YOU WILL LOVE this video of central Iowa’s US 30, filmed in 1959 to show congestion and the need for road improvements. Highway Relocations was created by the Iowa State Highway Commission (ISHC), now IDOT, to show the downside of gas stations, rest stops, and the skinny two-lanes they populate. Filming started just east of State Center at the junction of Iowa 64 (now Iowa 330) and US 30 (the Lincoln Highway) and continued west along US 30 through State Center, Colo, Nevada, and Ames, ending just west of Boone. The film is 16 minutes long and covers 55 miles. {Note: Please read the comments for more info on the cars and the year it was filmed.]
Amazingly, most of it was filmed by a camerman perched atop a ladder connected to a car and extending approximately 22 feet in the air above the roadway! The camera, on a 1958 Ford Ranch Wagon, followed and filmed a 1958 Plymouth Fury. “The unidentified cameraman had the precarious task of trying to hold the camera steady and stay on the ladder, notably without a safety harness or other protective device.”
“As part of the Iowa DOT’s effort to preserve and archive its historical resources, the original Highway Relocations 16mm film was recently professionally cleaned and restored to its original film quality.”
Tags: amazing video of old highway, Ames IA, highway history, historic highway, historic video of old highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, travel, video
Lincoln Highway News 
September 16, 2010 at 1:06 pm |
This is a fantastic video for us historical minded roadgeeks and Lincoln Hwy fans. You might double check the date which is given as 1959. At 5:34-5:37 a red 1960 chevy is seen to the right immediately followed by a 2nd blue 1960 chevy pulled off the side of the road. At 10:27 a car carrier is hauling what looks like a shipment of 1962 Cadillacs. And at 10:39 a 1961 Ford follows in that stream of traffic.
Thanks for sharing!!
September 16, 2010 at 3:20 pm |
Thanks Tom Weinkauf for your eagle eye. I’d wanted to scan for year clues but it took a ton of time just to assemble the story, images, and links. I saw the blue 60 Chevy but thought that still made sense. Missed the red one but see it now by watching one frame at a time (24/sec) in QuickTime. But the Caddy trailer is the interesting one — are you sure they’re 62s? Looks like they could be 1960s and that would fit better with the rest. And don’t you mean a 1960 Ford? So maybe it is late 1959, or started then and finished in 1960.
September 16, 2010 at 4:43 pm
After some even more intense review, I would agree that late September 1959 would make sense. Not being sure how early that 1960 models were available, it very well could be that the 1960 cars in the video were brand new cars. The tail fins on the Cadillac were very similar on the 60,61, and 62’s. I didn’t notice the front grille of the lower level car and that clearly appears to be 1960 models on their way to dealers. And yes I did mean a 1960 ford which it is, also must be a new car. Looking at the amount of leaves on the ground looks like just a bit later in the year than today, so it could be Sept 15-25th range, maybe even later. School is obviously in session. The restoration of the video is really great work!
September 24, 2010 at 9:11 am |
> at 10:39 a 1961 Ford…
that’s a ’60 ford…it does seem that the film spanned quite some time: ealy on, all the trees are bare, but by this point they’re full.
September 16, 2010 at 1:39 pm |
> perched atop a ladder
i don’t think so: from the screengrabs above, the camera was obviously on the roof of the car. and the ladder would have a hard time going over that girder bridge;-)
September 16, 2010 at 3:00 pm |
Hey Tom (Wible), I just report what it says! Yes, overpasses and low bridges would be a challenge. Maybe they lowered it for those situations.
September 24, 2010 at 9:03 am
perhaps some was filmed from 22′ up, but not “most of it was filmed…”
i’m just sayin’;-)
September 24, 2010 at 9:22 am
Remember they are behind the car being filmed. Gotta be high up to look overtop the car you’re attached to.
September 16, 2010 at 3:45 pm |
Notice the price of gas 28 – 31¢ a gal. Also, many brands no longer around.
September 24, 2010 at 8:58 am |
yeah, i noticed that, too…1 clearly visible sign is on the left side of the road @ ~5:10…right before that is a sign for…starbucks…motel;-)
i also noticed prior relocations: @ ~3:30 a 30mph left curve has replaced an old T intersection, later, they remark on a “sharp curve” of 40mph @ the 60/30 intersection, where 30 turns left…
September 16, 2010 at 7:33 pm |
This is great! I sometimes wish I could travel back in time to the 50’s and take a road trip. This video may be the next best thing.
September 24, 2010 at 9:01 am |
what i’d like 2 c is the same trip now 2 show the changes…hmmmm, mebbe google streetview has that:-)
September 17, 2010 at 10:03 am |
A great trip back in time. Thanks.
How did you come across it?
September 20, 2010 at 12:14 pm |
Thanks RoadDog. Always finding ways to get off-track of my real work!!
