City may buy Sprague Super Service station

Sprague Super Service station, Normal, IL

The city of Normal, Illinois, will vote Monday on whether to buy and keep up Terri Ryburn’s historic Sprague Super Service station on old Route 66.

The Bloomington Pantagraph reported:

The council will consider a $458,000 investment, including $229,000 to buy the property, $200,000 to improve the building and $172,000 to buy and renovate an adjoining parking lot, according to a memo prepared by Peterson. That would be paid from the town’s capital and general funds.

Improvements are expected to include a gift shop on the first floor; removal of an addition on the south side; installation of handicap-accessible restrooms; and repair and replacement of exterior timbers and stucco.

Ryburn would get out from under a $229,000 mortgage; receive $29,000; and have 10-year options to operate the building’s gift shop and continue living on the second floor for $120 per year.

The newspaper reported the city wants Ryburn to be the face of the property, hence the proposal that still gives her much control of it.

She’s spent more than $100,000 of her own money since buying the historic gas station in 2006. The property also has received more than $300,000 in various grants over the years to replace the roof, add a heating and cooling system and other interior renovations. But the building still needs more work, which was keeping her from advancing her dream of converting the station into a visitors center, restaurant, tea room, and meeting and performance space there.

The newspaper said Ryburn wasn’t available for comment. But she said on her Facebook account Sunday: “I think it’s a ‘win-win’ but I’ll have more to say about it after the vote.”

What’s interesting is the Cruisin’ with Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center in the sister city of Bloomington, Illinois, sits just 3 1/2 miles away. But Normal city manager Mark Peterson says the Sprague station isn’t meant to compete with the Bloomington attraction, but to entice more Route 66 visitors to both cities. And having such an attraction gives Normal a long-term income source from Route 66 travelers.

Sprague Super Service was built in 1931 on Route 66 by William Sprague. It was uniquely designed as a gas station and residence. It sold City Service gas, but morphed into other businesses by the 1940s, and the pumps were removed by 1979. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

(Image of Sprague Super Service station in Normal, Illinois, by Teemu008 via Flickr)

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