Archive for June, 2012
June 27, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The most revolutionary event for the Lincoln Highway since it was founded 99 years ago is now available — free, detailed, online maps of the Lincoln Highway!
The LHA Mapping Committee (myself and 2 dozen others) has worked for a decade to map all generations of the Lincoln Highway, from the obscure Proclamation Route to the equally-rare city feeders. Mapping software expert (and committee chair) Paul Gilger has done a stunning job, spending hundreds of hours to apply our info to DeLorme and now Google Maps. The maps are now available to the public for free. Click www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/map to see for yourself this stunning resource detailing exactly where the LH went from coast-to-coast. Here are some samples that you should be able to easily identify.
Tags:highways, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, map, maps of old roads, Road trip, roadtrip, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 14 Comments »
June 18, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Today launches the 20th annual Lincoln HIghway Association conference, located in Canton, Ohio. The Ohio chapters of the national Lincoln Highway Association along with the official Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway are hosting some 200 visitors at the McKinley Grand Hotel for a week of lectures, seminars, day-long road trips, banquets and other evening activities. The theme — Pathways and Presidents — celebrates the Lincoln Highway.
The annual conference is held each year somewhere along the corridor from New York to San Francisco. In 2011, Lake Tahoe dazzled attendees with local culture and history, and two years ago Dixon, Ill., hosted the week-long conference.
Organizer Jim Cassler said there will be tours focusing on Ohio’s Amish Country, a train trip on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway and a trip to the Packard Museum in Warren honoring Lincoln Highway co-founder Henry Joy, then president of Packard Motors. Presidential activities will include Canton’s McKinley and the First Ladies Museum, while a trip to Marion will highlight Warren Harding’s involvement in the early highway.
For details and developing registration information, go to www.lincoln highwayassoc.org or www.historicbyway.com.
Tags:highway history, highway history conference, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Mansfield OH, Ohio, Road trip, travel
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June 14, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
As the former Serro’s Diner moves closer to being back in service, the diner’s first waitress got to visit the restoration project. The Serro family opened the brand new 1938 O’Mahony-brand diner in Irwin, Pa., as a Lincoln Highway bypass was being built around the town for the coming Pennsylvania Turnpike terminus. The diner will soon be part of a museum complex being built by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor between Greensburg and Ligonier.
A story in the Tribune-Review (including the two images here by Eric Schmadel) reported how 95-year-old Jenny Baloh recently visited the diner where she began waitressing in 1938. As one of the 10 Serro siblings, she was THE first waitress:
My brothers (Louis and Joseph) bought the dining car when I was a teenager. I told them I didn’t know a thing about waitressing. They said, “You’ll learn.”
The diner was rescued from likely demolition in 1992 when I had the pleasure of arranging for its purchase and move by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, now the Heinz History Center. With no practical place to display the diner, it was given to the LHHC. After almost 2 years of work, the diner is almost ready for it’s new home, a soon-to-be-constructed addition at the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum along Route 30 East, across from the Kingston Bridge.
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Tags:Diner, highway history, historic highway, Irwin PA, Lincoln Highway, PA, roadside attraction, roadtrip, travel, US 30
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June 11, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
From May 28-July 28, a group of wounded warriors from America’s military is riding bicycles, hand cycles, and recumbent cycles from the Pacific to the Atlantic following much of the Lincoln Highway. For more than 20 years, the non-profit World T.E.A.M. Sports has organized athletic events for disabled and able bodied citizens, from mountain climbing to white water rafting. This year, 18 athletes are biking 3,698 miles from San Francisco to Virginia Beach.
Participating veterans of the Sea to Shining Sea ride live with disabilities ranging from loss of limbs to blindness to Post Traumatic Stress. These veterans served America in wars from Afghanistan and Iraq to Vietnam. Learn more at www.s2ssbikeride.org/2012-news/2012/6/6/along-the-lincoln-highway.html
Tags:bike ride, disabled veterans, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Nevada, Road trip, travel
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June 8, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Members of the Galion Historical Society, Crestline Historical Society, Bucyrus Historical Society, and New Washington Historical Society will gather on Saturday to refurbish a monument to Colonel William Crawford, who was captured by Indians and killed in 1782. The monument erected by the Crestline Kiwanis Club in 1928, when Leesville Road was the Lincoln Highway. (Image below and more info at
www.touring-ohio.com/history/crawford.html.)
An article in the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum quotes Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway:
“I have no idea when the last time it was cleaned was,” said Mike Hocker, of the Galion Historical Society. “It sits in the shade next to the woods and the moss really loves that.”
Hocker said the monument is made primarily of marble and limestone with a brass plaque.
“It really is a gorgeous monument,” Hocker said. “As part of Crawford 20/20 Vision, we are reaching out to the other historical societies and trying to get to know one another a little bit better.
“We can all benefit from helping one another out on larger projects. We figure if we all get out there, we can have it done in about an hour and a half.”
The monument cleaning begins at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Tags:Bucyrus OH, Galion Ohio, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Ohio, roadside attraction, roadside monument
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June 7, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
On the heels of the sad news that it had closed, the Tower Cafe in Tama Iowa has reopened according to our friend Van Becker!
Today we took a roadtrip that included lunch in Tama. The King Tower is open again under new management. The exterior looks exactly the same; the interior benefitted from new paint, new carpet and lots of scrubbing. The new operator/manager leased the building from the owner and has spent four months readying it for customers again. The Indian murals are still on the walls inside; the menu is new and so are the prices. Food was good and many of the other diners appeared to be regular repeat customers. Outside along the highway the sign of the Indian with native headress still needs extensive and costly neon repair which it may never receive.
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June 7, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The next in the series of Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition Interpretive Murals was installed today in New Lenox, Illinois.
This collection of large scale works of public art can be found along the 179-mile Illinois byway corridor, in over two dozen communities. The latest mural is at 125 West Maple Street. It brings to life the story of the streetcar’s competition with the automobile.
As the designated Scenic Byway management agency overseeing the Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway, the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition (ILHC) received a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism, Attraction Development (TAP) Grant, to work with Jay Allen of ShawCraft Signs to implement the project.
For more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway, places to see and things to do, stories of the highway’s significance and history, or to download an Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide, visit drivelincolnhighway.com.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Illinois, interpretive murals, Lincoln Highway
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs | Leave a Comment »
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