|
July Coffee with the Mayor:
Heartland Bank building will be a museum/visitor center/business
incubator
[July 14, 2025]
Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch
hosted his semi-monthly Coffee with the Mayor open forum meeting at
Guest House Coffee and Pastries this past Saturday.
On this day there were
approximately 12 to 15 people who joined the mayor and his guest,
the new City of Lincoln Tourism Director, Scott McCoy. The meeting
began at 9 a.m. and concluded at approximately 10:30 a.m. with
several topics discussed.
Perhaps the most significant topic in the mind of many was the
anticipated explanation of why the city of Lincoln has purchased the
Heartland Bank & Trust aka old State Bank of Lincoln building at
500-508 Broadway Street in Lincoln.
Welch and McCoy explained in some detail what the future of the
building will be. Welch made a simple announcement that the building
will be a Route 66 Museum in one section and a business incubator in
the other. He asked McCoy to expand on the decision to purchase the
building.
McCoy gave a very abbreviated
version of his personal experiences in route 66 tourism explaining
he got into this when he was the mayor of Pontiac and that town was
just dipping its toe into Route 66 tourism as a revenue source for
the community. He noted that, in that town, coming up with museum
space and bringing traffic into town that would not just drive
through but have a reason to stop and get out of their vehicles had
been a key decision.
McCoy said that working in Atlanta the last few years he has
witnessed a number of times when people drove up in front of the
Paul Bunyan hot dog guy and stuck their arm out their sunroofs and
snapped pictures. He said that is considered a “tourism version of a
drive by shooting,” and it does nothing for the economy of the town.
McCoy said that when hired by the city he had spoken with Welch
about needing a way to get people out of their cars. A museum or
visitors center was going to be a big part of the plan. He said he
came to Lincoln on a few occasions and just walked around downtown
looking at the buildings. When he came past the State Bank building
it all clicked for him that the size and location right on the
downtown Route 66 alignment was, in his mind, ideal.
He and Welch had also talked about expanding not only tourism in
Lincoln but also economic development. Welch said that he had
visited Pontiac with McCoy to observe their tourism attractions.
Mccoy had also shown him a parking lot in town with small buildings
scattered about. McCoy had explained that these little buildings
were the Pontiac Business Incubator program.
Later as he and McCoy took a tour of the old state bank building,
Welch noted that the far west side of the bank was divided into
office spaces while the east two-thirds of the building was mostly
wide-open space.
Welch also shared that Heartland Bank sold the building to the city
for $150,000 which was half the original asking price. The purchase
also includes the large parking lot at the corner of Pekin and
Chicago Streets.
He told the group that the purchase will be paid for in two annual
installments and that all the money invested in the building and
promoting tourism in Lincoln will come from the hotel/motel tax.
As they walked through the west side Welch said he and McCoy had the
same thought at the same time and said out loud “business
incubator.” Welch said that part of the building will not be
developed first, and McCoy explained that it is important to get the
museum/visitor center up and running first because 2026 is the 100th
Anniversary of Route 66 and tourism traffic is expected to be
substantially higher than it has been in past years.
To couple with this big announcement, Welch shared a second piece of
news about the building. The city is obtaining a donation from a
Route 66 history buff in Chicago that will be a remarkable draw for
visitors and a one-of-a-kind attraction that will be found in no
other community.
McCoy explained that he hesitates to call the building a museum
because the word implies a place where people go and look and walk
out. He says using the words "visitor center" invites a more
“immersive” experience. The donation coming will provide that
immersive experience.
So what is this donation? It is a route 66 model train array that
has been painstakingly assembled over the year by Chicago resident
John Ruh. The working model train travels over track and through
backdrops and landscapes that depict all eight states where Route 66
passes through.
[to top of second column]
|
Welch said the
attention to detail is remarkable as is the size of the array,
which takes up Ruhs entire basement. You can get a peek of the
train set through this YouTube video.
Route
66 Large Model Railroad RR Lionel O Scale Gauge Train Layout of
John Ruh & his amazing trains
Welch said that Ruhs decided about five years ago it was time to
get out of the model train business and since then has been
hoping to find someone who would take the train array in its
entirety. McCoy found the train and set up the meeting, and Ruhs
has agreed to donate the train set he values at about $150,000
to the city of Lincoln.
Welch said that the city council is on board with this and will,
this week, be discussing the donation agreement that has been
drafted for the acquisition of the array.
McCoy took the opportunity to explain that in addition to Route
66, the Abraham Lincoln connection will be exploited in the new
visitor center as well. McCoy is consulting with local Abraham
Lincoln Historian Ron Keller on this topic.
McCoy added that he has studied Route 66 all across American and
Logan County has such a unique set of circumstances no other
community can boast in its tying together of Abraham Lincoln and
Route 66.
Mccoy drew the picture
• Abraham Lincoln signed the act that created the Union Pacific
Railroad
• The rail through Illinois followed the Pontiac Trail through
the state
• The city of Lincoln was formed to accommodate the railroad.
• The city’s founding fathers honored Abraham Lincoln by naming
the town after him
• Lincoln in turn honored his friends by christening the town
• When Route 66 was constructed it followed the same line as the
railroad, passing through the heart of Lincoln.
McCoy said there is no other state or even community that can
claim all this within its history, and it is invaluable. It also
ties in nicely with the new train exhibit that will be the first
major component of the new visitor center.
In addition to the announcements about the Route 66
museum/visitors center, the group did talk about other topics.
Questions were posed about the use of the LDC property and Welch
said the city has access to, but to date not ownership of, the
property. There are 75 acres in total and Welch says it can be
used for various things including housing. He envisions a couple
of acres being set aside for veteran tiny homes. There is also
potential for distribution or warehousing centers, affordable
housing, business development and much more.
He was asked if the city would
eventually own the property and Welch said that is yet to be seen
but he is hopeful that the state will turn it over at some point in
time. He said right now the best answer from the state is let’s see
what you will do with it, and then we’ll see.” Welch said the state
wants the property to be developed in a positive way. He also said
that he has been told a similar property in Jacksonville is going to
be taking priority with the state, so the city may not see movement
on the LDC property for a while.
He was asked about the Lincoln College property and Welch said there
is something going on there, but he is not at liberty to speak about
it.
There was discussion about the traffic flow for the upcoming
Balloons Over 66 Weekend and he said that last year had caught the
city not fully prepared and there had been some chaos. However, he
said Lincoln Police Chief Joe Meister has been working with the
event committee and Welch feels confident that traffic flow will be
much better this year.
Welch was asked about the burned-out Oasis building at the corner of
Pulaski and Kickapoo Street. He said the city had been considering
doing something with the building, but they had learned that someone
has been paying the taxes on the building for the past several
years, and it is his understanding that party now owns the building.
He is hopeful that it will be used in a positive fashion.
As stated earlier, the Tuesday night meeting of the Lincoln City
Council will include discussion about the model train array. Another
item included in the agenda will be the discussion of a new City of
Lincoln Tourism logo.
[Nila Smith]
 |
