The History of District 6 Illinois State Police Headquarters in Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois on Route 66. (1942-2003)

The 6th District of the Illinois State Police was originally established as District 9 and it was one of initially five police districts established when the State Police were officially founded in April 1922. Its original base of operations was in Kankakee, as was the headquarters for the entire State Police agency. The district covered Cook, Will, Iroquois, and Vermilion Counties upon its inception.

In 1935 the district renamed as District 6, and its coverage area was altered to just include the counties of Kankakee, Ford, Iroquois, McLean and Livingston. It was at this time that the headquarters was moved into a rented building along U.S Route 66 near Pontiac.

Built in 1941, the District 6 Illinois State Police office is an example of sleek Art Moderne architecture that reflects the streamlined design of automobiles of the era.

Exterior View of the Illinois State Police Headquarters in 1942.

The building has curved corners, smooth surfaces, and structural glass bricks, all elements typical of Art Moderne design. Facing an abandoned two-lane section of old Route 66, the office is modest. It’s practical. It’s tan. Motorists could easily drive right past it without realizing its considerable significance, but slow down two miles south of Pontiac and take a look at the building.

In the decades before airbags, before seat belts and “click it or ticket” campaigns, brown-suited State troopers with visors patrolled Illinois highways, especially the heavily travelled corridor of Route 66. The Illinois State Police were first organized in 1922 after the election of Governor Len Small, who ran on the slogan “take Illinois out of the mud.”

That year, eight troopers began patrolling the 1,100 miles of paved roads in Illinois. They used surplus World War I uniforms (pieces included a snug cap, long-sleeved shirt, vest, jodhpurs, and boots to the knee) and motorcycles, and they did not wear helmets. The State Police headquarters was a desk in the chief’s house in Kankakee, Illinois. The patrol’s early emphasis was on truck regulation--overloaded trucks damaged highway pavement--and speeding was a secondary concern.

By 1923, 20 officers were on patrol, covering 109,705 miles of road. Doing the math, that comes to 5,485 miles of road per officer per day. Little wonder, then, that the force grew rapidly. In 1924, 100 officers were on patrol at salaries of $150 per month.  Four years later, Illinois State Police employed a chief, 12 sergeants, 140 officers, and six mechanics. That was the year that troopers got their first patrol cars--1927 Chrysler Coupes issued only to sergeants.  With bug-eyed headlights, wheels with spokes, wide running boards, and an extra tire mounted on the back, the Chryslers were chunky, squarish cars, much like early Fords. Ads from the era boasted that the 1927 Chrysler would reach 60 “mean miles per hour.”

By the mid 1930s, troopers were using radios, and the Illinois State Police staff totaled 350. About this time, Illinois began building police headquarters in various districts across the State.

Illinois State Police - Mobile Emergency Unit, 1942.

By 1942, the Pontiac station was in operation, with one wing for administration and a second wing for garages. The utilitarian, sleek interior was finished out with terrazzo floors, plaster walls, and built-in cupboards.

Traffic along Route 66 continued to increase throughout the 1940s, and the headquarters was busy round the clock. In 1944, the route was widened to four lanes through this region of Illinois, and two additional highway lanes were constructed directly in front of the building. Speed limits were imposed during the 1950s.

By then the officers drove distinctively marked black and white cars with crackling radios and flashing blue lights. Their work had a clear focus - reducing the rapidly rising death toll from highway accidents. The construction of Interstate 55, about a half mile to the west of Route 66 during the 1970s, led to a decrease in traffic on Route 66.

The Illinois State Police remained headquartered in the building until 2003 when the police moved to a new facility in Pontiac.

The historic headquarters is vacant today, but remains an important local landmark. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. Livingston County has plans to develop the site for public use as a park. At its center will be the building that housed for nearly seven decades the officers who maintained a constant and critical presence on this section of Route 66.

Illinois State Police, 1955

Illinois State Police, 1957

Illinois State Police, 1959

Illinois State Police, 1963

Illinois State Police, Circa. 1975

Illinois State Police, 1980

Illinois State Police, 2003

By National Park Service
Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Hillcrest (Amusement) Park in Woodridge (formerly Lemont), Illinois. (1952-2003)

Hillcrest Amusement Park was located at 11335 South Joliet Road in Lemont, Illinois. A dark wooden sign marked the entrance to the park, easily missed if you`re not specifically looking for it. It sat on 60 secluded acres, so far back from the view that most passersby didn't even know it existed.

About 60 acres of the old Stuyvesant Peabody estate in Lemont was purchased in the early 1950s by 42-year-old Richard Barrie.(who owned Storybook Park, pre-Adventureland, in Bloomingdale/Addison 1958-1961) Peabody had made his fortune in coal. The acreage Barrie purchased included a small lake.

