Page 6 Museum of Route 66 Lincoln Daily News June/July 2026 For the past several years, the city had control of the local hotel/motel tax but did not administer the funds. The lion’s share of the revenue was passed through to the Logan County Tourism Bureau with the city keeping only a very small percentage. During budgeting time in the city, Welch suggested that the city re-think that distribution and use more of those funds to support tourism within the city. The city council supported that suggestion and took action accordingly. Once revenues were secured, the city then took another big step in the journey by purchasing the former State Bank of Lincoln building at 500-508 Broadway Street. During a Coffee with the Mayor event in July 2025, Welch made two big announcements. The bank would be among other things, a Route 66 Museum. Welch invited McCoy to that coffee hour and invited him to address the development of Route 66 tourism. “McCoy said that when hired by the city he had spoken with Welch about needing a way to get people out of their cars. A museum or visitors center was going to be a big part of the plan. He said he came to Lincoln on a few occasions and just walked around downtown looking at the buildings. When he came past the State Bank building it all clicked for him that the size and location right on the downtown Route 66 alignment was in his mind ideal.” The second big announcement at that coffee event was that the city had already secured its first big installation for the museum. “So what is this donation? It is a route 66 model train array that has been painstakingly assembled over the years by Chicago resident John Ruh. The working model train travels over track and through backdrops and landscapes that depict all eight states where Route 66 passes through. Welch said the attention to detail is remarkable as is the size of the array.” Thus the journey began. And now, for the rest of the story…… [Nila Smith]
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