The Route 66 town of Elkhart, Ill., learned this week that its only school — an elementary one — would be shut down after the end of the school year, according to the Lincoln Courier.

The school has just 66 students and has been suffering from poor finances. The students will be sent to Mount Pulaski, which has a consolidation agreement with the Elkhart.

Elkhart’s high school closed back in 1974 and recently closed down the junior-high portion of its school.

Elkhart was trying like heck to spur economic development in town, mostly as a way to keep its school. A bigger tax base and more residents certainly would have helped. But apparently the efforts were started too late and made too little impact.

This isn’t so much like an “Our Town” situation seen in the movie “Cars.” Being a native of a small rural Illinois town, I can attest that the populations of all small towns in rural Illinois are declining unless they’re close to a significant-sized city.

In essense, rural Illinois is much like the Great Plains: If the population trends continue, in a few decades large swaths of Illinois will be nearly as deserted as they were in 1700s.

Brad Belk, executive director of the Joplin (Mo.) Museum Complex, was given the 2006 Governor’s Humanities Community Heritage Award.

According to a news release:

This award recognizes a special contribution to a community’s understanding of its heritage.

Here’s a rundown of Belk’s accomplishments. In addition to helping a prominent Route 66 town, he’s also served on Route 66 Association of Missouri board.

Canadian musician Melissa McClelland embarked on a Route 66 trip, and one segment of a six-part video podcast documenting that journey will be posted each week online.

Based on what I saw with Part 1, it’s going to be an excellent series. It’s well-shot and edited, roadies will recognize several of the people and sights of the Mother Road, and the music is lovely (particularly her solo acoustic performance of a “Skyway Bridge” on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge near St. Louis).

The first segment of the video podcast is here (Internet Explorer 6 is recommended).

CBC Radio3 had this to say about her podcasts:

Over the course of nine days, McClelland and her crew stopped in all kinds of places, where McClelland checked out the sights and interviewed the locals, including quirky characters like Stewart who has an ostrich farm, a petrified wood museum and giant paper mache dinosaurs on his property; and Angel, who’s known as the “Mayor of Route 66″ for his efforts in getting the route recognized for its historical signficance.

“He’s an 80 year-old man and after the interview, he hopped on his bicycle and rode away,” she says, on her cell phone from a New York tour stop. “He was just great - so much energy and so much life.” [...]

“We just found really beautiful, amazing spots, and we’d get out of the van and we’d film and record me doing one of my songs acoustically and completely live,” she says. “So I’d have a little tiny mike attached to my bra strap and I’d just play my guitar and sing the song.”

In addition to releasing the footage as a podcast, McClelland is using it in a new video for her song, “Passenger 24″. Her management is also approaching broadcasters, hoping the podcast series can be aired as a one-hour television documentary.

(Tip to Little Radio.)