The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amassed one of the world's most extensive musical collections.
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in popular culture by both the 1946 hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. In John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the road "Highway 66" symbolized escape and loss. Other designations and nicknames for the highway include the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America and the Mother Road.
Livingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 35,815. Its county seat is Pontiac. Livingston County comprises the Pontiac, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is combined with the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan statistical area as the Bloomington-Pontiac, IL Combined Statistical Area.
Pontiac is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,931 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Livingston County. The town is also the setting of the 1984 movie Grandview, U.S.A.
Towanda is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st-century showmanship techniques, the museum ranks as one of the most visited presidential libraries. Its library, in addition to housing an extensive collection on Lincoln, also houses the collection of the Illinois State Historical Library, founded by the state in 1889. The library and museum is located in the state capital of Springfield, Illinois, and is overseen as an agency of state government. It is not affiliated with the U.S. National Archives and its system of libraries.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus tours of the spaceport. The "Space Shuttle Atlantis" exhibit contains the Atlantis orbiter and the Shuttle Launch Experience, a simulated ride into space. The center also provides astronaut training experiences, including a multi-axial chair and Mars Base simulator. The visitor complex also has daily presentations from a veteran NASA astronaut. A bus tour, included with admission, encompasses the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center. There were 1.7 million visitors to the visitor complex in 2016.
U.S. Route 66 was a United States Numbered Highway in Illinois that connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, the Mother Road or Main Street of America, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. The highway had previously been Illinois Route 4 (IL 4) and the road has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55 (I-55). Parts of the road still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania is a non-profit museum at 300 North Street in downtown Harrisburg, run by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to preserve and interpret the region's history and culture. It is a part of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex. While it is officially named the State Museum of Pennsylvania, members of the public, as well as official publications, sometimes refer to the facility as the William Penn Memorial Museum; the museum's central hall features a large statue of Penn.
The City and Town Hall in downtown Rochelle, Ogle County, Illinois, United States, operates as the township history museum, holding a number of static displays on local history. Historically it served as the headquarters for city and township government as well as holding the offices of numerous state, local and national entities. The building was erected in 1884 following an 18-year disagreement about the structure's cost between the city of Rochelle and Flagg Township.
Amboy station is a former rail station in the city of Amboy, Lee County, Illinois, United States. The building was constructed as a headquarters building for the Illinois Central Railroad as well as a public train station for the fledgling city of Amboy in 1876. It was designed by railroad staff architect James Nocquet after a fire destroyed the original Illinois Central offices on the site. The building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as the Amboy Illinois Central Depot.
Robert Waldmire was an American artist and cartographer who is well known for his artwork of U.S. Route 66, including whimsical maps of the Mother Road and its human and natural ecology. Being the son of Ed Waldmire Jr., he is often associated with the Cozy Dog Drive In restaurant in Springfield, Illinois, the elder Waldmire having created the Cozy Dog.
Ambler's Texaco Gas Station, also known as Becker's Marathon Gas Station, is a historic filling station located at the intersection of Old U.S. Route 66 and Illinois Route 17 in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The station has been identified as the longest operating gas station along Route 66; it dispensed fuel for 66 continuous years until 1999. The station is a good example of a domestic style gas station and derives its most common names from ownership stints by two different men. North of the station is an extant outbuilding that once operated as a commercial icehouse. Ambler's was the subject of major restoration work from 2005–2007, and reopened as a Route 66 visitor's center in May 2007. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The former Illinois State Police Office in Pontiac, Illinois, United States served as the Illinois State Police District 6 headquarters from its construction in 1941 until 2003. The building, located along old U.S. Route 66, was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Sprague's Super Service is a historic independent gas station on Route 66 in Normal, Illinois.
The Jones House is a historic brick home in the Illinois city of Pontiac. The house is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and is the second oldest brick house in Pontiac.
The Amberg Historical Museum Complex in Amberg, Wisconsin consists of the Amberg Museum and other buildings of historical significance moved to the site. It is operated by the Amberg Historical Society in cooperation with the town of Amberg. The society is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the "Wisconsin Historical Society". The museum complex has been recognized by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism as a Wisconsin Heritage Site
