Lincoln Highway News

An article in the Quad City Times reports that a Lincoln Highway marker was unearthed during sewer work in DeWitt, Iowa. It is one of a couple thousand concrete posts planted in 1928 with help from the Boy Scouts that marked the route, but most have gone missing.

I checked with Van Becker, LH expert in Iowa, who told me that Iowa LHA state director Jeff LaFollette was contacted by Matt Proctor, DeWitt Director of Public Works. Proctor provided the above photo of the marker after a power wash. Matt wrote, “It was knocked over in the 300 block of 11th Street (old Rt 30, north side).  Before I could get there, the contractor and inspector pulled the [brass Lincoln head] off.  I raced there and saved the concrete marker.  I am going to get it cleaned up.” From the article:

City Administrator Steve Lindner said the city plans to have the marker restored and placed along 11th Street, the Lincoln Highway route through DeWitt…. The marker was sitting on a hand truck in the middle of the City Council chambers during Monday night’s regular meeting.

Van Becker adds:

Once it is restored and placed I will get a photo and GPS location. With this addition, I now have documented the existence and location of 94 (YES, 94) known 1928 LH markers in Iowa. This is a Left Turn marker [and] there was only one marker placed on 11th Street, and, it was a Left Turn marker. Probably safe to say it is number 972. Old number 972 was originally placed “100 yds E of 5th Ave. & 11th St” in DeWitt as instructed by Gael Hoag, Field Secretary of the Lincoln Highway Assn.

The post numbering was devised by the LHA’s Russell Rein, who transcribed Hoag’s log. Contrary to popular belief, there were not 3,400 concrete posts at about one per mile; Russ counted just 2,436 posts. There were also some 4,000 signs for city streets, which rarely are mentioned (though Russ and his marker counts are in my Greetings from the Lincoln Highway book).

Tags: dig it!, highway history, historic marker, history, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, restoration planned, unearthed find

This entry was posted on May 7, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, signs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.