U.S. Route 51

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A Source of the Wild West

A touch of civic pride, history, and myth in Troy Grove, La Salle County, Illinois, birthplace of James Butler (“Wild Bill”) Hickcok

Hickok plaque, Troy Grove, Illinois

Hickok plaque, Troy Grove, Illinois

accompanied by a heroic image, which, like Hickok’s heroic reputation, has seen better days.

Hickok Statue, Troy Grove IL

Hickok Statue, Troy Grove IL

Troy Grove, once known as Homer, is a tiny village in north central Illinois, about 2 1/2 miles east of the old route of US 51 (this part is now known as Illinois route 251, because the name US 51 has been moved to Interstate 39 a few miles east). We paused there briefly on 25 June 2008, in a light rain during our tour of old US Route 51.

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Hotel Ponder 1947

22 June 2008, Amite, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana.

Hotel Ponder

Hotel Ponder, Amite, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana

Near the beginning of our journey up old U.S. 51 in June 2008 we came upon the Ponder Hotel. The building, sitting across the railroad tracks from the highway, did not instantly grab my attention, but its name struck my fancy and the inclusion of 1947 on its sign called out to me for a photograph. The Ponder Hotel opened in Amite in 1947 and quickly became a major local attraction. “Their famous rooftop dances were the social event of the season,” reports the Amite Chamber of Commerce (note the railing around the roof). These dances must have been quite amazing. The hotel is still in business some 63 years later.

I’m sure there are better pictures of the hotel, but this one displays what interested me (to see more clearly, click on the picture to enlarge it): the name of the hotel itself, which I find amusing; the year it was established, an important year to me; a U.S. 51 highway sign, because that highway was the reason we were passing through Amite at all; and the old Illinois Central railroad tracks which parallel U.S. 51 from New Orleans as far as Centralia in Illinois and which still carry the City of New Orleans from Chicago to New Orleans.