Former Dixie Truckers Home gets a face-lift July 9, 2009
Posted by Ron in History, Restaurants.trackback
The Dixie Travel Plaza in McLean, Ill., formerly known for decades as the Dixie Truckers Home on Route 66, recently finished a $500,000 remodeling, reported the Bloomington Pantagraph.
Remodeling is 90 percent complete and among the most visible improvements is a new awning bearing Dixie and Route 66 logos, Kletz said.
Also new is a Hunt Brothers Pizza restaurant as well as updated flooring, ceiling and lighting throughout most of the truck stop.
In addition to the visual improvements, the Dixie Tire and Repair Shop reopened July 1.
Built in 1928, the Dixie Truckers Home was one of the first truck stops in the nation. It never closed except for one day, when it burned down in a massive fire in 1965. Even then, the Dixie reopened quickly, using one of the cabins to continue serving food as the facility was rebuilt.
However, the operation went bankrupt in 2001, and a former operator of the business barely escaped jail time for not paying taxes. Much of the saga can be read here.
Since then, the Dixie has had several owners, but lost quite a bit of its old charm with Route 66 aficionados. Perhaps this remodeling effort will bring back some of the Dixie’s old Mother Road spirit.
I used to live in the area and ate at the Dixie often. The location on 66, in Mclean, was usually very busy but had decent ‘road food’ and a sincere local attachment. Other Dixie’s nearby were in Tuscola and Effingham, Illinois.
Dixie expanded to quick, too soon and the family owners couldn’t keep up with debt load. The owner was caught ripping off state (IL) gas tax receipts, and ending up selling the business. As you noted, its gone through a few owners since, none really locally based.
The problem with the new Dixie is that it’s not like the old one. Instead of home cooked food by locals and owned by locals, the new plan is to install franchise joints in it. Sort of like you see at rest areas on freeways, with an array of fast food joints crammed into the place.
The charm of the place is gone, and today it’s just another fast food joint. The theme of this one, however, is Route 66. Other than that, it has no connection to the old road.
I don’t know why a group of locals haven’t just bought the place and reinstalled the old set-up. It used to work, and would have til today had the owners not overextended the place, same for the one in Tuscola.