On Friday, Ace Sign Co. installed a new sign at the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois, that is a throwback to the Route 66 landmark’s earlier days.
The restaurant posted this photo of the sign, stating it wasn’t yet completely functional but should be next week:
About a week before the installation, Ace Sign posted images of an earlier Cozy Dog sign with its midcentury-style font and the modern-day one, plus a hint of the new sign:
The Cozy Dog Drive-In launched in Springfield in 1946 after its founder, Ed Waldmire Jr., developed the Cozy Dog corn dog while in the Air Force in Amarillo, Texas.
Variations on cornbread-coated hot dogs had existed, but they took too long to prepare. Waldmire’s batter coating over the wiener fried in oil allowed it to be served to customers faster. It could be argued Ed Waldmire was the father of the modern-day corn dog.
The Cozy Dog Drive-In opened on Route 66 in Springfield in 1949. A Walgreens sits on the original Cozy Dog site, and the restaurant moved next door. Ed’s grandsons have carried on running the restaurant in recent years.
One of Ed Waldmire’s sons, Bob, forged his own path in Route 66 lore by becoming a well-known artist and hippie. Bob became the inspiration to Fillmore in the 2006 Disney-Pixar animated film “Cars” and turned the once-forlorn Hackberry General Store in Hackberry, Arizona, into a tourist attraction before selling it in the late 1990s.
Ace Sign Co. also is historic, tracing its roots to 1940. It also houses a sign museum that contains several salvaged artifacts from the Route 66 era.
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