A recent report in a regional newspaper gave more details about the American Giants Museum that will open next month along Route 66 in downtown Atlanta, Illinois.
The story of so-called Muffler Men, or fiberglass giants built primarily in the 1960s, will be housed in a former Texaco gas station at 100 SW Arch St. (aka Route 66). The museum was announced in March.
It stands near an existing Muffler Man that once was at Bunyan’s restaurant in Cicero, Illinois, also along Route 66.
The Bloomington Pantagraph reported this about the museum:
The museum will include several different giants, including a 24-foot-tall Texaco “Big Friend” outside the museum. Over the next three years, as Route 66 approaches its 100th anniversary in 2026, the museum will add five more statues, each about 19 feet tall.
The first to go up Thursday was the “Half Wit” giant. It’s the first one Baker bought, in 2012, from the Wagon Wheel bar in Madison, Ohio. He’s since restored it, along with others, in his Carbondale shop. Baker, previously of West Frankfort, now lives in Denver, but stays tied to Illinois with his workshop and, soon, the Atlanta museum.
Inside the museum, visitors will find artifacts, photos, documents and giant fiberglass accessories, all telling the story of the giants. Several giant heads will be suspended from the ceiling and there will also be a 7-foot-long Esso Tiger; matching A&W Root Beer Mama Burger and Baby Burger statues; and a waving gas station attendant sign.
The space includes storage for rotating exhibits, along with an office for Atlanta Tourism Director Scott McCoy.
The Pantagraph also shot a short video of an interview with museum president Joel Baker and includes footage of Muffler Men being unloaded from a truck and carried into the museum.
On Sunday, Atlanta Tourism posted a photo from inside the museum and, in a spontaneous moment, allowed a few tourists to look around the place.
On Thursday, the tourism bureau shot photos of the first Muffler Man being erected at the museum:
The museum will open to the public in July. A firmer date and time will be announced later.
(Image of the American Giants Museum in Atlanta, Illinois, on June 2 via Atlanta Illinois Tourism)
I can’t wait to see this place…so COOL!