BLOOMINGTON — While the nation prepares for the 100th anniversary of historic Route 66 in 2026, McLean County is implementing several murals to draw in travelers and highlight the highway's local significance.
"People traveling Route 66 are from all over; we get people every year from many different countries," said Norris Porter, director of development at the McLean County Museum of History in downtown Bloomington. "This mural will be a great opportunity to lift up the McLean County cities that are on Route 66, and the history of Abraham Lincoln."
A mural was painted this week inside the museum's Washington Street entrance, with help from funds awarded in February through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Route 66 grant program.
The public will be able to see the mural during the Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival on May 4, where activities also include the first outdoor farmers market of the season, opportunities to explore the Route 66 Art Trail, and a Saturdays on the Square concert featuring Matthew Curry.
The Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau was awarded $180,400 to support the research, design and installation of murals across the county, as well as the installation of electric vehicle chargers at the historic Sprague Super Service gas station in Normal.
The museum's mural reflects its Cruisin' with Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center, which highlights Abraham Lincoln's use of this portion of Route 66 while on legal business from 1853 to 1860, according to the museum.
Artist Troy Freeman, who grew up in Athens and lived in Springfield before moving to Bloomington a couple of years ago, said he has been painting professionally with his mural and sign-painting business, FreeSky Studios, since 2013, but he has been painting since high school, for about 30 years in total.
Freeman, who was commissioned for the museum mural and the others in McLean County, travels around the U.S. to paint murals. Next week, he'll be on the road to New York to work on a project overlooking Hudson Bay — but the opportunity to work on something close to home is bit more meaningful to him, he said.
"I'm able to take my time and just enjoy it and be able to do something in the community that I live in, that I will take pride in and that will bring pride to the community ... (It's) kind of a big deal for me," Freeman said. "This is not my mural, this is the community's mural. I am just the painter."
The mural depicts a handful of sites along the local stretch of Route 66, including the Chenoa Pharmacy in Chenoa, Lexington's Memory Lane, Towanda's Dead Man's Curve, Sprague's Super Service Station in Normal, Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup in Shirley and the Dixie Truckers Home and Travel Plaza in McLean.
The McLean County Museum of History sits at the center of the mural, while at the forefront, a rendition of Abraham Lincoln drives a 1960s Lincoln Continental convertible — with the passenger seat open for guests to take photos alongside the 16th president. Viewers will also spot the Chicago skyline painted in the distance, and rows of cornfields scattered about the scene.
Porter said he was grateful to work with Crystal Howard, president and CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, to obtain the grant funds and find a gifted muralist like Freeman to complete the murals. They connected with Freeman via Beth Whisman, director of cultural arts for the Town of Normal, and Hannah Johnson, executive director of the Illinois Art Station.
Porter said without their coordination and help, they may have not been able to secure the grant, as they were applying just a week before the deadline.
"We had a matter of a week to put it together, and so I leaned on friends in the community," Porter said. "I mean, it's just amazing."
With Route 66's centennial anniversary nearing closer, travelers from around the country and the world are already making their pilgrimages across the Mother Road and will continue to visit even after the 100-year mark has been reached, Porter said.
Freeman said seeing people come from all over the country and world to visit Central Illinois is not something he would have expected back in the day, but now, he thinks people should appreciate what we have here, since it attracts all these different walks of life.
"As a kid, I think we kind of take for granted that this is right here in our backyard," Freeman said. "It's cool to learn where people are from and why they're traveling and what they're doing here."
The next mural on Freeman's local list will be a drive-in movie theater mural on the south wall of Red Raccoon Games, along Jefferson Street in downtown Bloomington, followed by a pinball machine mural on a grain bin in McLean and a billboard mural in Lexington.
The murals, along with the electric vehicle chargers in Normal, should be finished before the end of June.
25 historic images of Route 66 in its early days
Historic Route 66, in photos
Chicago's bronze lions
Facing another day of the 'Bunion Derby'
A Santa Fe street scene
'Okies' arrive in California
The original western terminus
Outdoor basket-weaving
First stop west of Texas
A desert rest stop
Overnight in Victorville?
Maybe don't follow Bugs Bunny?
The wide-open road
Iceberg in the desert
Heading east
Making connections
A namesake of the highway
Check out the Gila monster
A commercial thoroughfare
Passing through the Duke City
Souvenirs and novelties
On a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Through a harsh landscape
The Boss loved it
Save a horse?
The Wigwam Village Motel
The end of the road
Contact Mateusz Janik at (309) 820-3234. Follow Mateusz on Twitter:@mjanik99
Norris Porter, director of development for the McLean County Museum of History, points out details of the Route 66-themed mural created by local artist Troy Freeman.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Route 66 in 2026, artist Troy Freeman is painting a series of Route 66-themed murals in McLean County, including this one inside the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington.