Litchfield Museum Celebrates First Anniversary June 1
The Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center at 334 Historic Old Route 66 North (across the road from the Ariston Cafe) in Litchfield, Illinois, is celebrating its first anniversary on Sunday, June 1, from 1:00-4:00 pm. The museum invites everyone to come join them for the celebration, with new attractions, special music, vintage automobiles, door prizes, and refreshments.
The museum and welcome center opened a year ago after many months of planning, design, and construction. Construction of the building was followed closely by Litchfield residents driving by the site and by Route 66 fans around the world via social media. The building was designed by John Fletcher to be reminiscent of Route 66-era service businesses with a corner entrance and plenty of neon. Carol Hampton Berry is credited with the floor plan for the building and United Builders/Larry Pence did the construction.
The “Vic Suhling – Gas for Less” sign, appropriately situated in its original location was completely restored in 2013 and a large crowd attended the relighting ceremony in October.
The museum and welcome center opened a year ago after many months of planning, design, and construction. Construction of the building was followed closely by Litchfield residents driving by the site and by Route 66 fans around the world via social media. The building was designed by John Fletcher to be reminiscent of Route 66-era service businesses with a corner entrance and plenty of neon. Carol Hampton Berry is credited with the floor plan for the building and United Builders/Larry Pence did the construction.
The “Vic Suhling – Gas for Less” sign, appropriately situated in its original location was completely restored in 2013 and a large crowd attended the relighting ceremony in October.
The original idea for the museum sprang
from a meeting of Anne Jackson, Martha Jackson, Carol Burke, and Chick
Bishop in April of 2011 at Litchfield City Hall to discuss putting
together a postcard book. The group's website tells the story as
follows, “Anne's father, the late David A. Jackson, had an
extensive collection of postcards depicting Litchfield's rich
history. One short hour later, the postcard book was only a small
part of the equation. The four decided to try to rally Litchfield
citizens and pursue the idea of developing a museum in Litchfield.”
David A. Jackson had been editor of
Litchfield's newspaper for many years and was an avid collector of
Litchfield items and memorabilia during his lifetime. After his
passing, his family created displays of his photos and artifacts on
the second floor of Litchfield's Carnegie Library. A small group
began to meet regularly in May 2011 to pursue the dream and begin
planning for a Litchfield museum. Soon officers were elected and
other museums were visited for ideas. The Litchfield postcard book
was printed and became the first fundraiser. Bylaws were written and
land – on historic Route 66 – was purchased. And the seed was
planted to give Litchfield's Route 66 history its due - the
Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center.
For more information, visit www.litchfieldmuseum.org.
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