Month: May 2009

Eads Bridge 135 Years Old Today

Update: The new bridge opened in February of 2014. The links that previously appeared in this article are now dead. The Post-Dispatch reports on the anniversary of the Eads Bridge. As talk continues for a new Mississippi Bridge, will the forthcoming span be as economically beneficial as the Eads was so many years ago?

Primary Color Farm Implements

I wonder if it was intentional or not, but I had to stop and take a picture of these red, blue, yellow and green tractors and mowers parked alongside a highway near Eureka, Illinois.

Old Route 66, from I-55, Illinois

As we headed south on I-55, my father pointed a stretch of Route 66 that he and my mother used to drive on before the interstate system had completed I-55. Originally, it was actually four lanes divided in Illinois, and the southbound lanes became a frontage road, while the northbound lanes became the southbound lanes…

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Family Farm, May 2009

Things are good around the family farm outside of Deer Creek, Illinois. There was one loss over the last year; a shed from the Great Depression given by the government to farmers to encourage their business. The roof, as many other large objects do on the prairie during massive windstorms, flew off and landed hundreds…

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Movement on the Avalon?

Update: The theater was torn down anyway. The Post-Dispatch reports that the city is moving on removing the historic Avalon Theater from limbo.

Calvary Mennonite Church, Washington, Illinois

Update: Now known as Calvary Community Church. There is a large expansion out of the back replacing the large parking lot seen in the last photograph. I photographed the church in better light in March of 2022. This stately church has been central to my family’s history for over one hundred years. My grandfather used…

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Old Pancake House, Sunset, Goodfield, Illinois

Update: Demolished on March 9, 2011. I revisited the old diner at the intersection of I-74 and the road that heads north to Eureka, Illinois. At sunset, the setting is a dramatic scene, indeed.

Towel Creations

Staying overnight in Bloomington, my family and I were astonished to discover these towel creations in the bathroom of the Holiday Inn. I was just amazed that no one complained about staying in a Holiday Inn.