The re-creation of the 1919 trip across the country of the U.S. Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy is making the news as the event approaches. Papers such as the Clinton, Iowa, Herald are reporting lately on the convoy’s passing through their areas. The original convoy is perhaps best remembered today for including young Dwight Eisenhower.
Sponsored by the Military Vehicle Preservation Association, up to 150 military vehicles will retrace the convoy’s itinerary, which followed the Lincoln Highway for most of its route west of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This 26-day convoy will depart from Washington D.C. on June 13 and arrive in San Francisco on July 8, crossing all or part of 11 states.
For more information visit www.mvpa.org and click the 2009 Convoy button on the left. Click HERE for the complete schedule of stops.
Also, the new Indiana LHA brochure includes not only a map of the Lincoln Highway but a description and map of the convoy trip. Visit www.indianalincolnhighway.com to request one.
A 3-story hotel, built in the 1880s along Main Street in Irwin, Pennsylvania, was destroyed by fire yesterday. Only minor injuries are reported, but 16 men living there lost everything. The hotel had 35 rooms, a bar, and dining room but all that remains is a brick shell, the roof and third floor having collapsed. The town’s main street, in an uncommon arrangement, runs perpendicular to the Lincoln Highway, which passes a couple blocks south of the hotel.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Reviewreports the fire was started by a grease fire from a resident cooking breakfast; throwing water on it spread the flames. (Trib photo above; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also reported on it.) A police officer was able to go door-to-door to evacuate, and firefighters arrived minutes later, but the fire chief said it was hopeless despite more than 20 fire companies responding. The historic Lamp Theater next door appears to be safe. This follows 5 weeks after a fire destroyed a historic inn in Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania.
Roadside artists, authors, and photographers are wanted for the 2009 Lincoln Highway Association Conference in South Bend, Indiana, June 15-20, 2009. A reception will offer an easily accessible place for the public and LHA members to meet those who create the works. Imagery and books are especially encouraged that relate to the Lincoln and Dixie highways.
The conference will feature an author and artist public reception on Thursday, June 18, at the South Bend Century Center, where products will be for sale. Authors can reserve a table to display and sell books but there’s limited space to display artwork and photos in the vendor room and reception area at the host hotel Holiday Inn.
Last summer, some bicycle enthusiasts decided to retrace the route of the Pony Express from Sacramento, California, to St. Josephs, Missouri. Their particular sport is randonneuring — long-distance, unsupported, non-competitive endurance cycling. Some of their travels naturally followed the Lincoln Highway. Their story was just published in American Randonneur or you can read a shortened version of their adventures HERE.
LH locales include Folsom, Pollack Pines, Carson Ciy, Lahontan Reservoir, US 50 across Nevada (including Middlegate, Ausstin, Eureka, and Ely), SLC, Coalville, Evanston, Ogallala, North Platte, and Kearney. You can tell from gaps in the list that they often are NOT on the LH. Above is one of their bikes at Rosevear’s Ranch, a former Overland Stage station in Nevada.
One adventure they write about took place between Austin and Eureka:
We climbed up the switch backs that led us out of town and then climbed three more mountain passes before coming to Devil’s Gate at dusk. Danny was out ahead of me when he started yelling. I soon saw what looked like a long piece of wood on the road. As I got close, it all of a sudden balled up and I let out a scream and swerved to the other side of the road. I had no idea what kind of snake it was, but it was big! This experience taught us that snakes started crawling out at night to enjoy the heat of the pavement. It was a great incentive for us to get off the road before sundown.
The recession has not slowed development east of Lancaster PA, on a strip that has not stopped reinventing itself for a half-century. Lancaster Online reports that among the projects being considered is redevelopment at 2331 Lincoln Highway East, site of a Rodeway Inn. It would mean the demolition of the former Italian Villa East Restaurant whose motto on old postcards was “A touch of Italy in Dutchland.”
