You may not be planning to join the crowd driving Route 66 as it turns 100 this year, but you can kick off your own celebration by tooling down the road to Litchfield. The town of 6,500 is less than an hour south of Springfield and chock-full of spots for a day or weekend trip.
Learn about the famous road and other local history at the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center. Snap some photos at iconic route markers. Have lunch in historic Ariston Café or pastry-filled Jubelt’s. Splash and build in the sand at Lake Lou Yaeger. Top off your day with a movie under the stars at the Sky View Drive-in, and you can proudly declare you have joined the centennial celebration.
“When you consider the outdoor recreation areas, Route 66, the drive-in theater and the historic restaurants, Litchfield makes a really cool family vacation,” says Stacie Peecher, Litchfield tourism coordinator. The Route 66 anniversary adds more interest this year, and the town will join others on the highway’s last 100 miles in Illinois with special activities October 10-11.
The town expects extra visitors all year as Route 66 devotees stop by. “We are a worldwide destination,” Peecher says, with visitors from Germany, Japan and England especially drawn to the historic road. The town hosts two alignments of the road, one in use from 1930-1940 and the other from 1940-1977.
Anne Jackson, secretary of the Litchfield Museum, says its guestbook confirms the road is popular with international visitors. This year every sixth visitor to the museum will win a door prize while every visitor will get a centennial sticker, part of the museum’s efforts to enhance its Route 66 offerings.
Hot off the press is a new publication about Route 66’s history in Montgomery County. Also for sale are centennial T-shirts. “We’re gearing up,” Jackson says.
The museum opened in 2013 with the financial and organizational backing of Jackson’s stepmother, Martha Jackson. Community members donated almost everything, including one woman’s collection of license plates from 1921 until the state switched to issuing annual stickers instead of new plates.
Lake Lou Yaeger is on the outskirts of Litchfield and offers a sand beach, inflatables, boating, fishing and camping. Photo courtesy of Litchfield Tourism Office
Jackson says most plates on display are metal but during World War II, when metal was needed for the war effort, a switch to soy became necessary. “The story was you didn’t want to park too close to a field or animals would eat the plates,” she explains.
Other popular exhibits include an original Route 66 road sign, an 1883 fire wagon, photos of every class graduating from Litchfield High School starting in 1926 and a display about Bob Waldmire, whose drawings of Route 66 spots are part of the highway’s history. The museum’s veterans’ room also is a huge draw, Jackson says.
In addition to the museum, several other Route 66 spots draw devotees. “Route 66 people love photo opportunities,” Peecher says, pointing to the old Belvidere Hotel as one. The hotel, one-room gas station and restaurant building still stand although they are no longer open. Nonetheless, visitors take pictures there as they do in front of a 12-foot-tall monument, one of several along the last 100 miles of Route 66 in Illinois.
This spring Litchfield will add a black and white iconic Route 66 shield on the pavement at the intersection of Historic 66 and Kirkland Street, near the museum and two popular restaurants.
One of those is the Ariston, thought to be the oldest continuously open restaurant along the entire famous highway. It is in the Route 66 Hall of Fame and on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Founded in nearby Carlinville in 1924, the restaurant moved to Litchfield in 1929 and its current location six years later. It serves such staples as fried chicken, pork chops, prime rib, shrimp, pasta, sandwiches, salads and desserts along with a full bar.
Another Route 66 eatery is Jubelt’s Bakery and Restaurant, in operation in the area since 1922 and along the route in Litchfield since 1982. You can grab a sandwich, soup and salad but save room for the tempting bakery selections.
To work off those goodies, visit Lake Lou Yeager on the outskirts of Litchfield. The 1,357-acre lake is a big attraction for people within a 50-mile radius and hosts the swim portion of two triathlons a year, according to Peecher. The lake features the sandy Milnot Beach, a special area for toddlers and parents, inflatables, campgrounds, cabins, an equestrian campsite and trails, fishing and boating.
Nearby is the Shoal Creek Nature Conservation Area, home to hundreds of plants species, butterflies, birds and trails. Peecher says the area owes its existence to naturalist Henry Eilers, whose lifelong passion for native plants and botany helped with preserving the site.
For a more sedentary pastime, you can end the day at the Sky View Drive-in, which opened in 1950 and is in the Route 66 Hall of Fame. Peecher says it is the oldest continuously operating drive-in movie theater on the Illinois section of Route 66. The theater shows first-run and older movies on weekends from April through mid-October. In addition, visitors often snap photos of the drive-in’s vintage sign, she says.
Other Litchfield attractions include Niehaus Cycle Sales, which is popular with motorcyclists cruising the historic highways, several explanatory exhibits telling the story of Route 66 in the community and the downtown Litchfield Pickers Market. The market runs May through October on the second Sunday of the month and features a juried antique sale, artisan wares, a farmers’ market, live music and food.
For more information about Litchfield, go to www.VisitLitchfield.com.
Mary Bohlen writes about travel in Illinois and nearby states for IT. She taught journalism for 30 years at University of Illinois Springfield.
This article appears in March 19-25, 2026.
