Litchfield, IL
Greetings from Litchfield, IL. Litchfield is a small town along Route 66 in Illinois with a population of 6,900. We passed through back in 2015 when we drove all of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. This is our second postcard style mural in the state of Illinois. In addition, it’s our sixth mural in cities along the famous Mother Road including: Chicago, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Pasadena and Santa Monica.
We arrived early on a rare snowy day in late April and checked in to the Bicentennial Campground at Lake Lou Yaeger. We were greeted by the campground manager, Wes Hicks. He told us about the morel mushrooms that he was on his way to hunt. After a full day of snow that didn’t stick, we layered up in thermals and started working in 28 degree temperatures! Our wall is located at a major intersection on State st. & Route 16 (Union Ave.) The building was owned by Cass Cooper who is a local business owner known for investing back into his community. He also donated a beautiful Airbnb we were lucky enough to stay at after a week at the campsite. Thanks to Visit Litchfield Illinois & True Value Rental & Turf (scissor lift donors) our wall was primed and ready to go. We rolled out four sheets of pounce patterns to sketch out the design on the brick wall and defrosted our fingers by the heater in the RV.
A few days into painting, we ran into Wes again and he gifted us an arrowhead he hand carved out of obsidian, honoring his indigenous background. Arrowheads are said to symbolize strength and protection so we carefully hung it on our rear view mirror. We certainly appreciated the new addition to our RV home decor.
We worked with Sarah Wagoner (Visit Litchfield) on choosing the content inside the letters of the mural that best represent Litchfield. She was able to coordinate meetings for us with some of the locals who have deep connections with the history of the town and the images we painted.
Travelers from all over the world stop in Litchfield to eat at the Ariston Cafe, a historic diner along Route 66. It’s been in business since 1924 and feels like stepping back in time as you enter. It was opened by a Greek immigrant named Pete Adam and we were fortunate to meet Pete’s son, Nick and his wife Demi, who have been running the business up until a couple years ago. We had lunch together as they told us stories about the changes they made to stay in business. They shared the restoration process of their rare neon signs that we painted inside the T and C of our Litchfield mural. The Ariston (which means “the best” in Greek) is claimed to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant on Route 66 today, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
For those interested in history, be sure to check out the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center. There’s an exhibit featuring one of our favorite artists, Bob Waldmire. Similar to our story, he was also a traveling artist that lived out of his vehicle along Route 66.
Regional artists from St. Louis came to help assist on two of the images in the letters. As much as possible, we try to collaborate with local artists. Thank you to Dan & Jerome from St. Louis Sign & Mural for coming out to paint with us. They will also be returning to help put on a UV protectant and anti-graffiti coating over the mural. It also helps to work with local artists as they can do any emergency touch ups and maintenance after we are gone.
After a couple rain delays we finished the mural and Sarah helped organize a relaxing evening boat ride tour of the lake we painted. Andy and Bonnie Furman (and their dog!) welcomed us on board their pontoon. Andy wrote a book about the history of the lake and how the community is preserving it. The lake actually supplies the whole town with running water, after some serious filtration of course. We cruised along the shore line in the quiet evening, naming birds and looking for bald eagles that nest in the area. Lake Lou Yaeger stretches across 1,357-acres and is the centerpiece of Litchfield’s outdoors culture. It’s where people meet, get married, light fireworks, fish, and if you’re lucky like Andy and Bonnie, you get to live there all year round!
The Historic Litchfield Carnegie Library Building was originally funded by industrialist and notable philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, in 1904. On the National Register of Historic Places, this building was originally designed by architect Paul Moratz in the Classical Revival style. Now owned by the City of Litchfield, the Historic Carnegie Library Building is open to the public and home to the Litchfield Tourism Office. A fun, quirky fact that we learned was there there was a typo on the building where the “R” in Carnegie was accidentally chiseled as a “B.” If you go up close to it, you can still see the remnants of the error. Today, the building is also home to the Visit Litchfield office and we had the opportunity to check out the interior as well.
The arrival of the railroad in Litchfield, more than any other event, influenced the growth of the town in its first fifty year. The Wabash Railroad began in 1870 as the Decatur & East Railroad and in 1889 changed to the name of Wabash Railroad Company. The Litchfield station and Wabash Railroad served many passengers traveling to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO. The current train depot was built in 1914. To this day, you still hear the frequent freight train horns going off throughout the day and night as they pass through town. Victor comes from a graffiti culture where freight trains were often a canvas to work on. It was ironic to actually paint an intricate freight train itself onto a wall.
We had one of our most memorable experiences in Litchfield with Henry Eilers. He is a very humble and knowledgable botanist who has dedicated his life to plants and the environment. He took us on a morning hike along with his daughters, Helen and Maria, and educated us about all kinds of native plant species and history of Shoal Creek. The area that he chose to bring us to had an interesting connection to our mural. He pointed out exactly where the materials of the building came from (that we were painting on) including the limestone for the foundation and the clay for the bricks. We could still see some of the old holes drilled that they used to drop the dynamite into!
Henry was full of insight and wisdom and a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. Prior to the hike, Henry’s hearing aid slipped out of his ear as he was tagging a plant he needed to identify, but followed up with a profound quote saying that “sometimes the disadvantages in life become advantages.” This certainly became immediately true as we had the chance to purely listen to him explaining everything without the interruption of questions! We cannot thank him enough for the wonderful experience. Fortunately, with the help of a tracking app, Henry and his daughters found his hearing aid!
A novel should be written about Henry and his family. He visited us painting a couple times and he always brought a piece of wisdom to share. Everyone in town admires him for not only his work, but the way he is. He has flowers named after him and has seeds in the ‘doomsday’ Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.
PS - If your travels ever take you down to Route 66 through Pasadena, CA, be sure to check out our Pasadena Route 66 Travel Guide!
Letter Guide:
L — Historic Carnegie Library Building
I — Historic Carnegie Library Building (cont.)
T — Ariston Café on Route 66
C — Ariston Café on Route 66 (cont.)
H — Former Wabash Train Station & Freight Engine
F — Freight Engine
I — Shoal Creek Conservation Area
E - Shoal Creek Conservation Area (cont.) & Bald Eagle
L - Lake Lou Yaeger Recreational Area
D - Lake Lou Yaeger Recreational Area (cont.)
Press:
Illinois Business Journal - Public invited to see new Litchfield greetings mural
Year: 2021
Mural Size: 12'H x 25'W
Location: 423 N State St. Litchfield, IL 62056