5 Truly All-American Sights In Illinois For The 4th Of July

With a nickname like the Land of Lincoln, it's safe to say that Illinois is a state that celebrates its place in American history. It's also a state that — for better or worse — can turn on it brash, unapologetic, American swagger when it wants to.

With the Fourth of July upon us, Patch took a tour of Illinois to find some of its truly all-American cities and landmarks. These are the five places and sights that you could only find in the United States.

1. Abraham Lincoln's Tomb

Where: Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield

Why: Abraham Lincoln's birthplace might be Kentucky, but Illinois is where the 16th president was laid to rest with wife Mary Todd and three of his four sons. (Robert Todd, the oldest son, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.) The granite tomb features a 117-foot obelisk and commemorates Lincoln's life with various statuary and engraved bronze tablets that include the Gettysburg Address and other speeches.

The state capital also has a four-block historic area where the only home in Illinois that Lincoln owned stands. He moved to Springfield in 1837 and lived in the 12-room residence from 1844 to 1861. Robert Todd donated the house to the state in 1887, and in 1960, it was one of the first sites — along with Lincoln's tomb — to be named a National Historic Landmark.

More Info: Go to the tomb's official website.

Other Related Sites in Illinois: Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site re-creates the Illinois village he lived in from 1831 to 1837.

2. Metropolis

Where: Southern Illinois, along the Ohio River

Why: Next to Uncle Sam, no one is arguably more American than Superman. Fighting for "truth, justice and the American way" was actually part of the superhero's mission statement for decades. Although his adventures take him around the world — and the universe — Superman mostly works out of Metropolis, a fictional city where he's employed as a newspaper reporter in his guise as Clark Kent.

So how did the Man of Steel — a character created by two guys from Cleveland — become associated with the real-life southern Illinois town of the same name? Marketing.

In the early 1970s, the real-world Metropolis (Earth Prime Metropolis, to you comic book readers) began touting its unofficial connection with Superman as a way to draw attention to the struggling city. That connection generated a few news stories, which went viral before there was such a thing as the internet and social media, according to a New York Times story from that time.

Metropolis soon became a modest tourist destination and not simply a place for a supervillain to learn his or her craft (whoops, that's the fictional Metropolis). Eventually, DC Comics and the city made it official, and Metropolis, Illinois, was named the hometown of Superman in 1972.

Since then, the city's connection to Superman has grown. A 15-foot statue stands in front of the courthouse, and a four-day festival celebrating the superhero is held in June.

More Info: Go to the tourism site for Metropolis.

Other Related Illinois Sites: After the box office success of the Marvel superhero movie "Black Panther," Wacaunda, a village in northwestern Illinois, began receiving media attention thanks to the town's name, which sounds similar to Wakanada, the fictional African nation ruled by the movie's title character.

3. Paul "Bunyon" with a Hot Dog Statue

Where: 112 SW Arch St., Atlanta, Illinois

Why: Molded after the iconic Muffler Man statues along Route 66, this 19-foot monument was originally the mascot for a Cicero hot dog stand, which went out of business in 2002. It moved to its current shrine-like home in Atlanta in 2003, according to Atlas Obscura.

Two questions immediately come to mind when viewing the Paul Bunyon with a hot dog:

1. Why is Paul's last name misspelled? (Answer: The hot dog stand's owner wanted to avoid any potential copyright issues.)
2. Where would Paul find a hot dog that big? (Answer: Can't you enjoy the simple of beauty of a giant Paul Bunyon holding an equally giant hot dog?)

More Info: Go to the statue's page on the Illnois Department of Tourism's website.

Other Related Illinois Sites: Another variation on the Muffler Man statue is the Gemini Giant in Wilmington. The 30-foot statue in Will County had been the mascot for The Launching Pad Drive-In until it closed in 2010. The restaurant recently reopened as a Route 66 vistor center in April and is currently expanding its kitchen.

4. Ambler's Texaco Gas Station

Where: Historic Route 66 and Illinois Route 17 in Dwight, Illinois

Why: From 1933 to 1999, Ambler's, which also went by the name Becker's Marathon Gas Station, had the distinction of being the longest-running service station along Route 66. Although it's on the National Register of Historic Places thanks to its "house and canopy" architecture style, the station also is a monument to America's love affair with the open road, away from interstates, toll roads and rush hour traffic.

Ambler's stopped pumping gas at the turn of the century, and the station has been Dwight's visitor center since a project to restore it to its 1940s heyday was finished in 2007. You can't buy unleaded there, but you can certainly fill up on nostalgia for a time that might not actually have existed.

More Info: Go to the gas station's official site.

Other Related Illinois Sites: The iconic highway Ambler's is located on, Route 66, can still be traveled at different points throughout the state as Historic Route 66. It doesn't, however, still continuously run from Chicago to Santa Monica, California.

5. Casey

Where: Eastern Illinois, near Terre Haute, Indiana

Why: When Casey's slogan touts that there are big things in this small town of just more than 2,600 people, it's being literal.

• A 30-foot-long golf tee? Check.
• A 32-foot-tall working mailbox that raises a red flag when letters are dropped in? Sure.
• A 32-foot-high rocking chair weighing around 23 tons? Why not?

These items — which also are the world's largest of their kind — are located throughout the city and have become Casey's calling card. Like Metropolis did decades earlier, Casey found a unique hook to bring in business dollars by rallying around that all-American philosophy of going big or going home.

It started with world's largest wind chime in 2011 and includes the world's largest pitchfork (60 feet) and world's largest wooden shoes (4 feet tall and nearly 12 feet long). Not all of the landmarks are record-holders, though. Some, such as the life-size rocking horse and the oversize birdcage, have no greater claim to fame other than simply being big.

But questioning why the City of Casey decided to populate its streets with these ridiculously large mundane objects isn't important. Like 19-foot Paul Bunyon and his hot dog, it's enough to simply enjoy them for what they are: all-American treasures.

More Info: Go to Casey's website and Facebook page.

Other Related Illinois Sites: Casey doesn't have the Illinois market cornered when it comes to big things. Collinsville, just outside of St. Louis, is home to the world's largest catsup bottle, a 170-foot tall water tower built in 1949.

The 19-foot-tall Paul Bunyon with a giant hot dog statue in Atlanta, Illinois (Photo via Shutterstock)