McDonald’s plans to build at old Tropics property

The Tropics neon sign

Any lingering hopes the long-closed Tropics restaurant in Lincoln, Illinois, would be reopened were dashed last week with the news a McDonald’s restaurant wants to build on the site.

The Lincoln Courier reports a law firm made a request for a special-use permit to the city:

The city announced Thursday that the Lincoln Planning Commission will meet June 23 to consider plans for the drive-thru at a new McDonald’s on the property that used to be home to the Tropics Restaurant.

If plans for the drive-thru and the building are approved, the fast food establishment will be built at 1007 Hickox Road, just off of the intersection of Woodlawn Road and Lincoln Parkway.

The newspaper reported that McDonald’s taking over that property had been rumored for years. According to Google Maps, the current McDonald’s site is less than 400 feet north of the Tropics site where it plans to build a new Golden Arches.

The Tropics’ fabled neon sign was removed in the spring of 2014. The city is conducting a fundraising campaign to restore the sign, although the city’s storage practices for it came under a lot of fire from preservationists.

The Tropics opened along U.S. 66 about 1950. Original owner Vince Schwenoha once lived in California and was inspired by its palm trees when he dreamed up of his business in Illinois. More good history about the tropics may be read here.

The restaurant went through a spate of shutterings and reopenings after Interstate 55 bypassed the town; it closed for good in 2004.

(Hat tip to Jeff Meyer; vintage image of The Tropics restaurant’s sign via Facebook)

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