News From Along Route 66-- August: Negro Motorist Green Book

These are taken from the Route 66 Blog site which has a lot more information and pictures.  I just write about stories of particular interest to me.

AUGUST 2--  The Milk Bottle Building in OKC has reopened as the Prairie Gothic Boutique.  I am always for finding new uses for old building, especially when they are of architectural interest such as this one.

AUGUST 4--  The full inventory of Negro Motorist Green Book sites has been released by the Route 66 Corridor Presentation Program.  It contains a complete listing of every place appearing in it from 1936 to 1964.

You can view it yourself

there were not a lot of Illinois sites.  Joliet and Bloomington each had one place listed.  Springfield had 22, with three of them being hotels:

Homestead/Dudley Hotel at 130 S. 11th Street from 1930-1959-- demolished.
Hotel Williams at 124 S, 11th Street in 1930-- since demolished.
Hotel Ferguson at 1007 E. Washington Street in 1949-- since demolished.

East St. Louis had 23 places listed.

The Green Book also listed Sundown Cities.  These were towns that blacks had best be out of when the sun went down.  Several were in Central Illinois as were others in the Missouri Ozarks as well as areas of Oklahoma and Texas.

It was sad and unfair that black motorists had to deal with this.

An Often Overlooked Aspect of Route 66 That Deserves More Information.  --RoadDog