It has been celebrated in song, story, poem, and yes, even a Route 66 TV show (1960-1964); historic…read moreU.S. Route 66 was established in 1926 and ran east-west across the central United States. According to the popular song "Route 66" by John Mayer "...it winds from Chicago to LA, more than two thousand miles all the way". 2448 miles or 3,940 KM to be precise. Tourist attractions designed to get a motorist to take a break from their journey (and spend some cash) along "the mother road" or the "main street of America" are scattered here and there among the small towns that are found along Route 66. One of these attractions is the Route 66 Arcade Museum located in the prototypical small town of Atlanta, IL. At the Route 66 Arcade Museum it is possible to misspend your youth all over again; one quarter at a time! The Museum is chock full of vintage pinball and video games from the 1930's-1970's. The Route 66 Arcade Museum is only open during the tourist season April through September. The museum is opened and closed by a third party but is usually open from 9am 4pm in season. Hours are currently impacted by IL state COVID-19 regulations for entertainment businesses so please check before your visit.

The Route 66 Museum is great and close to the other attractions in Atlanta. There is a pride in…read moretheir history that shows. Every one we spoke with at every stop in town was kind and knowledgeable.

A great place to visit when you're passing through Atlanta. Where else can you see an 1904 grain…read moreelevator up close?

Another five star review. There are three museums to tour here: the house; the rock and gem museum;…read moreand apparently the farm tools. Figure an hour per museum; I only had time for two. The docent lives on-site and is passionate about the Funk family; there was almost too much information about the family (perhaps as I was touring the house with two Funk family members in town for a reunion). I've toured a lot of Victorian houses, but one of the things that's interesting about this one is the amount of innovation you'll see highlighted here. This starts in the garden, where there is a small power plant (the farm had electricity in the early 1900s, before parts of Chicago), and is continued as you learn to know the family, whether they be inventors of hybrid seeds, or rock afficianados. Unlike many houses, here you can get close to things; there are no velvet ropes or plastic barriers, except one to keep you out of the servants' stairs. So you can look close up at the hat pins or beaded bags on the dressers. Ask questions - you can't stump this docent. (We had a discussion about concrete and its use in the fence and the caretaker's building which was really quite interesting. If you have engineer friends, they will love this tour.) The rock museum features some truly impressive fossils, some of which you might be allowed to touch! There's a dragonfly fossilized in ash; coprolite (look it up), and dinosaur bone (apparently fairly common?). There's a whole wall of different types of calcite; giant gorgeous blue and purple fluorite specimens; lit-from-the-back beautiful agates and rubies in zoisite; and in the NEXT room (!) two or three cabinets of beautiful Chinese carved soapstone, and a collection of sleighs. The finale is a cabinet full of fluorescing rocks, including melted glass from a nuclear reactor. Made me wish this museum had a gift shop, though the docent will be happy to give you recommendations for good local rock shops. This is a really great museum hidden in the cornfields. Worth a trip - I drove two hours to get here, thinking I was coming for the rocks, but the house was almost/ just as good.

Totally recommended - A wonderfully preserved house and grounds and our guide was able to bring the…read morewhole place to life with his insight and knowledge of the Funk family and their incredible history - and then in the Gem Museum we saw further dimensions to him as he walked us through this small fragment ( 20% ) of the massive and impressive collection gathered from all corners of the World.

How can you not love a guy holding a Big Hotdog. And have it be a classic Muffler Man makes it all…read morethe better so many things to take in around the Area

A nice detour to break up a long monotonous interstate car trip -- and to reminisce about what car…read moretravel along Route 66 might have been like in the 1960s. The statute is huge. I'm 5'4", and only reached Paul's knees! Took a few photos, and then set out for lunch. We had hoped to grab a quick lunch in Atlanta, Illinois, where the statue is located - but the cafe across from the statue was closed on a Friday in May around noon. We were able to get a soda (no diet sodas available) and Gatorade at the bakery next door (Misty's?). We ate a few abacus with our drinks at a picnic table next to a memorabilia shop that us currently for sale across from the statue. Looks like a cool place. Sorry it wasn't open. There is also an inviting souvenir shop next to the statue but we didn't visit.

Passing through McClean, IL and I never realized I would pass through an Arcade Museum here. You…read morewalk in and there are about 4 rooms full of arcade games! That's it! Nothing but arcade games. Couple places to exchange your money, a juke box, and games of every kind! I had fun with the pinball machine and was very excited to test those out. There is also a pinball machine museum across the way, I think the same owners. I couldn't believe it. This day, there wasn't anyone working there, per-say. They are open and left unattended at times. They don't serve any food or drinks, it's just games. Also, come with money. They don't have an ATM there. Nostalgia city is what it feels likes. Games from when I was a kid are side by side. I played pinball and felt as giddy as I did as a young child. This is well kept, clean and tidy, and the games are in great condition.

