In this article, I will introduce the tourist attractions from Springfield to Chicago that I visited on a tour organized by the Illinois State Tourism Bureau.
Although Route 66 has now outlived its original purpose due to the development of the interstate highway system and was officially decommissioned as a national highway in 1985, it will mark the 100th anniversary of its opening this November.
It was also at this time that “Route 66” was established, with its starting point in Chicago, Illinois, and its terminus in Santa Monica, California. The route spanned 2,448 miles (approximately 3,940 km) across eight states—Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and as a major artery connecting the Midwest to the West Coast, it laid the foundation for the era of travel by car.
In response to the explosive popularity of the Model T Ford from the 1910s through the 1920s, the conventional wisdom regarding transportation networks—that “trains were for intercity travel and horse-drawn carriages for regional travel”—underwent a dramatic shift, and early 20th-century America began its transition into an automobile-based society. In step with this rise of motorization, the need for a widespread network of paved roads grew rapidly, and the federal government began developing a national highway system for the first time. On November 11, 1926, the “United States Numbered Highway System” was established.
“Springfield”: Following in Lincoln’s Footsteps
Even if you aren’t well-versed in foreign history, there is probably no one who doesn’t know the name Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln).
The 16th President of the United States, whose term was marked by the Civil War and the Union’s victory, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gettysburg Address—famous for the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” He is still often hailed as “the best president” or “the greatest president,” and the depth of this admiration is evident in his portrait carved into Mount Rushmore and featured on the one-cent coin.
Born in Kentucky, Lincoln moved to Illinois with his family around the age of 20 and began his political career in the state capital, Springfield. In this place so closely associated with him, numerous traces of his life remain, including the house—said to be the only one he ever owned—and a museum, as well as the sites where he gave speeches and his law office from his days as a lawyer.
Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play shortly after the end of the Civil War, becoming the first president in U.S. history to be assassinated. Although I didn’t visit it this time, his grave is, of course, also in Springfield.
© Source travel watch