From Illinois to Beyond

It was shortly after 9 AM on Friday, August 30, 2019.  Many people would surely be driving out later that day at the start of the Labor Day Holiday Weekend.  I got in Avila and headed west.

I got on the I-290, a familiar stretch of road, and at the edge of Cook County, continued in a westerly direction onto the I-88 Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (#65), a fitting way to travel to the sites of his early life for my day's outing.

But before getting to those sites, I exited I-88 near Rochelle and drove around farmland to Franklin Grove (#66), to visit the National Headquarters of the Lincoln Highway Association (#67), the famed transcontinental road named for the most prominent Illinoisan.

The woman on staff at the headquarters building kindly got my picture out front of the building, a more full photo of which is below.

The building is mostly a general store.  There was also a woman there who had lots to share with me about the organization and its efforts.

Display at the headquarters building

Please note, all photos in this post are of my own photographing, unless otherwise stated.

I drove west out of Franklin Grove on IL Route 38 (#68), which has the name Roosevelt Road (#69) in west suburban Chicagoland, and in this part of Illinois is the alignment of the Lincoln Highway.

I continued west to Dixon, and passed right by the Reagan Boyhood Home without stopping while I made my way back in time, so to speak, as I got on I-88 and traveled a short distance to Rock Falls, where I exited, and then wound my way around until I reached Tampico, where it all began for him.

The Reagan Birthplace (#70) is located in a stretch of historic buildings along Main Street (#71) that had commercial uses on the main level and apartments for rent on the upper level, including the one where Ronald Reagan.  The buildings look as they did in 1911, according to preservation guidelines.

Above and below are close-up photos of the Reagan birth apartment building

I started in the visitors' center/gift shop.  Sharon was on duty there, and she showed me around the displays and told me about the Reagan family in the early 20th century.  They moved around numerous times, in part because of his father's various jobs.  (The family actually lived in Chicago for a few months, but opted not to be a major city setting, so moved back to rural northern Illinois--I was intrigued to learn that for the first time.)  They settled in Tampico, thinking it was an up and coming place because the nearby Hennepin Canal (#72) would make the town prosperous, though that didn't necessarily pan out the way some people thought it would.

Then she led me upstairs to the apartment (#73) that the Reagan family rented for about $10 a month, quite a substantial sum back then.  The room where Ronald was born has a clock that is stopped at the time he was born on February 6, 1911, around 5:50 AM (#74).

Below is the room where Ronald Reagan was born, and above is a close-up shot of the clock stopped at the time he was born.

She noted there was a major snowstorm that day--and around the time of the centennial of his birth in 2011, there was another major snowstorm.  She then showed me around the various rooms.  One room had a piano, and Mrs. Reagan taught piano as a way to help pay for rent.

The piano above is in the space that basically functioned as the living room, and another view of that room is below.

Dining room table

Kitchen

It was interesting to gain a sense of what life was like in the early 20th Century through the items in the home, like the appliances, tools, and the sign for the ice delivery.

Then she took me back downstairs to show me around.  Beneath the Reagan birth apartment was once a bakery, which later became a bank, as it appears today--please see the photo below.

There were lots of cool displays, like newspapers with Reagan headlines, and a mat that said Ronald Reagan stepped here (#75), which was from one of his visits to Tampico.

I believe someone other than Sharon on staff there took this photo of me stepping on the mat where Ronald Reagan stepped.

Display of memorabilia

I believe someone other than Sharon photographed me posing with Mr. Reagan.

It was a very interesting tour, and I enjoyed my visit there.  After leaving the building, I looked around the town a little.

It was shortly after 1 PM when I got back in Avila and headed back to Dixon.  I stopped in Rock Falls to get a fine sandwich lunch at Arthur's Garden Deli.

Between 2:00-2:30 I was back in Dixon, and went straight to the Reagan Boyhood Home (#76) along Hennepin Avenue near 9th Street for a tour.

I was directed to join a tour that had just started.  The tour guide enthusiastically shared about Ronald Reagan in the years of his youth, which included plenty of insights into life in the early 20th Century.  He furthermore shared about the process of restoring the home, and President Reagan's visits there.

Apparently, to get the wallpaper just right in the area by the main entrance, they had to get assistance from a Norwegian company that had a design authentic to the original.

From the entry area, we went upstairs to the guest bedroom.  Mrs. Reagan was kind-hearted enough to let people stay a night or two there as they got back on their feet.  I remember the tour guide mentioned something about how she would extend this offer to those recently released from prison.

Then we went into the room Ronald shared with his older brother Neil.  There was paraphernalia from colleges there, including Ronald's alma mater, Eureka College, as well as books and items for their amusement.

I learned that Ronald got his nickname "Dutch" from his build as a child, and his haircut.  His older brother Neil got his nickname from the famous cartoon character Moon Mullins, who I had never heard of before.

The tour guide pointed out the moon oil in the bathroom as well as the cologne--the French term for which translates into English as "toilet water".

In the parents' bedroom, the tour guide talked about how Mrs. Reagan's favorite Bible verse was 2 Chronicles 7:14.  Ronald Reagan took the oath of office as president with his mother's Bible (#77) opened to that verse.  That Bible is on display at the Reagan Presidential Museum in Simi Valley, CA.  Our tour guide went there after Mike Pence used it for his inauguration as Vice President in 2017.  No one at the museum knew where to find that verse, so they opened it to a random page, but our tour guide set the matter straight when he informed them where he worked.