I highly recommend this place. The most that games cost is 75 cents. A majority of them cost 50…read morecents. They have the Starwars Trilogy Arcade from the 90's, Ferrari F355 Challenge that uses a lifelike gear box and a clutch pedal, and many more. My kids and I had a blast.

It is a great museum for all ages. The shows "Ghosts of the Library and the Lincoln Union Theater…read moreare very informative. You can start with Lincoln's childhood in an Indiana log cabin, through his early law career, to becoming President and his unfortunate death. It is accessible to all, and the volunteer docents are very helpful. There are plenty of interactive things for kids and adults, and plenty of photo ops

Well worth the time (give yourself at least 90 minutes) and the price of admission. The displays…read moreare well done and informative. The docents/volunteers are excellent, everyone that we talked to was warm, informed and clearly enjoyed their time with us patrons. The day we were there two musicians were playing period music. They were very good, and while it did get a little personally annoying, it did really put you in time and place for the subjects. Both of the relatively short theater presentations are worthwhile, so plan accordingly so you can watch both. There was one display depicting the slavery auction block. It is a gut punch to anyone with a human heart, regardless of your outer wrapping.

The museum is much larger than it appears and the original old buildings are interesting to…read moreexplore. Nice history galleries and historical collection.

This little museum is a treasure! It's packed with Macon County heritage and artifacts. The Lincoln…read morerelated materials are more than worth the effort to find it on the edge of Decatur near the airport. The outdoors element adds restored early pioneer buildings to the attraction. Also featured is a John McClary sculpture of a young Abraham Lincoln. A "can't miss" Decatur, IL cultural attraction.

Great museum that offers three spaces in one location. Enjoy space, art and history. My tip is…read morewatch a movie be sure to check out what is playing.

When one has a rain day, one goes exploring. My exploration led me to this museum. A friend had…read morerecommended it. It was $20.00 admission fee for adults and extra for the laser light show. I spent an hour and a half looking at the various exhibits and enjoyed all of them. I found them to be interesting and informative. The "911" exhibit was rather tough to experience at times as video coverage, newsprint, and ground zero artifacts soberly reminded me of the awful times and devastating loss of lives of that day.. For those who are interested in archeology, there was a very interesting gallery titled, The Amethyst Gallery of Minerals. There were exhibits of beautiful minerals - Fluorites, mostly mined in Illinois, and also a 10 foot Geode lined with quartz amethyst which was discovered in Artigas, Uruguay, in 2021. There was a gallery titled, The Promise of Liberty, which included interesting documents including Indian Treaties from 1744, books Thomas Paine's Common Sense and The Federalist. There was also the display of The Four Freedoms illustrated by Norman Rockwell. Later, I watched a 30 minute laser light show themed as "Laser Halloween". I couldn't really recommend it as at least half of it had nothing to do with Halloween and the music selection was pretty bad - I mean how can you not have Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as one of the songs?! Nope! Overall, a good experience and worth checking out. There's a gift shop and a separate theatre that has shows at various times and days. It's best you check their website for times, and you can also purchase tickets online.

Review Visit: June 1st, 2013…read more You'll have a wheely good time here. There really is a museum for everything and anything. This one happens to be dedicated to all things on wheels. Or things that have wheels. Or wheel-shaped things. Okay, I don't think it's the last one but I do think this place is dedicated to items sitting on top of wheels. I'm not really sure how I found out about this place. It may have been from someone at work that brought it up during one of our many talks about traveling. Doing what I do best, I contacted someone to go with me and that person just happened to be my dad. We hopped in my car and made the semi-short drive to check the place out. When we approached the museum, the first thing we noticed was the train situated next to the building. You knew from looking at it that you were in for a treat. We made our way in and got to checking out the museum. The first thing we saw were antique cars. I recognized a few but a lot of them were unique to their time period. I'm not super attached to antique cars but I always think they are cool to look at in museums and such. They had maybe 15 or so at the time of my visit. We moved on to the other part of the museum and it had an eclectic collection of odds and ends. There was a firetruck that we got to take photos with. There was a Rube Goldberg-esque display as seen below. They had a mini train model set up in a glass case. Lastly, I remember there being a giant pendulum-style clock near the firetruck. It's rather hard to write this post as the place seemed to be dedicated to things on wheels but also other random odds and ends. It's best to check out their website below or visit the museum to see what I mean. It's a neat place to spend and afternoon if you have the time.

Fantastic automotive, trains and construction equipment made in Peoria and elsewhere. It is well…read moreworth the visit! The is so much more..., seriously...go visit!

A fantastical site to see. Literal history right before your eyes. Walked through the same house…read morethat Lincoln lived in for 26 years. Amazing. And all for free. No reason not to go.

I think I got out of the car expecting to be "unimpressed". I was wrong. I do think that the park…read moreranger you get and their level of knowledge and ability to relate to the tour make the visit. We had an excellent Ranger. He shared tidbits that really brought out what it would have been like to live in the home. I absolutely think if you are ever in the area, invest the time and take the free tour.