What’s happening with Shea’s Route 66 Museum and Art’s Motel?

Art's Motel sign

A story in the Springfield State Journal-Register gave status reports about three prominent Illinois Route 66 properties that closed and/or were for sale.

One was about the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, which went up for sale in October for $1.2 million by the Adam family, remains on the market and is still operating.

Another was about Shea’s Route 66 Museum in Springfield, which closed after the December 2013 death of longtime proprietor Bill Shea. The son has offered a few odds and ends through the museum’s Facebook page, but wants to sell the entire petroliana collection to one buyer. Let’s hope some movement is shown here:

Officials at the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum at Pontiac have expressed interest in the Shea’s collection, but museum treasurer Martin Blitstein said acquisitions would have to be by donation. He added that museum officials have not been in recent contact with the Shea family.

According to the article, the museum will be open during the Illinois Route 66 Motor Tour on June 12-14. That apparently is the only time it will be open this year. At one point, the museum was open by appointment, but even that has ended.

One thing I didn’t know was the shuttering was Art’s Motel in Farmersville, which Illinois preservationist John Weiss said has been closed for months.

According to real-estate website Loopnet, the 13-unit Art’s Motel with a restaurant/bar on the premises has been taken off the market after being for sale. The last time the listing was updated was more than a year ago. According to Internet records, the motel and restaurant had been operating until summer 2011.

One of the big concerns is a sign that was magnificently restored by Illinois Route 66 preservationists in 2007. More about the restoration may be read here.

If the motel is torn down, Weiss and others want to save the sign and mostly likely have it displayed at the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum in Pontiac.

(Image of the Art’s Motel sign shortly after its restoration in 2007)

3 thoughts on “What’s happening with Shea’s Route 66 Museum and Art’s Motel?

  1. Thank you for the update. No trip to Springfield was complete without a jaw session with Bill and his son. Too bad his son doesn’t want to continue with it.

    We found that Art’s was closed when we went by during the motor tour last June.

  2. So sorry to hear about Art’s Motel. That place was sort of a diamond in the rough. I stayed there in the Summer of 2011. At that time the restaurant and bar were already closed, I peered in through the window and it looked like they’d been closed for quite a while. The staff was rather closed-mouthed about it. To think that I might have been one of the last guests there… … …

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