Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket - Willowbrook, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 44.940 W 087° 55.980
16T E 422427 N 4622329
The Chicken Basket as it is today opened in the summer of 1946 on Illinois Route 66 and 79th Street in Hinsdale right next door to its original location. Stop in for great chicken and a Rt. 66 root beer!
Waymark Code: WM3C95
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2008
Views: 116
From their website: Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket got its humble beginnings sometime in the late 1930's or early 1940's in an old gas station lunch counter. One day two local farm women came in and overheard the owner (Irv Kolarik) talking about selling more food. Having a wonderful recipe for fried chicken they approached him and offered to teach him how to cook fried chicken if he would buy his chickens from them.
Because the fried chicken was so good and the highway so busy, the Chicken Basket outgrew its lunch counter and the 2 car repair bays were turned into a dining room. Not long after that, with the restaurant still growing, the adjacent land was purchased and a brand new restaurant was built.
The Chicken Basket as it is today opened in the summer of 1946 on Illinois Route 66 and 79th Street in Hinsdale right next door to its original location. Because of the amount of traffic and distance from Chicago the Chicken Basket was the perfect stopping place going to or coming from Chicago. This perfect location also lead to the Chicken Basket becoming a Blue Bird bus stop. People came to the Chicken Basket to purchase bus tickets to travel as far away as Los Angeles or to send packages to loved ones anywhere in between Chicago and LA.
The restaurant's many large windows allowed patrons to view the small private planes taking off and landing at the old Hinsdale airport across the street. There was always something going on at the Chicken Basket, whether the roof top ice skaters in the winter months or the live entertainment on the weekends.
The restaurant's need for chicken soon outgrew the capability of the 2 local women and another local farmer who was just moving into the area took over. That farmer was none other than Stanley Helma, father and grandfather of today's owners.
In the early 1960's, after Illinois Route 66 bypassed the Chicken Basket, it fell on hard times. People who remembered the restaurant couldn't figure out how to get to it and it almost went out of business for lack of customers. In 1963, Dell Rhea and his wife Grace bought the restaurant at a bargain price, Dell being very well known in the area used his reputation to help bring people back to the Chicken Basket.
With the resurgence of the popularity of Route 66 throughout the nation the restaurant has become even more popular. Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 hall of Fame in June of 1992, was recently featured in a Japanese travel magazine, and was the background for the cover of Route 66 magazine.
Americana: Restaurant
Significant Interest: Other Icon
Milestone or Marker: Other Icon
Web Site Address: [Web Link]
Address of Icon:
645 Joliet Rd.
I55 & Rt. 83
Willowbrook, IL USA
|
Visit Instructions:
To log a Visit, please make every effort to supply an image of yourself at the site. The standard GPS photo may be used as well, or even just an image that you took when you visited the location. If you do not have the option to provide an image, please provide a detailed description of your visit so we can form a 'mental image'.