September 17, 2010 at 7:00 pm |
Calling it amazing is certainly accurate. Wonderful stuff. I came here after watching it only to discover you have already had the car model conversation I was thinking of. Besides the Fords & Chevys already mentioned,I believe I saw a couple 1960 Mercs in there, too. Since there are plenty of green leaves on the trees, it seems likely that the film was made within a few weeks after the new models became available. I’m thinking that’s a lot of new cars in a very short time but that could be a misperception. Or maybe Iowans had to buy a lot of new cars to replace the ones they were wrecking on that crappy road. No imports, though. Great find, Brian. Thanks.
September 24, 2010 at 9:18 am |
speaking of road relocations, they make a big deal about improving traffic & safety, of course, but they ignore the tremendous upheaval in business.
i remember when the rt30 bypass went south of greensburg, right by my neighborhood, in ~’61…that marked the beginning of the decline of the downtown…there are now vacant lots on main st…which only now is coming back with the expansion of seton hill to a university.
greensburg now has a reputation as a party town;-)
October 24, 2010 at 10:53 am |
Great footage! Brings me back in time. From Minnesota, I would drive on the Iowa roads by Marshalltown (US30) and note how narrow they were. Some speed limits were 70mph. Driving at night was insane; when meeting a truck you reverted to prayer. Remember, the cars were full sized back then – no scaled down Toyotas. The GMs and Fords were huge and they wore biased ply tires with drum brakes and no ABS! And they used generators and big distributors. BTW I also noticed over ten 1960 Chevys in the first 12 minutes of the film. Thanks for sharing this gem!
October 25, 2010 at 4:33 pm |
Thanks for your note Brad. Check the other replies for a discussion about the year. Yeah, lots of 1960 models; we still think the date is right so must have been a prosperous time for the region.
November 23, 2010 at 10:30 pm |
This is cool, Brian! Living in Iowa we have driven this route and enjoyed seeing all the changes. Wonder what happened to that neat bridge over the Des Moines river? Glad this was mentioned in the Forum–really enjoyed it.
March 17, 2011 at 10:23 am |
Highway 60 (with the bridge over the Des Moines River) became Iowa Highway 17 on January 1, 1969
March 21, 2011 at 11:50 am |
Wonderful trip back in time. I remember every inch of that road very well. As kids we laid on the lawn of the court house in West Boone and watched all of the big trucks go by. Usually pumping our arm up and down trying to get truckers to blow there air horns, most didn’t!!!. Filming coming through Boone there is a Allied Van straight truck coming towards the camera crew. That had to be me or my brother driving because we were Wilson Transfer employes and alway drove that truck in 1959-60. Thanks for the trip down memory lane….
July 7, 2011 at 12:04 pm |
Don… that must have been Duane driving the Allied truck because it looked like it was totally under control! LOL I can remember on one occasion a double deck cattle truck loaded with feeder calves struck the West Boone underpass killing several calves. The hills on both sides of the river were a real pain for truckers in the winter as chains were frequently needed to get to the top of the hills. It seemed the sanding trucks always got there too late to keep the hill open for traffic. Thanks to the poster….enjoyed very much!
i
March 21, 2011 at 6:20 pm |
Great film I was born and raised in Moingona, Half way between Boone and Ognen I spent alot of time on highway 30
March 25, 2011 at 10:42 pm |
Even though I’ve never been to Iowa, this is a great film for us old car fans. Someone posted a link on the Forward Look website. Nicely job restoring the color.
I’d have to say that most of the film was shot mid-1960, judging by the number of 1960 cars I see. Police car is a ’60 Plymouth, while numerous ’60 Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles are shown.
Minor correction to the text above: the light blue Plymouth that we follow is either a Belvedere or a Savoy. Furys only came in Buckskin Beige and had a more upscale interior than what is pictured.
March 27, 2011 at 4:27 am |
I am from Sweden born in the sixties and I am really love American cars from fifties and sixties and this movie really show cars in their natural situation. Big Thanks to the people that make it possible to see this wunderful Movie from the real America with the real American Cars!!! And I did not need to pay for the ticket……
March 28, 2011 at 12:15 pm |
Hey Cathie – that old bridge was replaced by a newer structure a few years back. It was also “raised” to provide unintrerupted passage should the Des Moines River flood as it did in ’93 and other years. My first time driving for Drivers Ed was in my instructors Le Mans/Grand Prix (?) convertible through that bridge returning to Ogden from Boone. It was scary going through that and meeting other traffic. The instructor said I did well, but it was still scary.
Thanks Brian for putting this up. It was cool to see some of the old stuff I remember and a lot I didn’t.
March 29, 2011 at 10:52 am |
Love this film, and your write-up. The Iowa DOT has some great treasures on their website. By the way, FYI, those Cadillacs on the truck are 1963s.
