Goodbye Meramec Caverns Barn Sign at Hamel-- Part 1

This last Thursday, Liz and I cruised Route 66 in Illinois on our way back from the beach. We hadn't been on it since the Illinois 66 Motor Tour in June.

Back then, we noticed that the barn that had a Meramec Caverns U.S. 66 Mo. sign painted on it was in extremely bad shape. It was located east of I-55 and 66 between exits 30 and 33 near St. Paul's Lutheran Church (with the blue neon cross).

At time, the sign was still there, but much of the rest of the barn behind it was in bad shape and looking ready to collapse.

We saw that the front was just a pile of splintered wood down to the last line, U.S. 66 Mo.. I know the Route 66 Association of Illinois put a lot of time into restoring it.

According to Dave Wickline in his Images of 66, Vol. 2, the black and white scheme was from the 1930s. (There still remains one of the Cavern Barns in Illinois a little north of Pontiac.)

Sorry to Lose Anything 66. --RoadDog