Route 66

The Sly Fox bookstore is proud that it is located along the Blue Carpet Corridor of Historic Route 66.  For several years at the beginning of Route 66 in 1926, the road in front of the store (now Illinois Route 4) was designated as Route 66.  Route 66 travelers and fans routinely traverse this route as they follow Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.  During those early years, the grandfather of The Sly Fox owner had a Texaco service station in the front part of his home on North Cotton Hill, southeast of Springfield.  In 1922 the Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau in Alton, Illinois, underwrote the painting of a mural on the side of The Sly Fox building to greet Route 66 travelers (it is one of 11 such murals along the route in SW Illinois).