Odell, IL: Old Standard Oil Gas Station and Lost Wood Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

Joseph Tuch Santucci posted two photos with the comment: "The old Standard station at Odell, IL. All the gas you need, so long as it’s regular."

Dennis DeBruler: https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

It looks like West Street was a first generation bypass for Route 66. Today's Barack Obama Presidential Expy would have been the second bypass. (According to topo maps, the 4-lane highway was built between 1935 and 1958.) And I-55 is today's bypass.

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Route 66 Postcards posted two images with the comment:

Here is a "then & now" of the restored Phillips 66 station as a Standard Oil station on Route 66 in Odell, Illinois.  On "February 10, 1932, Patrick O’Donnell purchased a small plot of land on the south side of Odell, Illinois. Soon afterward, he began construction of a gas station along US 66 using the domestic style created by Sinclair in 1916 to blend in with surrounding structures. Robert Close bought the station for $1,550 after O’Donnell died in 1957. The station closed in 1967 and it was an auto repair shop until the 1980s. The old station fell into disrepair before it was restored through a collaborative effort by the Illinois Route 66 Association, the Village of Odell, the State of Illinois, the National Park Service, and Hampton Inn Landmarks."

   The photos and the quote above are courtesy of Joe Sonderman.

[The comments contain some more photos of the station.]

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The interior has a lot of history as well.

Robert Sutton, Sep 2021

Buster Mcdanie, Jun 2018

David Colgan, Aug 2021

The street view driver did not do much of this town so I was not able to find the wood grain elevator that is in the background.

Chicago Tribune, Jun 14, 2023
"A high speed Amtrak train passes through Odell as IDOT and Amtrak offer the first demonstration run at 110 mph on a portion of the Chiago-to-St. Louis corridor. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune"
Starting Jun 26, 2023, trains can finally run at 110mph. It will trim 15 minutes off a five hours and 13 minutes trip at the current 90mph. (I wonder how long the trip took at the original 79mph.) The project cost $1.96b and it broke ground in 2010 and was completed in 2018. But it has one through several years of test runs.

Fortunately, Bruce took a photo of the grain elevator we see in the background of the above Amtrak photo because it is now gone.

Bruce Simak posted
Odell, Illinois. Currently not being used. The Illinois Central tracks run just to the left of this.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bruce's post
That elevator is now gone, https://maps.app.goo.gl/v421NmbF9zzUhRu49

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bruce's post
Using Google Earth, it disappeared between Apr 2015 and Jul 2018.
Bruce Simak: Dennis DeBruler 🥺 Thank you. I probably shot this in 2014. You’ve saved me from wasting my time on a reshoot visit.
Dennis DeBruler: Bruce Simak The disappearance of the elevator makes your photo even more significant. Thanks for sharing. For the record, the tracks are owned by UP/GM&O instead of CN/IC.

Google Maps still has the FS Grain label in Odell, but FS Grain has removed Odell from its locations map.

fsgrain

There is a grain elevator on the north side of town.

Satellite

This one is still active because you can see a cloud of dust from the loading of a truck on the right side of the bin. It is interesting that they use multiple drops to load the long building. Normally, they use one drop to the end of the building and an augur across the top inside the building.

Satellite