Triangle Tour of Historic Highways
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Chicago Southland Culture and History final h-f ad 1/6/06 2:42 PM Page 1 THEATRES ILLINOIS THEATRE CENTER Downtown Park Forest THE CENTER FOR PERFORMING 371 Artists Walk ARTS AT GOVERNORS STATE Park Forest, IL 60466 The Triangle Tour UNIVERSITY (708) 481-3510 Governors Highway & FAX (708) 481-3693 THREE OF OUR NaTION’S MOST HISTORIC HIGHwaYS University Parkway [email protected] University Park, IL 60466 ilthctr.org (708) 235-2222 (800) 386-6321 The South Suburbs’ only professional Many years ago, before the creation of the modern interstate highway system by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, travelers drove a nationwide (Group Sales) resident Equity Theatre and Drama series of named and numbered roads and highways. FAX (708) 235-2121 School operating year-round as a non- E-Mail: [email protected] profit regional theatre. The quickest way to traverse the vast expanses of America was on the WEB Site: www.centertickets.net Days/Hours: (Office Hours) M-F major roadways of the day. These were the days of long “road trip” Chicago Southland’s newest and 10AM-4PM; Sa-Su 12PM-5PM; vacations taken by Americans in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Vacationers, grandest performing arts center (Show Times): W-Sa 8PM; Su however, weren’t the only ones plying these roads and highways. at Governors State University, 2:30PM & 7:30PM Salesmen, truck drivers, repairmen, builders and farmers were in University Park, features a Area 7 $ driving these major roads every day to deliver goods and services to wide array of star attractions and American families and businesses. children’s programs. TOMMY GUN’S GARAGE Days/Hours: M-Sa 10AM-4PM DINNER THEATRE Three of our nation’s most famous highways are located in or near the Area 7 $ 1239 South State Street Chicago Southland. The Lincoln Highway, Dixie Highway, and Route Chicago, IL 60605 66 all have a close relationship to Chicago and can be accessed in one DRAMA GROUP (800) 461-0178 day from the Chicago Southland. Each is unique in its history, route, Box 594 FAX (312) 225-3034 and reason for being. 330 West 202nd Street [email protected] Chicago Heights, IL 60411 tommygunsgarage.com The “Triangle Tour” enables visitors to Chicago or the Chicago (708) 755-3444 If you know da password, you Southland the ability to access any one or all of these three historic FAX (708) 755-3444 will enjoy a sit-down dinner and highways in one day. For a more in-depth look at attractions and dramagroup.org be entertained with an audience- diversions along these historic routes, accommodations are available The BEST Community Theatre! The interactive roaring 20s musical for overnight travelers or historians. Drama Group has been producing comedy review by da gangsters shows for almost 75 years, bringing and da flappers. Let’s begin with some history. The Lincoln Highway is America’s first six fabulous yearly productions to the Days/Hours: Th 6PM-9:30PM, F transcontinental paved roadway. Developed in 1913 by Carl G. Fisher, Chicago Southland area. Please call 7PM-10:30PM, Sa 6PM-9:30PM, the Lincoln Highway was conceived to transport people and goods for tickets and current show dates. Su 5:30PM-9PM, Some Matinees swiftly from one end of the country to the other – east to west – as Days/Hours: (Box Office) M,W,F 7PM- Outside the Chicago Southland $ quickly as possible. Running from Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, the Lincoln Highway passes through ten states, and is 10PM named in honor of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, Illinois’ most recognizable citizen. Area $ TONY N’ TINA’S WEDDING 5 Fisher, founder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and developer of Miami Beach, also developed the Dixie Highway in 1914/15. The Dixie Highway 230 West North Avenue runs north to south from Sault Saint Marie, Michigan (East Route) and Chicago (West Route) to Miami Beach, Florida. Built after the Lincoln FREEDOM HALL Chicago, IL 60610 Highway, Fisher’s motive for creating the Dixie Highway was strictly financial: he wanted to bring Northerners south to buy land in Miami Beach! Nathan Manilow Theatre (312) 664-8844 (800) 936-4868 410 Lakewood Boulevard FAX (312) 664-9610 The “Crossroads of the Nation,” located in the Southland community of Chicago Heights, is where the Lincoln and Dixie Highways intersect. The Park Forest, IL 60466 [email protected] Arche Fountain (circa 1914), located on the southwest corner of the intersection, was a former wayside for weary travelers and has been faithfully (708) 747-0580 tonyntina.com restored to its original condition. Looking northeast on the opposite corner, you’ll see a new bronze statue, “Lincoln on the Road to Greatness.” FAX (708) 503-7737 The theatrical performance, “Tony n’ [email protected] Tina’s Wedding,” satires an Italian- The Lincoln and Dixie Highways are both precursors to Route 66, conceived in 1926. Also known as the “The Mother Road,” freedomhall.org American wedding where the audience Route 66 is perhaps the most famous of any American road. However, some Lincoln and Dixie Highway boosters consider Freedom Hall offers a diverse series attends the ceremony and reception, their favorite roads the “Grandpa” and “Grandma” of all American Highways! But Route 66, which “winds from Chicago to accenting dance, music, theatre, drinks, has dinner and dances. L.A.,” still reigns as America’s most popular historic road, as evidenced by the many songs, movies and TV shows that have popular attractions, children’s theatre Days/Hours: W,Th 7:30PM; F 8PM; extolled the virtues of driving this historic route. and outreach activities. Join us in the Sa 3PM, 7PM; Su 5PM intimate 330-seat Nathan Manilow Outside the Chicago Southland $ Rated in the top 10 “Best Places to Live” Travelers can begin the Triangle Tour on any of the three roadways, but it’s best to travel “clockwise” from your starting Theatre where “every seat is a great by Chicago Magazine October 2005 point. On the Lincoln Highway, that would be east to west; on Route 66, southwest to northeast, and on the Dixie Highway seat!” TWEETER CENTER north to south. Days/Hours: (Office Hours) M,Tu,Th,F 19100 South Ridgeland Avenue • Great home values in all sizes and styles 11AM-4PM; Sa 9AM-1PM (Available (Oak Park Avenue) Let’s begin the Triangle Tour in the picturesque Southland village of Homewood. Starting at Dixie Highway and Ridge Road, for rental seven days a week) Box 189 • National award-winning parks and schools travel south about a block to Independence Park, where a commemorative plaque noting Dixie Highway’s place in history is Tinley Park, IL 60477 Area 7 $ located. Continue following the Dixie Highway signs by driving south through Homewood and Flossmoor and into Chicago (708) 614-1616 (312) 559-1212 • Thriving downtowns and shopping areas Heights. Here Dixie Highway merges with Halsted Street (IL Route 1). Travel south two blocks after the merge and you’ll come to the Crossroads of (Ticketmaster) the Nation (mentioned above), where the Dixie Highway and Lincoln Highway meet. The Arche Fountain is on the southwest corner, tweetercenter.com • 40 minutes to Chicago by car or train and the “Lincoln on the Road to Greatness” statue is on the northwest corner. Parking is available in the Chicago Heights Public Beautiful outdoor music theatre Library lot at the intersection’s southwest corner for a closer look at these two artifacts. open May through September with a capacity of just under 30,000 people. We’ll be back for more of the Dixie Highway after we visit the Lincoln Highway and Route 66! Past acts include: Jimmy Buffett, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Goo Goo Dolls Next, turn right onto US 30 (Lincoln Highway) and begin traveling west. On the north side of the road are some of Chicago Heights and Beach Boys. Concessions and largest homes, many of which were built around the time of the Lincoln Highway’s construction in the period of 1910 - 1920. private catering available; tour buses Proceeding west on the Lincoln Highway, we enter the Village of Park Forest, the nation’s first planned community. The Park Forest welcome. Find out more! Call 708.335.5404 House Museum (397 Forest Blvd., 708-748-3731, by appointment) offers visitors a glimpse back into the late 1940s and early ‘50s Days/Hours: M-Su 24 hours a day when Park Forest welcomed thousands of World War II vets and their growing families. Olympia Fields is just across the Lincoln (Ticketmaster) Highway, and played host to the 1928 and 2003 U.S. Open Golf Championships and many other famous golf events. Area 3 $ HFisGreat.org 16 17 Chicago Southland Culture and History intersection, following the Route 66 Traveling further west along the Lincoln Highway, Lincoln-Way East High signs. White Fence Farm is a famous School offers a fine example of an old Lincoln Highway marker right at dinner location suitable for the entire the school’s front door. Continuing west, you’ll travel through New Lenox, family. The restaurant has been Illinois, along the banks of Hickory Creek and the Rock Island Metra Line. open continuously since the 1920s, Soon after crossing under Interstate 80 – the road that replaced the Old and has some of the best fried Lincoln Highway – you’ll travel about two miles to another viaduct, and chicken in Chicagoland. White Fence after passing underneath, take a quick right on Highland Park Drive and Farm offers a petting zoo, musical bear to your right, driving into Pilcher Park, along the banks of Hickory entertainment and themed shows, a Creek.