Travel Guide Adrian

The town was named for Adrian Cullen, an early farmer in the area, and officially began to grow in the summer of 1909, when the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway was completed in this part of the county.By 1915, the town had a population of fifty. Nevertheless, Adrian survived to become a stop for travelers on Route 66 and a shipping point for area wheat farmers. Today Adrian is known only as the geographic center of Route 66, halfway between Chicago and Los Angeles. Between the intentional and unintentional detours, the repeated backtracking to find the right road and the different counts of the multiple routes of 66, chances are your mileage will differ by half the distance shown here on a sign: 1,139 miles. Regardless, this midpoint is a symbol, and the Mid Point Café there is a must-see. Next to the Mid Point Café, the souvenir and antique store (Sunflower Station) that opened in 2013 is permanently closed. The town itself has no particular appeal and its buildings, deserted, are gradually disappearing.