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).
Last weekend I drove mostly 2-lane roads to Norfolk, Virginia, and back to Pittsburgh, some 900 miles. At Breezewood, Pa., a couple long-time Lincoln Highway landmarks were out of business: the Family House Restaurant and adjacent Penn Aire Motel. I’ve stayed at the motel and it was fine but certainly on the familiar decline from 1950s fabulous to no-longer-AAA-rated. The restaurant seemed to thrive but Turnpike traffic was noticeably down this trip.
On a brighter note, the trip to Virginia included favorite roadside stops like Dinosaurland and some new ones in the Shenandoah Mountains. Flickr friend loungelistener cued me into a couple cool places on US 50 just west of Winchester, Virginia, including the curved-layout Hayfield Motel and the tiny Amherst Diner, where I had a nice breakfast.
While researching my Roadside Attractions book, I wanted to stop at Doumar’s Cones & Barbecue, opened 1934 in Norfolk and now I had the chance. Here’s 87-year-old Albert outside the cool carhop drive-in with his family’s 1905 waffle cone maker! Albert claims it was his Uncle Abe who invented the ice cream cone during the 1904 St. Louis Exposition.
Don’t forget that this Saturday, May 9, will be the last chance for the public to visit Clarksville, California, and one of the longest (and off-limits) sections of original Lincoln Highway between Sacramento and Carson City, Nevada.
As reported here earlier, the long-abandoned town of Clarksville, just outside of El Dorado Hills, California, is set to be cleared and developed in the next couple years. The property is now private land but the owner has agreed to open the site for the annual Clarksville Day historical celebration. About dozen structures remain from the town that, if not large, was once thriving. Cars will be able to drive the Lincoln Highway this one last day; click HERE for a full schedule of events.
Above, the Clarksville Region Historical Society crew, preparing the site for the festival, stands on the Lincoln Highway. Photo by Pat Thomsen, Secretary, CRHS.
Update: The local newspaper just did a preview story.
When Lincoln Highway Association pioneer Gregory Franzwa took ill, President Bob Dieterich wanted to honor him before he died. He says, “We didn’t make it in time, but my wife and I drove over to Utah last week to give this to Kathy [along with Jesse Petersen].” The photo below shows Jess and Bob giving the proclamation to Kathy (after all the tears stopped).
The proclamation establishes an annual “Gregory M. Franzwa Award” to be given to the organization or individual doing the most to promote the Association. Click HERE to see the full text. Also, a fund has been established in Greg’s name to be used for preservation projects. Contributions can be sent to Jesse Petersen, P.O. Box 1075, Tooele, UT 84074.
By now, you’ve read here about the recreation of Alice Ramsey’s pioneering drive in 1909, making her the first woman to drive across the U.S. Most of her route west of Ligonier, Indiana, would become the Lincoln Highway four years later.
This summer, Emily Anderson, 38, of Seattle, will retrace Alice’s trip in an identical 1909 Maxwell, thanks to her father Richard’s expert efforts to create one from parts. The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a nice article about local efforts to welcome the Maxwell when it arrives there June 18, 2009. The writer gives a nod to Gregory Franzwa’s reprinting of Alice’s memoir of the trip.
The trip launches June 9 from Broadway in New York City. Read more at aliceramsey.org including how they’re test driving it for 1,000 miles before the big trip.
There’s no breaking news today and I’ve been working nonstop since noon Wednesday to finish my book on the Ship Hotel. It’s getting there but still rough in the Noah’s Ark chapter and the deadline looms hours away.
Former LHA president Jan Shupert-Arick has been giving presentations and signings for her new book and postcard set, The Lincoln Highway Across Indiana. She researched this photographic history of the LH through Indiana by acessing private collections, historical societies, museums, and libraries in Indiana and Michigan. She reports, “It’s been fun so far!”
Look for Jan at these locations:
Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne), Sunday April 26, 2 p.m.
Studebaker Drivers Club Zone Meet (South Bend), Sat-Sun May 1-2
Center for History (South Bend), Friday May 8
The History Center (Fort Wayne), Saturday May 9, 2 p.m.