Starting in 1952, Hillcrest Park had been a full-service outdoor catering facility specializing in private picnics, primarily for corporations, promising a good time and non-stop food for all ages. Rain rarely cancels picnics because the park has an elaborate underground drainage system that helps eliminate standing water. There were plenty of shelters to avoid canceling a picnic.

Owners Richard Barrie and Wayne Kurchina, also 42, then later his son, Rick, keep the entrance intentionally understated to avoid uninvited guests. A winding, single-lane, paved road leads picnickers back to the grove, where parking lot attendants check invitations before indicating a parking spot. They immediately booked it full for their first season with either private or corporate parties.

CLICK THE MAP FOR A FULL-SIZE VIEW.

Rides included a Kiddie Whip and a Merry-Go-Round with 4 horses across instead of three (Note: near each of the Merry-Go-Round benches were two stationary horses about 1/4 scale of the regular horses for toddlers and little children), a Helicopter ride, and a Bumper Car ride with 16 cars. The park also had a miniature golf course, a shooting gallery, basketball and volleyball courts, softball diamonds, a swimming pool, a bingo pavilion, a dance pavilion and horseshoe courts.

The authentic steam locomotive that beckoned eager picnic passengers was another ride from a bygone era. The steam engine required 300 to 400 pounds of coal for a full day of use. It took an hour to build up enough steam pressure in the boiler before it could pull the train. The train travels through the woods and around a lake. Two trains were operated to keep the train ride lines short for large picnics. The other train was a gasoline-powered locomotive.

In 1967 the main attraction arrived at the park, the Little Dipper wooden roller coaster holding 16 riders. This jewel of a junior coaster was purchased when Kiddy Town at Harlem & Irving Park Road in Norridge, Illinois, closed. The wooden roller coaster at Hillcrest Park was called a "Junior Bobs" and was manufactured by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The Little Dipper was so unusual that there was only one other in the U.S.; its sister park was  Kiddieland in Melrose Park. They had no idea how old it was when it was purchased for Hillcrest Park, but over the years, they rebuilt it... twice.

Entrance to the Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

Exit from the Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

The Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

The Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

Hillcrest Park closed on September 1, 2003, after a decline in corporate picnics and increased the value of the land it sat upon.  After the closure, the rides, roller coaster and park equipment were auctioned off, and the land was sold to a developer. 

The Little Dipper wooden coaster was bought and moved to a small amusement park in Wisconsin called Little Amerricka Amusement Park (formerly Little A-Merrick-A) in Marshall, Wisconsin (owned by a family named Merrick). The Little Amerricka Amusement Park is still open. The "Little Dipper" was renamed the "Meteor" and operational for the 2007 season.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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VIDEO

Take a ride on the "Little Dipper" roller coaster, now named the "Meteor" Little Amerricka Amusement Park in Marshall, Wisconsin.

Ride the "Meteor" from the first-person point of view.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The Death of Sadie Hamill in Homer, Illinois. 1925

Sunday night between 6 and 7 o’clock one of the most serious accidents ever happening in Homer occurred north of town on the park road near the home of Claude Towner.

Edna Hamill standing next to a sign erected after the death of her mother near
Homer Park while walking to the movies in the park in Homer, Illinois. 1925

That evening Mrs. L. L. Hamill in company with her daughter, Miss Edna, and Miss Ada Morrison, chief operator of the local telephone exchange left the Hamill home on North Main street, to walk to the park, expecting to enjoy the movies. It is said they left town locked-arms.

Clarence Davis, a young man of 19 summers, and a son of Charles Davis of near Allerton, was driving a Dodge [automobile] going north. Another car, said to have been a large Buick was coming south and just behind it was Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie McCarty of Homer in a Ford sedan. It is said the Davis car driver had dimmed his lights but that the Buick failed to do so, thus blinding Davis, who was unable to see the three ladies until right on them. By swerving to the left he apparently did not swing far enough to miss them. By striking the pedestrians the impact caused the car to skid into the McCarty car, turning it over, smashing it up considerably. The Buick passed on.

This road is much of a speedway and traffic is very heavy on Sunday. Therefore after the crash occupants of cars passing halted and soon a very large and excited crowd had gathered.

Mrs. Hamill and daughter were found in the ditch to the right while Miss Morrison was some 30 feet or more in front of the wrecked machine. Mr. McCarty escaped any injury but his wife was badly bruised and cut, one artery in the left arm having been severed, but quick work on the part of U. G. Martin, a passing motorist, kept her from bleeding to death until physicians were on the scene. Mr. Martin tied a tourniquet. The Davis boy escaped any injury. 

Homer Enterprise, Homer, Illinois

Front Page - Friday, September 18, 1925