From May through August, 1915, LHA vice-president and field secretary Henry Ostermann led a film crew across the Lincoln Highway. The resulting promotion film, the “Three-Mile Picture Show,” was shown for years but no copies are known to have survived.
Luckily for us, and history, Edward Holden was along for the ride — he was Ostermann’s secretary, in charge of the filming but also documenting the trip in photos too.
The crew stopped east of Bedford, Pa., to snap this picture next to the Juniata River. The caption reads “‘Orphy’ Canaday and ‘Maud’ posing for the pictures. Maud is the one on wheels. Both came from Indiana.”
A century ago, Lincoln Highway tourists crossing Nebraska often stopped five miles west of Kearney for a photo at the 1733 Ranch. Its sign “1733 miles to Frisco, 1733 miles to Boston” was iconic … except that both mileages were wrong and the Lincoln Highway never went to Boston.
The 1915 LHA guidebook lists Kearney as 1752 miles from San Francisco and 1632 miles from New York City. So why 1733, and how did Kearney come to promote itself as the “Midway City”?
History professor John T. Bauer wrote in the Summer 2015 issue of Nebraska History that the 1733 mileage is derived from the railroad route between the two, which the city embraced as early as 1890.
When the LHA movie caravan crossed the country in 1915 to produce a promotion film, hundreds of photos were taken by Edward Holden, secretary to LHA vice president and field secretary Henry C. Ostermann. The above photo then leads to an interesting question; the 1733 Ranch name has long been said to stem from new owners in 1917, but this 1915 photo indicates otherwise.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
As reported by Nebraska Outback, the town of Brule (west pf Ogalalla) wants to tear down an old hotel along the Lincoln Highway to make way for other businesses. According to KNOP-TV (source of the screen shot below), “A new Community Development Agency in Brule wants to revitalize the downtown area, starting with this old hotel building on 2nd and State streets.”
Although no plan or even interest in the location is mentioned, the agency official nonetheless says a replacement “will be a nice looking structure that will start bringing in tax base. That basically helps all those entities that are dependent on upon tax income.”
It is unfortunate that when a structure looks old or in disrepair that so many want to demolish, when it is just those structures, restored or not, that give a community its character. This sense of heritage is exactly what people come to such towns looking for, not chain businesses that can be found anywhere.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Bernie Queneau, known to Lincoln Highway fans for his 1928 cross-country Boy Scout trip, celebrated his birthday Saturday July 14 with friends and family. An elegant dinner in Pittsburgh, Pa., included toasts and jokes ranging from his children to his young doctor. PBS’s Rick Sebak handed out DVDs of his Lincoln Highway program that includes the story of Bernie meeting LHA past-president Esther Oyster, and how that led to their marriage. A Powerpoint show by his daughter showed many fun times including the coast-to-coast trip.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Bernie Queneau, the Lincoln Highway’s best-known ambassador, celebrates his 100th birthday today. In 1928, he was one of four Eagle Scouts to cross the Lincoln Highway (at 16) as part of a Scouts’ Safety Tour, which also promoted the highway and its marking that September with thousands of iconic concrete posts.
I was fortunate that in 1997, LHA president Esther Oyster arranged with me to interview 85-yr-old Bernie at my workplace, the Heinz History Center. Years later they returned—together—and took me to lunch to announce their engagement! They were married in 2003 and continue to explore the world together, showing up a few weeks ago at the LHA conference in Ohio. That’s Bernie and Esther Queneau a few years ago at a LHHC event.
Check out Bernie recalling the 1928 trip in this brief outtake from Rick Sebak’s 2008 program about the Lincoln Highway. Click the image, then Bernie’s block near Pittsburgh, PA:
Today would also have been the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, known for his folk songs more closely associated with Route 66. The Lincoln Highway Association is also celebrating its centennial this year, culminating in a celebration July 1, 2013.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A new brief video by VintonToday features antique cars that participated in last weekend’s Lincoln Highway tour across Iowa, specifically at the restored Youngville Station between Cedar Rapids and Belle Plaine.
The accompanying music — unfortunately uncredited — is Buddy Nutt singing Goin all the Way On the Lincoln Highway, which he wrote for the PBS Lincoln Highway program produced by Rick Sebak.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A newly posted video uses a vintage player piano to play “Lincoln Highway,” a 1922 march by George B. Lutz. Click below to hear it.
I ran a photo of the sheet music in my book The Lincoln Highway: Pennsylvania Traveler’s Guide (music at right). Other similar marches were produced in 1914 and 1921.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Supervisors in Unity Twp., near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, have approved the demolition of the Hi-Way Drive-In Theater and its replacement by a CVS pharmacy. The outdoor theater is a beloved icon along the Lincoln Highway/U.S. 30.
Residents and drive-in fans tried protesting in recent months that the 51-year-old theater was popular with families, had a minimal or even pleasing impact on the landscape, and that CVS has a pharmacy less than a mile away at Mountain Laurel Plaza along Route 30. Nonetheless, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the screens and equipment will be razed, and construction will begin later this summer as soon as permits are issued.
“This isn’t anything against CVS … this is about taking a piece of our history for no apparent reason,” said Cindy Yutzy of Latrobe, adding that she believes that CVS could have found other land to purchase for a new pharmacy. “This is a piece of our history and, slowly, every piece of our history is going bye-bye because of big business.”
But landowner Richard Ridilla “wrote a letter to township officials indicating that, regardless of the outcome of the township’s negotiations with CVS, the drive-in and flea market would no longer be in operation” due to it not making a profit in recent year.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Rumors continue to swirl around the Hi-Way Drive-In Theater along the Lincoln Highway east of Pittsburgh in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The most likely fate is that drugstore chain CVS is buying the land to open a store. Perhaps the only delay now is assuring all permits proceed.
One post on the drive-in’s Facebook page listed a response from CVS:
CVS has outgrown the current store location in Latrobe and we need to relocate to a site that will be more convenient and accessible for our customers, which is why we are moving to a larger location on Rt. 30. According to the current property owners, the drive-in is being closed for financial reasons whether or not CVS moves to this site. We look forward to providing the Latrobe community with improved pharmacy services when we open our new store next year.
UPDATE: An article ran a week before this post in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
For years, reports have floated that the Hi-Way Drive-In Theater in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was to close and be replaced by development. Most recently, Target has been the retailer of choice, but the drive-in along the Lincoln Highway has made clear it’s stance: posted on the marquee is “No Target did not buy us.” Top photo by Kristin Poerschke, bottom by me (Brian) on a recent visit.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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