On the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 in Joliet, IL, Sept. 2016.
This is one of two Lincoln Highway cities in Illinois where the Lincoln and Route 66 meet up (the other being Plainfield). Some say that if Route 66 is the “Mother Road” then the Lincoln Highway rightfully is the “Father Road”.
I didn’t leave Joliet with a warm and fuzzy feeling but it’s a good stop with much to see. The downtown is pretty quiet (and suffers from the usual maze of off-putting one way streets inflicted on so many cities by overzealous urban planners) but definitely has its moments with a fair amount of surviving architecture.
The Rialto Square Theatre (1926) is a true beauty of a movie palace; the photo set includes three shots of the theater. The Louis Joliet statue at the downtown Joliet Public Library was erected in 1904.
There are some handsome bridges across the Des Plaines River, and both the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 cross over the Des Plaines. Some of Joliet seemed a little lost in time like so much of the Lincoln Highway and Route 66.
The Ace Drive-in on Plainfield Road was a hoot. I went there on their last day of the season. Timing is everything.
Finally, Joliet is a prison town. The last grouping of pictures were all taken at the now closed Joliet Prison (Joliet Correctional Center) of “Blues Brothers” fame. When opened it was the largest prison in the US. Quite a sight indeed.
