Day 29: Even More Illinois

Let’s dive right in with some buildings. This former Prince Castle in Dixon now houses B.B.Y. Chicken & Carry Out:

What’s a Prince Castle, you may ask? They were a 1950s era Illinois ice cream shop chain with at least 20 of these castle style buildings. I think there are only about five of these buildings left (and none of the ice cream shops anymore) here’s a vintage image from Oak Lawn (building & sign gone):

This former Dog n Suds is in Oregon:

This theatre is in Sterling:

The glass on the tower is lit in different colors for holidays & special events. An example from their Facebook page:

This little windmill building in Moline was built in 1934 as a gas station. It had been abandoned for years and the blades of the windmill were long gone. Just a couple weeks after I took this photo, the tree behind it fell over in a tornado and destroyed the building. Shoot ’em while you can folks:

This former gas station is in Rock Island:

This statue in DeKalb was part of the Huskies on Parade civic art project — yes, Huskies is how NIU (Northern Illinois University) spells it:

This frightening shark is installed in front of the closed Cajun Jack’s Bar & Grill in Elizabeth:

This waving pig chef and meat market steer are installed on the roof Lena Maid Meats in Lena. There are a bunch of these waving pigs (and dozens of these steers) around the country. The pigs at my website are here:
https://www.roadarch.com/critters/pigs.html

This chicken car is located in Freeport. The head and tail were previously installed on an old Cadillac at Larz Chicken Shack (gone now). More chicken cars can be found at my site here: https://www.roadarch.com/critters/birdscars.html

This sculpture in Sycamore pays tribute to this local legend and founder of the Pumpkin Festival:

This buff Ronald Reagan on horseback sculpture is in Dixon:

Speaking of Dixon, let’s segue to the signs portion of this post. There has been a welcome arch here in various forms since 1919. More welcome signs here: https://www.roadarch.com/sca/welcome.html

This former neon sign (tubing holes patched since forever) is in Rock Falls. The store is still operating:

This sign is at a former antiques store in Galena. Kohler’s was in Lombard:

This sign is in Freeport (naturally):

This Masonic Lodge sign with backlit glass globes is in Rochelle:

This Fraternal Order of Eagles sign with metal letters and neon is in Moline:

This sign is in Rochelle:

This sign in Polo is displayed inside the American Legion Post’s front window. It was evidently a hanging, double-sided sign:

This sign in Moline was restored at some point and covered with plexi panels to protect the neon tubing:

This wooden sign in Freeport at the incredible Union Dairy was installed in 2014 as part of the celebrations of the ice cream shop’s 100th year anniversary. This sign is currently being repainted:

This Rock Island Railroad sign was built around 2021 for a private collector in Davenport, IA. It was sold and now hangs on the side of the Rayz’s Barber building in Rock Island. The inspiration was this long-gone sign from Minneapolis: