The historic Eagle Hotel along Route 66 in Wilmington, Ill., has been put up for sale, according to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times.
The item was tucked into a story about the Launching Pad Drive-In restaurant in Wilmington also being put up for sale, which Route 66 News reported a few weeks ago.
The Eagle Hotel’s sale was mentioned in October in a very brief ask-the-editor piece in the Free Press Newspapers of Wilmington. I called the phone number in the story and left a message. The phone number appeared to ring into a real-estate office.
The Eagle Hotel, dating to 1836, has seen a tumultuous existence in recent years. Previous owner Bill Scales sought to rehab the building and reopen it as a restaurant. But he kept having trouble making deadlines and acquiring financing. Scales finally put the building up for sale in 2009.
UPDATE: The Joliet Herald News reported that the person on the for-sale sign on the Eagle Hotel was Tom O’Brien. He did not return the newspaper’s calls.