Day Three

Downtown, Arcola Illinois

イリノイ州アーコラのダウンタウンを訪ねる

[Note] If this page is too small to be readable, please enlarge it to 120-125%. Thank you.

After checking out the hotel around 8:30, we headed to Arcola, Illinois, the largest Amish community in Illinois.

We first took Interstate 70 to downtown St. Louis. Then we crossed the Mississippi River on the Poplar Street Bridge and entered the State of Illinois.
When you cross the bridge, you are automatically on Interstate 55 East. Then you get to the point where Interstates 55, 57, and 70 combine.

In about 30 minutes, we got to the point where 55 splits to the north. We kept driving east for about 40 minutes more. Then, we reached the point where 57 splits north. We left turned, leaving 70.

Soon after we parted 70, we found a rest area, and we took a short rest there. This rest area is named "Green Greek," and there were a restroom, a vending machine, Illinois pamphlets stand, and a small backyard. A parking space was large enough. I got a cup of coffee on the vending machine.

Koichiro, one of my students, sat behind the wheel this time. This was the very first time for him to hit an American road! We left the rest area and headed to Arcola.

This is a sign for the Tourist Information Center in Arcola. You see Raggedy Ann and Andy characters on the top of the sign. Refer below about these characters.

This is the entrance of the tourist center.

One hour later we finally arrived in Arcola. We first stopped by Arcola Tourist Information Center. This used to be a railroad station of Illinois Central Railroad Company, which owned one of the most important railroads in the US, connecting Chicago and New Orleans. Now the building is beautifully refurbished and functions as the Arcola Chamber of Commerce and a small museum as well as the Tourist Information Center.

When we entered the center, there were two American tourists talking with a woman in the office. Then she found us and came to us and kindly explained good places to visit in Arcola, showing us an Arcola tourism map. We decided to visit some of those places.

We walked down East Main Street downtown. It was about one o'clock in the afternoon. A small rain had almost stopped. The street was quiet and we saw only a few people. The buildings along the street were very beautiful. (The woman on the right sidewalk is one of my students.)

The view of a sidewalk. Benches are placed so that people can take a rest anytime while walking. I wonder why most Japanese cities can't take any small care of this kind!

In June, 2012, a group of sign painters gathered in Arcola to paint murals on the walls of its buildings. They called themselves walldogs, and painted 15 murals in total. The themes of the murals were picked from the history of this small town.

The title of the mural that you see in this photo is "He is not your average Joe," and the theme was taken from episodes of one ordinary man of this town. These episodes are very fascinating to me, so I will tell about it a little.

This man's name was Joe Ernst. He was working as a cook of a small restaurant at this town in 1941. One day a bus loaded with a group of black musicians stopped by this town for meal. One restaurant after another rejected them only because they were black. They finally came to Joe's restaurant. Joe welcomed them saying if only they would pay. A young black woman named Ella Fitzgerald promised him to collect money from all the members. Joe trusted her and made two trips to local groceries to cook all necessary food for them. Ella even sang for Joe to show thanks to this man.

Next day, when Joe came to his restaurant to work, he found the lock had been changed. He knew he was fired by the restaurant owner because he provided the black musicians with food.

In 1942, Joe joined the navy to fight against Nazi Germany. At Normandy, he voluneered for a mission in which several Allied ships were deliberately sunken to place breakwater to make the Allied invation easier. During the mission, he and the fellow sailors were trapped on their ship and they had to stay for four days amid the fierce battle at the coast.

In 2009, Joe was given the highest decoration by the French Government because of this heroic duty at D-Day.

The theme of this mural is one of America's most favorite dolls for girls, Raggedy Ann and his brother Andy. Raggedy Ann was created by Johnny Gruelle and patented in 1915. Gruelle created this doll for his daughter. Because he was a writer, he published a picture book titled "Raggedy Ann Stories" in 1918. Then he created her brother Andy and published "Raggery Andy Stories" in 1920. If you have a kindle tablet, you can easily download "Raggedy Ann Stories" from the Amazon internet shopping site for free.

Johnny Gruelle was born in Arcola in 1880. So his granddaughter, Joni Wannamaker, decided to create his grandfather's museum in Arcola. That is why Raggedy Ann and Andy was selected as one of the 15 themes for the Walldog murals in this town. Very sadly, the museum itself was closed in 2009.

Based on Raggedy Ann publication, even a movie was filmed by Richard Williams in 1977, under the title "Gaggedy Ann and Andy: a musical adventure." Even though this film was a failure from the business point of view, Williams put live action and animation together in the film. This idea got a chance for success in his 1988 movie "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" You can see the 1977 movie on YouTube.

Do you see the sign next to the street light? That's Dutch Kikchen, a famous restaurant that serves Amish food here in the town of Arcola. We skipped it this time, but I will definitely eat there next time I visit Arcola.

We moved to the next block, and found this building, which is Arcola Emporium. An emporium usually means a large scale retail center, but this building was small. When we went inside, we found a few shops, including an eatery. Because it was past one o'clock, we decided to have lunch here.

The front hall of the emporium. There is a restaurant on the left side of the hall. The right side is a wall, and it is used as a photo gallery. See the next photo.

These photos show the history of downtown Arcola. We see Raggedy Ann again in the center of the photos.

Inside of the emporium eatery. The area behind the swinging doors is a kitchen. There is a menu board on the right side of the kitchen entrance.

The street side of the eatery. It was around two o'clock, and most customers had left the place. People who were still there seemed to be enjoying an relaxing time after lunch.

This is a lunch plate that one of my students ordered. I don't exactly remember, but that was probably a salmon fish burger or something. The lunch time was almost over, so only two helpings of Today's Lunch Special could be served. The rest of us ordered other items.

Continued to the next page

次のページへと続きます。