Family who used it as a drug store. He did not go to college of pharmacy and was a teacher, but was soon able to get a pharmacist’s license.”

At that time purchasing a drug store made one a druggist.

“My dad, Louis Wyman Deck, went to St. Louis College of Pharmacy. The course was two years back then. When my brother, Bob, went to the University of Illinois it was a four year program. Today it takes six years.”

See ROUTE 66,

Page D6

Route 66

From Page D1

“In the early days druggists were called doctor, because the people came to the drug store, rather than to the doctor. The nickname for the druggist was ‘pill-roller,” he said. “My brother and I checked each other’s work to avoid making mistakes. In earlier times items could be labeled “cure,” but no longer.”

“In these small rural towns in the 30s and 40s everyone came to town on a Saturday night for band concerts in the park and we were extremely busy. I washed dishes on Saturday nights. We sold lots of root beer. We made our own on a kerosene stove. My job was to keep it stirred as it cooked. We had no air conditioning, just fans and screen doors. In the winter we heated with a coal stove. We had an outhouse in the backyard and would give the customer the key.”

“Ice cream sodas, milk shakes, ice cream cones and the ice cream parfaits were very popular. We bought Coca Cola syrup by the gallon. We were making flavored Coca Cola before the Coca Cola Company offered it. We made it according to what the customer wanted-lemon, chocolate, vanilla, cherry, with the syrups. We did not like to make marshmallow cokes, because they overflowed. The kids liked to stir them up and make them overflow all over the table.”

Bob and Bill Deck retired in 2001. When the new owners bought the building in 2007 the old soda fountain was put back in operation and lunches began being served. The Deck Brothers were invited to move the items they had kept from the old drug store into the new business as a pharmacy museum.

Following our guidebook was very much like going on a road rally, without having to find clues. Interesting and not so interesting tidbits are pointed out, such as tracks imprinted in an original 1926-1930 section of the route, where a turkey crossed Donaldson Road shortly after the cement was poured. It is said the tracks were made on this section between Girard and Nilwood in the 1920s. Perhaps all roads should be made of this same blend of concrete.

The 1960s hit song “(Get Your Kicks) on Route 66” played in my head on more than one occasion of this amazing road trip.

To be continued …