For more information, call (260) 471-5670.
Jan is a native of northern Indiana and her family has roots in the state’s automotive history. She is a past president of the Lincoln Highway Association and past director of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association. She serves on the northern Regional Council for Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. Her book covers both the original route across northern Indiana and the 1926 mid-state realignment.
She hopes that this work will serve to honor Abraham Lincoln’s legacy in this the bicentennial year of his birth as well as Indiana’s automotive and road building heritage: “My intent is that this book will serve as a lasting reminder of Indiana’s leadership in building the nation’s first coast-to-coast auto road. I hope that it will reflect the spirit of Indiana that embraced the road as a patriotic effort to improve commerce by building good roads to move goods and to provide a road for private citizens.”
PBS producer Rick Sebak, whose A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway debuted in October, dazzled attendees to the Frick Art & Historical Center’s Model T Jubillee weekend with tales of road trips near and far. Here he is recalling a trip he almost drove from South America:
A number of Model Ts were on display and can be seen through Sunday May 3 as part of ARevolution on Wheels: The Model T at 100. The Frick has borrowed four vintage autos to supplement the 1914 Model T Touring car already in its collection: a 1909 Model T Touring Car, a 1917 Model T Runabout, a 1925 Model T Depot Hack, and a 1926 Model T Coupe.
Here, a display of Model T parts and ephemera sits in front of the 1909 model:
And here is the 1917 Runabout outfitted as a fire chief’s car:
They also have a freshly restored 1908 Buick:
Visit the Frick’s Car & Carriage Museum at 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze, www.frickart.org, (412) 371-0600.
The Car and Carriage Museum at the Frick Art & Historical Center is hosting a weekend-long Model T Jubilee. The celebration and activities on Saturday and Sunday celebrate the exhibit “A Revolution on Wheels: The Model T at 100,” which opened in October to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1908 Model T. The exhibit, which contains five Model T Fords ranging from 1909 to 1926, will close on May 3. The museum is along the Lincoln Highway in the Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh, Pa.
ABOVE: Model T Fords at the Frick’s Car and Carriage Museum. Photo by Pytlik Design Associates.
Saturday will feature kid activities. The highlight on Sunday is a lecture at 1:30 p.m. by WQED-TV’s Rick Sebak discussing his most recent PBS television program, A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway. (If you haven’t heard it for a while, have a listen to the excellent song that accompanied the video, Goin all the Way on the Lincoln Highway composed and performed by Buddy Nutt.)
The Model T Jubilee is free; Sebak’s talk is $10, $8 for members. The Frick is at 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze, www.frickart.org, (412) 371-0600.
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor has announced that the first of the Roadside Giants student sculptures has been installed along the Lincoln Highway west of Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The Roadside Giants program encourages students from vocational and technical schools along the Lincoln Highway (US 30 in PA) to design and create sculptures that will line the road. They are named for the larger-than-life buildings and statues that are used to attract travelers to stop and spend some time and money, documented in such esteemed books as Roadside Giants — yes, written by me and my wife Sarah.
The first Giant, from the Eastern Westmoreland Career & Technology Center, is a replica 1940s Bennett Gas Pump at the future site of the Lincoln Highway Experience, a welcome center and attraction in Ligonier Township. It’s at the intersection of US 30W and Route 259, near the Idlewild Park entrance. Ligonier Livingalso wrote a story about it.
Four other schools will also soon install giants:
• Somerset County Career & Technology Center designed a vintage Bicycle Built for Two
• Bedford County Technical Center students created an oversized quarter including a profile of Washington
• Franklin County Career & Technology Center built a replica 1921 Selden Apple Truck like the ones used to haul produce at Chambersburg’s orchards.
• Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center wanted to design a Lincoln Highway-era figure, so they chose a Packard Car with Driver.
“I love art and education,” said Olga Herbert, Executive Director of the LHHC. The Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway project combined the two, and involved the community. It will create another great photo op for all Lincoln Highway road trips this summer.”
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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