There were also interesting stories when we went to the rooms on the main level.  By the fireplace next to the entryway in the room that functioned as the parlor was a tiled area: Ronald and his older brother Neil stored coins to go see movies underneath a loose tile there.

In the early 1980's, Ronald Reagan returned to Dixon, and visited his old home, which had been newly refurbished.  Soon after entering, Mr. Reagan went to that fireplace and jostled a tile loose at that spot, and it is now on display at his presidential museum.

During that visit, he enjoyed a meal with some family members there.  The White House chef cooked it in the 1920's-era kitchen.  President Reagan insisted on using the dishes in the house, even though the Secret Service was concerned that they hadn't checked to ensure the dishes were safe to eat, i.e., not having been poisoned.

The dining room table

It was really interesting to look around in the kitchen at the appliances and kitchen tools used in the 1920's.  There was also a sign for the ice delivery.  There was a pantry off the kitchen, where they would store the groceries they bought, usually enough to last many months at a time, since it wasn't a good idea to take a horse out to go shopping in the winter months when it could be injured on ice.  Our tour guide also pointed out that there were exposed pipes in the kitchen.  Indoor plumbing was such a fabulous new innovation back then that people exposed pipes to show it off.

In this photo of the kitchen, the door to the left leads to the pantry.

This photo of the kitchen shows the door leading outside.

In this photo, near the sink, you can see the exposed pipes.

Our tour concluded in the kitchen, and we exited.  Toward 9th Street was a lot that used to have a neighboring house, but now is the site of a Reagan statue (#78).  An artist donated it, although the people maintaining the home had to pay for the paved brickwork around it.  Mr. Reagan is holding corn kernels in his hand, which is a way of noting him as the only president born in Illinois.

Someone in my tour group was kind enough to get my photo posing by Ronald Reagan.

There was a garage behind the house, with an old-style car inside.  Ronald's father fixed up old cars, like Model T's.  And there were corn stalks growing next to the garage.

With the tour finished, I went over to the Northwest Territory Historic Center to look at the museum there, housed in a building where Ronald Reagan attended school.  Unable to get inside, I returned to the Reagan Boyhood Home to view a short video in the house next door with the gift shop where I paid admission.  On my way out, I bought some Jelly Beans, which was Mr. Reagan's favorite candy.

I made a point to stop by the Dixon Public Library (#79), where Ronald went frequently, which is in the photo below.

It now has a special collection of Ronald Reagan items on display, which is in the photo below.

I then drove about 10 minutes away from Dixon to Grand Detour (#80) to the John Deere Historic Site (#81).  I got there a few minutes before closing time, but that was sufficient to walk around and get a feel for what was there, with several buildings, including the house where the Deere family lived.  The staff present were kind enough to show me some things there.  I first went to the blacksmith shop where I got to see the process of blacksmithing.  John Deere was a blacksmith, and that led to his invention of the plow that made his name famous.  That was housed inside a recreated blacksmith shop.

The interpreter there did a great job sharing the history of John Deere's work and the science and technique of blacksmithing.  He demonstrated making an "S" hook, which he then gave me as a souvenir.

The site of the original blacksmith shop John Deere had is now a museum structure (#82).

This photo inside the museum structure shows a plow, in the spirit of the original Deere plow design, suspended from the ceiling.  Below, and not present in this photo, is an excavation of the original blacksmith shop floor.

There, I watched a short video that told the story of how Mr. Deere went from New England to Illinois, and how he started a business venture in producing plows, which became the Deere Company (#83), renowned for its production of farm equipment, though as the blacksmith interpreter made it clear, tractors came along long after the plow.

Once the video was over, I got a few photos.

The lady on staff was kind enough to get this photo of me posing by John Deere's statue.

And then I drove back to Dixon to get some more photos at the Dixon Arch (#84), the First Christian Church (which the Reagan family attended) (#85), and along the Rock River (#86), which included one of the Lincoln Highway Gazebos (#87) that are along the famed route in Illinois.

Lincoln Highway Gazebo near the Bridge along the Rock River

The Rock River, with the Lincoln Avenue Bridge appearing to the left

First Christian Church

Signs on a post along Lincoln Avenue in downtown Dixon, with the Arch obscured

The Dixon Arch over Lincoln Avenue

I then drove across the Rock River to get a drink at the McDonald's at 5th and Lincoln/Galena--shown in the photo below--, which sits on the site of a home where the Reagan family lived in Dixon (#88), one of 5.

I then headed back to I-88, concluding a day getting to know Ronald Reagan by riding the road now named for him.

I exited I-88 in Naperville to enjoy a fine meal at Cracker Barrel, a restaurant I associate with road trips, before returning home to Oak Park.

It was a fine day taking in the sights of northern Illinois, especially along the Ronald Reagan Trail (#89).  While he largely made his name with his professional pursuits outside of Illinois, he is still the only US president born in Illinois.  My travels this day gave me the opportunity to see the places in Illinois where he grew up, and what shaped the years of his youth.  And in considering Ronald Reagan's youth, I can think about my own life, I recognize how much Illinois has shaped me, particularly Oak Park, and what I display when I go forth from here to other places.

There's something fitting about the artist who created the Reagan statue that sits in the lot next to his boyhood home, with Mr. Reagan fingering with corn kernels.  So much richness has been drawn from that land, certainly the agricultural products, and also the people who were tilled on these soils, many of whom have gone on to contribute significantly to the world at large.

And in the spirit of Illinois's Bicentennial, what those individuals contributed, spurred on by how their time in Illinois shaped them, gives us plenty of reason to celebrate.