Illinois | An American Songline

I’ve lived in Illinois for several years, and have driven the Lincoln Highway in these parts a few times. As noted in the previous post, navigating the highway is very easy to do in this state thanks to its excellent signage. There’s some memorable points along the route that one should check out once the traffic of Chicago is far behind you, and these are my personal highlights of this last trip in Western Illinois.

1) The Loveland Community House

George and Emma Loveland lived in Dixon, Illinois their whole lives, but traveled extensively. When they both passed away, they noted in their will and testament that all of their estate funds and belongings from their travels would be donated to the city of Dixon. With this endowment, a museum and community center was built that has continued to serve the community in a number of ways. The museum has one of the most eclectic but fun collections I’ve ever seen (it also includes donations from other Dixon Locals too), as well as meeting rooms and a huge auditorium. I performed my 3rd Illinois concert here and it was a fantastic show. You can see video of some of the songs from this performance on my new YouTube page.

2) The John Deere Historic Site

While this site is not on the Lincoln Highway (it’s about 5 miles from Dixon in Grand Detour), make the journey to visit this place. Between the Archeological Site, the resident Blacksmith doing demonstrations, the gardens, and the original home, you will really get a wonderful, interactive glimpse into life in Grand Detour in the early to mid 1800s.

3) City of Dixon, Illinois

For a population of 16,000, Dixon has a lot going on! The biggest claim to fame is that Ronald Reagan spent his boyhood here, and you can tour this home as well as follow the Reagan Trail. There’s a lot of Lincoln Highway sights here too (see in pictures below), plus there’s five gorgeous state parks all within a short driving distance of the highway.

4) De Immigrant Windmill, Fulton Illinois

Who knew an operating Windmill was in Western Illinois? Originally built in the Netherlands, disassembled and shipped to Fulton. They process 5 different grains in this mill (depending on how the wind is that day), and you can buy it on site. Check out the Windmill Cultural Center next door too, you can see really intricate models of dozens of different types of windmills from all over the world.

Other Lincoln Highway related sites include the Lincoln Highway Association Headquarters in Franklin Grove, IL (they’ve got so much cool stuff there, make sure you have a whole afternoon to check it out), plus the seedling mile in Malta, IL (right in front of the community college). There’s plenty of things to see and do along the route in the “Land of Lincoln”, you easily could do multiple trips.

Here’s a few snapshots of all of the places that I’ve mentioned, plus a couple extra surprises :-) – Enjoy!

Backstage at the Loveland Auditorium. We had lots of room!

Robert Haigler, Me, and Colin Bazali after the show.

There’s some great artwork in Loveland, but there’s something about this woman that intrigues me.

This is a Friendship Quilt dating back to the late 1800s.

This Dixon couple decided to married on Roller skates back in 1939. You can see her roller skates and picture in the museum.

In Victorian Times, people would save the hair of a loved one who has passed on as a memento. Some women actually took this hair and turned it into art, and this is one of a few hair sculptures in the museum.

Here’s the caption to the previous photo.

The person I was staying with in Grand Detour lived next door to the former Colonial Rose Inn and Restaurant. The owner of the home was nice enough to let me in and I got to walk around and check the place out!

This is the main stairwell in the Colonial Rose Inn. Loved the chandelier!

Sculpture of John Deere. He first made his living by being a blacksmith, and to this day there are blacksmiths that forge items near his original shop.

I had the privilege of getting to tour parts of the grounds off limits to the general public, which included a stop in the children’s bedroom and play area of the Deere family.

One of the reasons that amongst others that the John Deere Historic Site is a must see if the Archeological Site. In the 1960’s a team of Archeologists uncovered John Deere’s original location where he made his first self-scouring steel plow. The whole area has been preserved, and this picture is just one section.

There are murals like this all along the route in Illinois that not only are beautiful, but they are informative as well.

The Dixon Welcome Center has a lot of great information as well as a Lincoln Highway Interpretive Exhibit. Make sure you ask for a sample of their Petunia Wine, it’s really good!

Picture of me in front of the Ronald Reagan boyhood home. Thanks to Jeanne with the Dixon Tourism Board for giving me such a great tour!

One of my favorite parts of seeing the Reagan Boyhood home was this part of the house. When Ronald Reagan toured the home on opening day with his brother, he pointed out the fireplace tile in the living room where he used to hide his money so his brother wouldn’t take it. There was no money underneath the tile and the President didn’t carry any change with him, so his brother put the pennies there that you see now.

This sculpture of Ronald Reagan on a palomino is along Dixon’s beautiful and newly completed riverfront along the Rock River.

The Wings of Peace and Freedom Park in Dixon includes a full-size replica of a section of the Berlin Wall, which recognizes President Reagan’s efforts to attain worldwide peace and freedom.

This is an actual piece of the Berlin Wall which has been cemented into the sculpture.

This sculpture is the “Fishing Dutchman” and he’s in Fulton too.

Here’s another view of the windmill, this time from below. It was not in operation the day I visited-the winds were too unpredictable.

These a smaller representations of the grindstones used on the mill itself.

I LOVE these t-shirts! But seriously, the volunteers at the De Immigrant Windmill are really cool, I had a lot of fun hanging out with them.

This is what the Lincoln Highway signs look like in Illinois.

View of the Mississippi River from the Windmill, with Clinton, Iowa across the bank.

Up next, I’ll be taking a break from my road reporting and doing a special surprise post, so stay tuned to see what it is!

You know how you feel an unexplained change in energy when you cross a state line or a huge body of water? I felt that leaving Ohio and crossing into Indiana. Some of that was because of its own familiarity (I’ve been based out of Chicago for the last several years and have driven some of these sections before), but I truly think there’s a shift in how the Lincoln Highway’s route changes. I’m grouping Indiana and Suburban Chicago (aka “Chicagoland”) together, not because filling out a blog post, but because the route in this point has its own “feel”, and once you get outside of Chicagoland, the feel changes again.

Once you get outside of Fort Wayne, there are two completely different routes that you can take through the the state of Indiana. Both routes are recognized by the Lincoln Highway Association, and each has their own charm. I took the 1913 route since this is the Centennial of the road mostly, but did drive parts of the final road alignment from the late 20’s. I will be honest, the signage along either route is not great, and I often got lost driving around these parts. The route recently acquired a “National Byway” status, and I hope that the signage in these parts does change quickly. In the meantime, there are turn-by-turn guides you can see on the Indiana Chapter’s website, and I strongly recommend using them. The route becomes one unified route in Valparasio, and then it mostly follows US 30 until the border. Once you cross into Illinois, the signage becomes much better for the route, and you can easily drive the Lincoln without additional help. There’s some major old roads that intersect with the Lincoln Highway of note, and those are the Dixie Highway and Route 66. There’s some neat things at these intersections, which you will see in the Photo Gallery below.

I did three performances in Indiana and in Chicagoland, and each one went very well. My performance at The Music Village in South Bend was probably the most memorable one. This organization is “a community musical arts alliance, that celebrates music and cultural expressions rooted in the traditions of diverse local and global communities in the heart of downtown South Bend, Indiana. This is a place where young and old, beginners and advanced players, and people from various cultures and traditions come together to create music, experience dance and learn from each other.” I really had a wonderful time performing there , and would love to perform there again. If you live in the area, I would definitely check out what they have to offer.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for, here’s a few pictures from this stretch of the road I thought I’d share with you. I’ll be talking about the rest of Illinois in my next post. Enjoy!

Illinois Lincoln Highway Highlights (outside Chicagoland)

Indiana and Suburban Chicago Highlights