Dave Darby
Executive Director
Route 6 Tourist Association – Iowa Division
March 29, 2011 at 2:58 pm |
Hi Dave, thanks for your comment. Please read the other comments for more info on the cars and the year it was filmed.
March 29, 2011 at 2:28 pm |
The video is from late-1961 or 1962, not from 1959.
March 29, 2011 at 2:59 pm |
Hi Diego, thanks for your comment. Please read the other comments for more info on the cars and the year it was filmed.
March 29, 2011 at 3:02 pm |
Thanks for your response!
All you have to do is see the car transporters carrying 1962 Ramblers and Cadillacs and you’ll see.
March 29, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Eh, I change my mind. Caddys look like ’62 from the rear, but the front end is clearly 1960, so late-’59 to 1960 is correct.
March 29, 2011 at 11:09 pm |
This brought back lots of memories where we both grew up together from age 15 years old on until we got married in 1956.
March 29, 2011 at 11:26 pm |
Yeah, after looking at the roofline and front end of those Caddys, they are definitely 1960 vintage. From the rear quarters they looked like 63’s at a glance, but they are absolutely 1960 Cadillacs.
April 3, 2011 at 1:14 pm |
Wow, this is amazing….In this video I found my Dad with his red low-boy truck, hauling our big tournadozer!!! He worked all around the area
making lakes and terraces for farmers. This is really a gem for me to see now….he has been gone for many years, but his work lingers on.
One of his beautiful works…is the lake at Twin Anchors..which is now a wonderful RV park with a restaurant. Thanks for the keepsake.
April 4, 2011 at 11:12 pm |
At the 4.32 mark is that a corvair at the under overpass, don’t have my glasses and couldn’t stop it and get a clear pic but sure looks like one to me.
April 6, 2011 at 5:17 am |
This is just wonderful, and what a public service! I grew up on a farm one mile south of highway 30 and about three miles east of Ogden. How many memories this brought back! For three years when I was in high school, I lived in Ogden on 30. I used to lie on my bed in the third floor bedroom and watch the trucks go by under my window. I fantasized about where they were going and what they hauled. I was always looking for the Navajo trucks with the painting of the Navajo chief on the front of the truck above the cab. In recent years, I was traveling in NM and saw one of these old Navajo trucks with the chief painted on the front. It was in a junk yard. Tears came to my eyes, remembering how I had looked for those trucks 50 years ago in Ogden! God bless you for putting this together and distributing it.
April 12, 2011 at 6:55 pm |
Our farm in the late 1940’s was 6 miles north off the Lincoln Highway near the town of Lanesboro. Thus, we often traveled on Hwy 30 to get to Carroll, and it looked much like this film. The film said this section to Carroll had been updated, and the section covered in the film need updating.
We often traveled this section of the highway on the way to see Grandpa & Grandma in Boone, and onto Ames to see Uncle Glen in Des Moines.
As the film crew entered Boone, I saw my grandfather’s cafe.
I left Iowa in 1950, and did not see the updating process. But, after Mom & Dad moved back in 1975 Hwy 30 was a good road to travel.
Mom & Dad were killed in 1995 on this road in the town of Jefferson.
I was born in Jefferson in a hospital that faced this highway.
May 7, 2011 at 11:54 am |
this past year we moved into an 1880’s home in Ogden that sits right on old hwy 30. we were excited to learn it has quite some history – including previously being a maternity hospital & funeral home. i’ve never had the opportunity to research the history of a private home before, and only have a few details to start with. since it does sit on old hwy 30, and was different types of businesses at different times, anyone have hints on how to go about getting more specs on its history?? any tips would be great!
February 15, 2012 at 6:21 pm |
I was born in such a home/hospital in Jefferson Iowa. It was on the south side of the Lincoln hwy across from the hospital that was built in the late 1930’s.
Collins Roe
November 2, 2011 at 12:30 am |
Saw this on the Nevada section of glurb (HeyIowa. com). Love the old footage.
The Highway providess quite a bit of pride for some fo the folks that live along the road..
November 18, 2011 at 11:28 pm |
Chuck says; I’m a Lincoln Highway member and i’ve been over the Lincoln Highway in Iowa a few times and this brings back many memories. Born in Chicago and Grew up in Wyoming so I’ve logged many miles back & forth.. Even when I was younger and rode the Bus it used The Lincoln Highway in Nebraska so It made me a lover of the Highway Great Stuff
August 6, 2012 at 3:15 am |
[…] Amazing 1959 film of Iowa’s US 30 Lincoln Highway News Looks like an old State of Iowa Highway video about proposed improvements to U.S. 30. Pretty cool […]
May 29, 2021 at 2:57 am |
Loved watching that film as I would have been a junior in High School at that time. I drove that old highway30 Many times to both Ames and to Ogden..I had boyfriends in both towns! Such memories!