Authors will unveil new Route 66 book at Collinsville festival

Edwardsville resident Cheryl Eichar Jett is fast becoming an expert on Old Route 66.

She and co-author Joe Sonderman will unveil their new book, “Images of America: Route 66 in Kansas,” at the 18th annual World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival in Collinsville on Sunday.

Cheryl already has written or co-written “Route 66 in Madison County,” “Route 66 in Springfield” and “Route 66 in Illinois” as part of Arcadia Publishing’s "Images of America" series.

“I’ve loved history all my life,” said Cheryl, 68. “I’ve loved road trips all my life. My parents were great adventurers, and they taught me how to read a map when I was a small child. Once we went all the way from Illinois to Los Angeles on Route 66. I was 14 years old.”

By that time, the company that produced Brooks catsup already had erected the 170-foot-tall water tower next to its plant in Collinsville, which was along Route 66.

The tower is on the National Register of Historic Places. Area residents will celebrate its 67th birthday at the World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Woodland Park in Collinsville.

Activities will include a car show, old-fashioned party games, contests, a Little Princess Tomato and Sir Catsup pageant, a magic show, food and drink booths, a Brooks Tangy Catsup Taste Test and other entertainment.

Cheryl is a retired freelance grant writer and marketing specialist. She formerly taught music, earned a master’s degree in history at 50 and served as executive director of Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. Joe, 54, works for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Cheryl’s first book was “Images of America: Alton,” which she followed with an Arcadia “Postcard History Series” book on Edwardsville.

“Joe has written close to 20 books,” she said. “He’s an extremely prolific author. We met in 2008 or 2009. We were both interested in Route 66, and we were both Arcadia authors.

“He is a huge collector of Route 66 memorabilia, including thousands of photos and postcards. He has an online archive at www.66postcards.com.”

Some of Joe’s collection is featured in the Missouri History Museum’s new exhibit, “Route 66: Main Street through St. Louis.”

The biggest difference between Route 66 in Illinois and Kansas is that Illinois contained about 300 miles of the legendary highway, which linked Chicago to Los Angeles. Only 13.2 miles went through Kansas.

But Cheryl and Joe found plenty to write about in light of the area’s rich history of “wild cow towns,” its mining industry and Civil War massacre.

“Boy, did we take some ribbing when we announced that we were going to write a book on (the Kansas section of Route 66),” Cheryl said. “People would say, ‘Oh, that’s going to be a pamphlet’ or ‘Write big.’ I love that one. Somebody said, ‘Use a large font.’”

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Authors will unveil new Route 66 book at Collinsville festival."