For 20 years, a 19-foot-tall fiberglass “Muffler Man” cradling a hot dog has stood on Arch Street in the village of Atlanta, about 40 minutes northeast of Springfield.
The square-jawed colossus was created in California, but for more than three-and-a-half decades, it was the calling card of Hamlet Arthur “Art” Stephens, the proprietor of Bunyon’s, a drive-in restaurant in Cicero on Old Route 66 just outside of Chicago.
The colorful entrepreneur purportedly paid $1,900, or about $18,100 in today’s coin, for the statue, though it seemingly worked: hot dogs were the best-selling item at Bunyon’s.
Illinois State Museum looks to add to Route 66 collection in advance of centennial
When Stephens got out of the restaurant business in 2002, though, the Hot Dog Man found his way to Ebay.
That’s when Bill Thomas and the Route 66 Association of Illinois entered the fray.
The group didn’t want to lose…
