Lincoln Highway News

Join the fun tomorrow, October 3, when plaques will be dedicated in Indiana at both ends of the Lincoln Highway’s Ideal Section, an early study of modern highway construction. The west sign will be in front of the First Midwest Bank in Dyer. The east sign will be in front of the Home Town Motel in Schererville.

Above is the original Ideal Section monument; below is a great old photo in Dyer from Kathy Powers, Dyer Historical Society.

Reception at 1:00 p.m. CDT, Dyer Historical Society
• Greet Art Schweitzer, local LH advocate and preservationist
• Browse the museum and see a newly donated 1928 LH  post
• Meet LH authors Cynthia Ogorek and Jan Shupert-Arick.
• Enjoy refreshments provided by the Dyer Historical Society

Program at 1:30 p.m. CDT
• Presentations by LHA and Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana

Plaque Dedications at 2:30 p.m. CDT
• Depart museum and go to the west end of the Ideal Section to dedicate a new plaque
• Then go to the east end to dedicate the second plaque in Schererville

Kathy offers some history behind the new markers:

Art Schweitzer, Schererville Historical Society, began this project several years ago. Because of state mandates there were many delays. When I approached our town manager, Joe Neeb, he picked up the ball and began working on the project. He arranged a meeting with the Schererville town manager, Bob Volkman, Schererville Town Council member, Tom Schmidt, Art Schweitzer, Cynthia Ogorek, author of “Lincoln Highway around Chicago,” Dennis Hawrot, Betty Jonas, and myself. Plans and ideas were discussed. Bob Volkman contacted Décor Iron Works who built posts for the signs and each town’s public works men installed the signs. Our sign is on a state poured concrete pad on a break-away post in front of First Midwest Bank. The sign itself was paid in large part by monies received from Bank Calumet thanks to Cal Bellamy. The Dyer Historical Society also contributed money.

Tags: Dyer IN, highway construction history, highway history, Lincoln Highway, markers, plaque dedications, Schererville IN

This entry was posted on October 2, 2009 at 3:16 pm and is filed under highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, signs, transportation, travel. 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.