How about more than a well at the Riviera Roadhouse site?

  Riviera Restaurant Gardner IL  07

An interesting idea hatched during a finance committee meeting of the Grundy County Board about the site of the now-gone Riviera Roadhouse in Gardner, Illinois.

The Route 66 landmark burned down during a fire in 2010. The Morris Daily Herald reports an abandoned well on the property — now owned by the county — is improperly capped. The county may seal the well to bring it into compliance.

But a board member brought up a different idea.

Board member Dick Joyce said someone from Gardner who works with the Route 66 Committee told him that the committee would prefer to see a hand pump put on it, or something less permanent than sealing it, in case the area could be used as part of the Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor experience in the future.

Estimates of $3,000 to add the hand pump and $850 to $950 to cap the well only were reported during the meeting. The county is concerned about maintaining the site and whether the water is safe to drink.

The well seemed more than safe enough for 80 years while the roadhouse was operating. So worries about the water might be not terribly compelling.

But if a hand pump is added, why stop there? Because of the Riviera’s long and colorful history, the site begs to have some sort of kiosk to explain what was there. And I’d be the Illinois Route 66 Association would be happy to give money or labor for such a project.

James Girot, a South Wilmington, Illinois, businessman, moved buildings from Gardner and South Wilmington and put them together to form the Riviera in 1928. Movie stars Gene Kelly and Tom Mix stopped there regularly. It also reputedly was favorite haunt of Al Capone and other gangsters to imbibe in booze and gambling during the Prohibition era.

The historic Route 66 restaurant and lounge was owned and operated for decades by Bob and Peggy Kraft until the two retired in late 2008. Bob Keller briefly reopened the restaurant in late 2009, but had a long and protracted spat with local officials over, ironically, fire-safety issues.

(Image of the Riviera Roadhouse in 2007 by philwardxr3i via Flickr)

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