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| Odell (9 miles) |
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Dwight, IL |
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Gardner (10 miles) |
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Unlike most towns along the Mother Road, Dwight was bypassed by Route 66 from the very beginning, with the original two-lane alignment avoiding the historic downtown that developed around the railroad. Located at the intersection of the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern lines, 
the community of over four-thousand has long served as a transportation hub in north central Illinois and features a train station designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb and erected in 1891 that still serves the Amtrak lines running between Chicago and Saint Louis. Having been skirted by the Mother Road so early, perhaps it was appropriate that it was the last city to be bypassed by Interstate 55, with the section of that road around the city the last to be completed in Illinois.
Along the old two-lane alignment is the Ambler-Becker Texaco Station, recently acquired by the city and restored to classic condition to serve as a Route 66 Welcome Center in the heart of the "Red Carpet Corridor." Unlike the Standard Oil Station to the south in Odell, the station was successful long after the bypass stole away traffic, and was in operation from 1933 until the late 1990s when owner Phil Becker moved the business to a brand new buildng at the interchange of Illinois 47 and Interstate 55.
A trip off of Route 66 into town will treat visitors with a multitude of classic structures, including the First National Bank of Dwight, designed in 1905 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Signs point the way to the Dwight Windmill, raised in 1898 and now owned and operated by the city. The Pioneer Gothic Church dates back to the 1850s, and the Public Library to 1896 when it originally served as a carriage house.
Route 66 avoided the community from the very beginning, coming in diagonally from the southwest on Odell Road and curving to the north on the edge of town. The two-lane curved right on Wauponsie Street and headed due east through a historic, tree-lined neighborhood before resuming its northwest diagonal journey exactly where it would be had it decided to bisect the town. In modern times the road is also Illinois 47 starting at Union Street in the northeast corner of the town, and when the state route curves to the north in an effort to find Interstate 55 there is a T-intersection for Mother Road travelers in order to keep going straight on two-lane alignment. The 1926 route continues for less than a mile before another T-intersection to rejoin the bypass and original alignment along the Union Pacific railroad tracks.
The four-lane bypass leaves Odell Road about 1000 feet further from town than its predecessor and follows the same route until its intersection with Illinois 17. There it continues north away from the town before curving much less sharply to the east in order to put more room between it and the village. Shortly after its intersection with Illinois 47 just a half-mile south of Interstate 55 it rejoins the two-lane alignment.
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<- Southbound |
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Northbound -> |
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Dwight, IL |
Gardner |
9 miles |
10 miles |
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County: Livingston, IL
the community of over four-thousand has long served as a transportation hub in north central Illinois and features a train station designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb and erected in 1891 that still serves the Amtrak lines running between Chicago and Saint Louis. Having been skirted by the Mother Road so early, perhaps it was appropriate that it was the last city to be bypassed by Interstate 55, with the section of that road around the city the last to be completed in Illinois.
Along the old two-lane alignment is the Ambler-Becker Texaco Station, recently acquired by the city and restored to classic condition to serve as a Route 66 Welcome Center in the heart of the "Red Carpet Corridor." Unlike the Standard Oil Station to the south in Odell, the station was successful long after the bypass stole away traffic, and was in operation from 1933 until the late 1990s when owner Phil Becker moved the business to a brand new buildng at the interchange of Illinois 47 and Interstate 55.
