I had two options for today, neither involving the ADT as a consequence of yesterday’s detour to Murphysboro. I could follow the highway, with pretty consistent traffic and good shoulder, all the way to Chester, some 31 miles, with no real towns along the way. Or, I could cobble together backroads and minor highways to Chester via Ava and Campbell Hill, with opportunities for gas station stops in each. I opted for the latter, even though it pushed the day to 38 miles. It was a brilliant walking day, interrupted only briefly by a sudden downpour, with overcast, cool conditions, and I felt pretty great for the vast majority of it.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles makes accommodation available to bikers and walkers in a modified shed in the yard outside of their lodge. It’s the closest I’ve felt to being in a pilgrim albergue, between the basic wooden bunks, nine crammed into a small room, and shower and bathrooms sprinkled across separate buildings outside. Plus, it’s a charitable move by the Eagles, with no payment requested or wanted.
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What gives a town an identity? On a macro-cultural level, there’s a lot to be said for the shared identity of the original, sustained, group of inhabitants, or at least that’s one of the lessons I picked up from Colin Woodard’s American Nations. That said, a disproportional share of ownership probably falls in the hands of a town’s Chamber of Commerce, which takes the lead on curating and framing an outward-facing image.
They’ve done their work with Chester, Illinois. I knew one thing about Chester before I got here–specifically, that it is the “birthplace” of Popeye. More accurately, it’s the birthplace of Popeye’s creator, EC Segar, who didn’t create the spinach-killer until he was two towns removed from Chester, in New York City. While Popeye first appeared in print in 1929, as part of Segar’s “Thimble Town” comic, and his popularity surged in the 1930s, he wasn’t properly acknowledged in Chester until 1977, when a large statue devoted to him was erected near the waterfront and the tourism machinery kicked into gear. By the end of the decade, the annual Popeye Picnic would be launched, followed by a bolder initiative a couple of decades later, adding a new statue devoted to a “Thimble Town” character in every succeeding year. Chester is now filled with Bluto, Olive Oyl, and many other Segar creations.
Of course, there’s another massive structure visible on Chester’s waterfront–the Menard Correctional Center, which includes both maximum-security and high-medium-security wings. It formerly contained Illinois’s death row as well, until the governor eliminated this in 2003. Which past and present residents should Chester really be known for?
Popeye: powered by spinach and his pipe, highly combustible personality but also known for flashes of profound insight, desperate to win Olive Oyl
John Wayne Gacy: an American serial killer, known as the “Killer Clown,” and responsible for torturing, raping, and killing 33 boys and young men
Olive Oyl: a “coy flapper,” who worked little and borrowed much. Caught in a love triangle with Popeye and Bluto in the comics; on tv, Bluto tried to kidnap her from Popeye and she would constantly fight with Popeye
David Hendricks, Jack McCullough, and Dr. Richard Kimble: All men sentenced to life here who were actually innocent, or at least saw their convictions overturned. In McCullough’s case, the sentencing occurred 55 years after the murder! Kimble is actually a fictional character, played by Harrison Ford in The Fugitive
Bluto: Originally called “The Big Guy That Hates Popeye,” but perhaps changed because it was too on the nose. Uses brute force and trickery to defy Popeye, but is reputed to have a glass jaw
Drew Peterson and Reginald Potts, Jr: Men who committed prominent murders that have been spotlighted many times on the Dateline NBC’s of the world
The Sea Hag: Another enemy of Popeye’s and the last witch on earth. She is a Voodoo practitioner and has a pet vulture
Did Chester’s Chamber of Commerce make the right choice? I’ll leave that to y’all to judge.
