Friday, June 22, 2012
Gas stations were a family business for Sam Reichert Sr.
For more than a quarter century, motorists relied on Sam Reichert Sr. “The face of Plainfield” operated fuel stations — mainly Standard Oil stations — along Route 66 from 1955 to 1970. On June 9, his place in the history of “The Mother Road” was cemented as he was inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame in Pontiac, Illinois. Aided by Plainfield historian and architect Michael Lambert, Sam Reichert Jr. nominated his dad for induction. The younger Reichert said his father was chosen from a pool of 14 nominees for the honor. “He’s in the museum now,” Sam Jr. said, adding a shelf is now filled with photos and Standard Oil memorabilia from his father’s days working along the highway. “It’s really cool,” said Reichert Jr., who now serves as the …
Friday, June 8, 2012
Homeowners oppose plan to bring new business to the former site of the Go-Tane station.
For years, a gas station sat at the corner of Route 30 and Route 59. But in 2008, thanks to federal and state funding, work began on an $89 million project to widen Route 59 and alleviate the bottleneck at Route 30. Amidst the construction, the former Go-Tane station, by then vacant, was demolished, leaving green space at the intersection. Now, a developer known as G.C. Real Estate LLC is looking to build a new gas station at the site. Proposed as a BP station, the project includes a canopy with eight fuel pumps and a 3,600-square-foot convenience store with a drive-thru business — possibly a Subway restaurant, according to project architect Eric Eriksson. The plan also designates a triangular 4,500-square-foot section at the hard corner …
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A look at the history of Plainfield's gas stations and the people who owned them.
The Inquiry Following a recent series of columns about the evolution of Plainfield gas stations, several readers asked why the Route 66 years had been omitted. The Facts Established in 1926, U. S. Route 66 crossed the western half of the United States. Making its way “from Chicago to L.A.” (as the famous lyrics tell us), the roadway quickly gained fame as the most direct, year-round route between the Midwest and the West Coast. Along its way, the famed highway passed through the legendary landscape of the American Southwest. Throughout its first decade, the storied route did not wind through Plainfield, but followed a route from Chicago to Joliet and, then, to Gardner, Illinois. Today, that original section of the route is known as …
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Failure to secure a federal grant and to convince the owner to donate the land have been frustrating, but Michael Bortel said he's going to keep trying.
A building long deemed a village eyesore was torn down Monday, but efforts to build a park on the site remain stymied. The property known as the old Carlton* house at the corner of U.S. 30 and Route 59 was the last roadblock to clearing the .925-acre site that Plainfield Historical Society President Michael Bortel would like to see made into Gateway Park, commemorating the point at which old Route 66 intersected with the Lincoln Highway. However, he was unable to secure a $5,000 matching grant from the National Park Service that would have funded a redevelopment study, the first step in getting the park built. Bortel also said he’s had no success in convincing the property’s owner, G.C. Real Estate of Lincolnshire, that the site – a …
41.63713
-88.20311
N Division St & S Route 59, Plainfield, IL
/articles/old-house-finally-comes-down-but-gateway-parks-stalled
/locations/5121256
Monday, March 21, 2011
The project would commemorate the spot where Lincoln Highway and Route 66 once met and would preserve a historically significant house.
Plans for a “Gateway Park” at Illinois 59 and U.S. 30 – once the crossroads of Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway – have been revived by the chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission. Michael Bortell told the Plainfield Village Board Monday that he plans to apply for a $5,000 matching grant from the National Park Service to fund a redevelopment study for the .925-acre site, which is one of the most historic in the village. The gas station that once anchored the triangle-shaped property was removed last year by the Illinois Department of Transportation as part of the Illinois 59 widening project, Bortell said. A historically significant house known as the Corbin-Bingham-Worst residence remains, as does another house and two detached …
41.61029
-88.20226
S Route 59 & W Route 30, Plainfield, IL
/articles/grant-sought-to-create-gateway-park-at-us-30-and-illinois-59
/locations/3762441
British Plainfield
9:20 pm on Friday, June 22, 2012
Let's keep the history of gas stations along this stretch of road and build the new BP station at 30 and 59. more ›