Roadside oddities38.7002° N, 90.1518° W
Granite City, IL
A giant dining fork planted at a literal fork in the road turned a downtown intersection into a deliberately corny Route 66 photo stop.
- Access
- Open to visitors
Roadside oddities in Illinois
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Roadside oddities71
Suggest a stopGiant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
- Roadside oddities42.2264° N, 88.5262° W
Union, IL
The country's largest railway museum preserves an enormous operating collection of locomotives, streetcars, interurbans, and historic transit equipment.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities39.8322° N, 89.6371° W
Springfield, IL
A walk-through Route 66 attraction at the fairgrounds combines recreated roadside scenes with restored and replica neon signs.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities38.7006° N, 90.1513° W
Granite City, IL
Three recreated historic business signs glow after dark alongside murals and interpretive displays celebrating Granite City's Route 66-era commercial history.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities37.6870° N, 89.1753° W
Carbondale, IL
A free public park is filled with dragons, wizards, castles, giant creatures, and fantasy sculptures created in memory of a local young man.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities39.7643° N, 89.6798° W
Springfield, IL
A classic Muffler Man in a tire-shop uniform has stood in Springfield since 1978 and even survived a tornado that tore off his head.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities42.0124° N, 87.7841° W
Niles, IL
A half-scale 1930s recreation of Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa stands beside a suburban YMCA complex as one of Chicagoland's classic oddities.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.2878° N, 89.6409° W
Freeport, IL
A meticulously scaled neighborhood baseball field recreates Wrigley Field's ivy, scoreboard, rooftops, and marquee in miniature.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities37.1545° N, 88.7306° W
Metropolis, IL
A bronze likeness of actress Noel Neill as Lois Lane stands a few blocks from Superman, expanding Metropolis into a full comic-book pilgrimage.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities41.5177° N, 90.5404° W
Rock Island Arsenal, IL
A surviving M65 'Atomic Annie' nuclear-capable artillery piece sits on the active arsenal as an outsized Cold War relic.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities39.2789° N, 89.8793° W
Carlinville, IL
A lavish 1870 courthouse became notorious for enormous cost overruns that turned an ambitious civic project into a statewide symbol of excess.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities37.9486° N, 89.7658° W
Chester, IL
A rare 1854 covered bridge survives outside Chester, carrying pedestrians through a timber Burr-arch truss over the old Mary's River channel.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities40.9400° N, 90.9493° W
Oquawka, IL
A large stone monument marks the 1972 death of Norma Jean, a circus elephant killed by lightning while tethered in town.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities41.9206° N, 87.6457° W
Chicago, IL
A neighborhood park filled with permanent bronze Wizard of Oz character statues, including Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities40.2608° N, 89.2315° W
Atlanta, IL
Atlanta’s giant is the famous Bunyon Giant, an original fiberglass Muffler Man installed at Bunyon’s restaurant in Cicero when it opened in 1966. After the restaurant closed, the figure was moved to Atlanta in November 2003 and dedicated there in 2004; travelers now find him standing along the town’s Route 66 corridor holding a giant hot dog.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities38.9613° N, 89.7635° W
Livingston, IL
A former school complex turned antique mall is surrounded by huge fiberglass animals and novelty figures visible from old Route 66.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.2653° N, 88.2100° W
Braidwood, IL
A neon-heavy Route 66 diner surrounded by fiberglass figures of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Superman, and other oversized pop-culture characters.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities37.9051° N, 89.8339° W
Chester, IL
An eight-foot bronze Popeye stands in downtown Alma, a tribute to the town’s long connection to spinach processing. It is one of Arkansas’s best-known oversized character statues and an easy roadside photo stop.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities37.6025° N, 88.2783° W
Karbers Ridge, IL
A loop trail passes towering rock walls, narrow passages, ancient Native American stonework, and the deep canyon around Ox-Lot Cave.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities38.9042° N, 90.1436° W
Alton, IL
A life-sized statue and replica chair honor Alton-born Robert Wadlow, the tallest reliably recorded person in human history at 8 feet 11 inches.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.2806° N, 89.0765° W
Rockford, IL
Large stone-and-concrete humanoid figures stand along the Rock River like strange sentinels, making an easy, surreal photo stop.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities40.1461° N, 89.3615° W
Lincoln, IL
A full telephone booth inexplicably sits on the roof of city hall, a surviving oddity from the days of rooftop firefighter communications.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities40.6512° N, 88.7795° W
Lexington, IL
A preserved stretch of original Route 66 is lined with vintage billboards, Burma-Shave signs, and period roadside displays.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities38.7012° N, 90.1673° W
Granite City, IL
Installed in 2025, this 20-foot hard-hat-wearing giant holds a sledgehammer as a tribute to Granite City's steelworkers and industrial laborers.
- Access
- Open to visitors