Prairie Illinois Midlands

Values

1. 1. Pluralistic
   2. Welcoming
   3. Middle-class society
   4. Political opinion is moderate
   5. Government regulation is frowned upon

2.1 Lockport

(Northern Will County)

• • Bolingbrook
    1. White Fence Farm Main Restaurant
    2. Hidden Lakes Historic Trout Farm
  • Plainfield
    1. The Plainfield Inn
    2. Village Green Park
  • Lockport
    1. Lockport Lock and Canal
    2. Des Plaines River & Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
  • Crest Hill
    1. Prairie Bluff Preserve
    2. Lidice Memorial

2.2 Joliet

(County Seat of Will County)

• 1. City of Steel and Stone (population: 150,000)
  2. First Dairy Queen opened in 1906
  3. Old Joliet Prison
     • John Wayne Gacy and Baby Face Nelson
     • Blues Brothers
  4. Joliet Area Historical Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center – Joliet Wall Mural
  5. Old St. Mary Carmelite Church
  6. Joliet Public Library
  7. Rialto Square Theatre – “Jewel of Joliet”
  8. Jacob Henry Mansion – Gilded Age

2.3 Elwood

(Central Will County)

• 1. Elwood Blues – The Blues Brothers (1980)
  2. Elder Tree Forest or Elf Woodland
  3. Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
  4. Joliet Army Training Area
  5. Joliet Army Ammunition Plant
  6. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
  7. Buffalo or Bison
  8. CenterPoint Intermodal Center

2.4 Wilmington

(Southern Will County) (population: 6,000)

• 1. Virgil “Gus” Grissom (1926–1967)
  2. Launching Pad Drive-In (former home of the Gemini Giant)
  3. Town Square – Claire’s Corner Park
  4. Downtown
  5. Kankakee River – The Island City
  6. Island Park (new home of the Gemini Giant)
  7. Wilmington Dam
  8. Grand Kankakee Marsh

2.5 Braidwood & Gardner

(Grundy County)

• • Braidwood (Southwestern Will County)
    1. “The Little Macaroni Capital”
    2. Polk-A-Dot Drive In & Braidwood Zoo
    3. Braidwood Generating Station Nuclear power plant
    4. Godley – Illinois Mining Museum
  • Gardner (Grundy County) (population: 1,000)
    1. Two Cell Jail
    2. Historic Streetcar Diner (horse-drawn streetcar/diner)
    3. Riviera Roadhouse Memorial Place (burned down 2010)
    4. The Shop On Route 66

2.6 Dwight

(Northern Livingston County) (population: 4,000)

• 1. Gothic Church Dwight Townhall
  2. Old Livingston Hotel & Veterans’ Hospital
  3. Dwight Banking Center – Peoples National Bank of Kewanee
  4. Dwight Train Station (Dwight Historical Society)
  5. John R. Oughton House
     • Oughton Estate Windmill
     • Prairie Creek Public Library
  6. Old Route 66 Family Restaurant
  7. Ambler’s Texaco Station
  8. Prince Albert (later King Edward VII) Prairie Chicken Hunting

2.7 Odell

(Central Livingston County)

• • Odell (population: 1,000)
    1. Mobile Gas Station
    2. Odell Pedestrian Tunnel
    3. St Paul Catholic Church
    4. Standard Oil Station
    5. Wishing Well Cafe
  • Cayuga
    1. Meramec Caverns Barn Sign
    2. Cayuga Grain Elevator
    3. Prairie Central Co-op Pontiac Grain Elevator

2.8 Pontiac

(County Seat of Livingston County) (population: 11,000) (Chief Pontiac)

• 1. Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum (Pontiac City Hall and Fire Station)
  2. Bob Waldmire Road Yacht
  3. Wall Murals
  4. Brick Downtown
  5. Livingston County Courthouse
  6. Livingston County Civil War Memorial
  7. Historic Illinois State Police Building
  8. Historic Route 66 Old Bridge Rooks Creek