Route 66, the Mother Road, became an American icon after its creation in 1926 as one of the first numbered U.S. highways, running 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. It carried people fleeing the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and families seeking adventure in the Southwest and California in the 1950s and 1960s, while quirky roadside attractions, diners, cafes, and service stations catered to travelers along the way. In Illinois, the route began in downtown Chicago, passed through suburbs, prairie farmland, and Midwestern towns, and ended at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which carried traffic across the Mississippi River from 1936 to 1955 and is now open for walking and biking. In the Normal-Bloomington region, Route 66 is tied to attractions including Sprague's Super Service, the Normal Theater, the David Davis Museum, the McLean County Museum of History, Funk Prairie Home, the Walker Store and Historic Depot, Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup, Funks Grove Church and Cemetery, Sugar Grove Nature Center, and the Dixie Truck Stop. Businesses in Normal-Bloomington grew to serve motorists, evolving from simple gas pumps outside stores to architecturally distinctive stations in the 1930s and one-stop combinations of gas station, restaurant, and motel in the early 1950s. Sprague's Super Service, built in 1931 in the Tudor Revival style, combined a gas station, diner, and home, while Streid's offered one-stop services when Route 66 followed The Beltline. In 1934, Gus Belt turned his Shell gas station on Main Street in Normal into a restaurant featuring his Steakburger, creating the first Steak 'n Shake. Although U.S. Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985 after it could not compete with faster freeways, nostalgia sustained the Mother Road through movies, television, music, and enduring local landmarks.