By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Two key connections in McLean County’s history are Abraham Lincoln and Route 66. As WJBC’s Eric Stock reports, those two themes are intertwined in a tourist stop in Bloomington.

The new Route 66 visitors center in downtown Bloomington officially opens this weekend. Director of McLean County Museum of History which is hosting the center, Greg Koos, said our 16th president helped make part of the Mother Road become reality.

“One of our exhibits talks about how Abraham Lincoln in the 1840a wrote the first legislation that create the corridor from Alton to Springfield, Illinois,” Koos said. “That corridor ultimately became the southern leg of Route 66,”

The center replicates the look of the Mother Road with 10 exhibit panels positioned as billboards on the historic highway.

Koos said he hopes the museum can bring up to 20,000 visitors annually within three years, noting that Route 66 enthusiasts come from all over the world, an estimated 40,000 per year.

“They want to meet people engaged in day-to-day life,” Koos said, “They are not as interested in experiencing America as we do through the convenience of various corporate offerings.”

The closest thing to corporate, the museum will be selling goods from local fixtures Steak ‘n Shake, State Farm and Katydids candy.

The cost of the center was paid for mostly through a $250,000 grant from the Illinois Office of Tourism. The renovation includes relocating the main entrance to Washington Street along with the Abraham Lincoln bench.

There will be a dedication at 10 a.m. Saturday followed by an open house until 4 p.m.

The visitors center, on the lower level of the museum, will be free, but admission for the rest of the museum will remain $5 for adults, $4 for seniors.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].