According to a follow-up today, the owners plan to demolish the restaurant and build an 83-room hotel to connect to the existing 39-room Rodeway Inn. The 122 rooms would be operated Rodeway Inn and another chain owned by the same company, sharing a breakfast area between them.
The township engineer expressed concerns regarding an access drive, curbing, excess lot coverage, and that the old building might have historic value.
But the developer “said after a search on the Internet and talking with Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, he couldn’t come up with any records that the dwelling would be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The supervisors, however, still recommended the owners look into somehow reusing materials from the dwelling in the new structure to give it a local flavor.”
The site is across from and very close to the former Congress Inn, a vintage motel that’s set to be demolished and replaced by newer accommodations as I reported a half-year ago.
Medicine Bow, along a beautiful stretch of the Lincoln Highway in eastern Wyoming, will celebrate its centennial this summer with a weekend celebration. The town is best known for its Virginian Hotel, named for the Owen Wister novel The Virginian. Wister wrote the western while in town and the hotel/saloon was built shortly after. This video gives a brief taste of the town:
The special events take place June 25-28 during the ”Medicine Bow – 100 years of History” weekend. The kick-off event is a showing of the 1914 silent film The Virginian directed by Cecil B. Demille, accompanied by live music. Other events include a world-class quick draw shooting contest, parade, pancake breakfast, and street dances.
Visitors can stay at The Virginian and even try the Owen Wister Suite. (That’s it above when Rick Sebak and the PBS crew stopped by.) The writer’s log cabin has been relocated to across the street. At the Dip Bar & Diner check out the western art paintings that adorn the ceiling, walls, and the floor, or the bar made from the longest slab of jade in the world.
It’s not Lincoln Highway-centric, but if you like old cars and gas stations you’ll want to watch for FREE the video that accompanies the book I mentioned previously, Fill ’er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Station. The half-hour-long show is on the Wisconsin Public Television web site in 8 segments or can be purchased as a DVD. It’s a fun and informative look at stations, and you don’t need to be from Wisconsin to appreciate the info, the places visited, and the cool films and photos. Click HERE to go to the page of segments plus some related clips such as a look at an 1878 experiment with steam-driven carriages that may have been the world’s first car race. Below is a scene from the video.
As reported here recently, a street sign was dedicated on the Lincoln birthday bicentennial marking the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway at Times Square. LHA director Jerry Peppers has been working on getting a permanent marker and was part of the unveiling. Here are some photos from his daughter Amy Peppers that document the unveiling, including the broken string drama.
The sign awaits unveiling with the pull-string secured until it’s ready.
Commissioner of the New York City DOT Janette Sadik-Kahn joins Jerry Peppers to pull off the cover.
But wait! The cover rips and the string pulls off!!
Who you gonna call?
NYC DOT workers to the rescue!
Finally!
Peppers and Sadik-Kahn pose with Tim Tompkins, President of Times Square Alliance.
And Pepper again shows what he’d really like – a marker, perhaps a concrete post, at the intersection.
A new mailer/flyer details plans for the museum building being planned by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in western Pennsylvania. The Lincoln Highway Experience will be the largest and most prominent site documenting the Lincoln Highway.
To be located just west of Ligonier, Pa., the Lincoln Highway Experience will tell the story of the highway both in the state and on a national level. Interpretive exhibits will focus on the years 1912-1940 but the emphasis will be on what is still along the corridor, encouraging visitors to get out and drive the road.
The building itself was designed by Venturi Scott Brown Associates, familiar to roadside fans for their pioneering work, including publication of Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (1972, revised 1977) by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. The 10,000 s.f interior was handled by Maude Group and Kissiloff Associates and will include two films.
The LHHC has helped secure and administer grants for dozens of regional projects and is now launching its own capital campaign for the Experience. Donors at the $2,500 level will bceome members of The Lincoln Circle, with naming opportunities. The LHHC was designated in 1995 to promote economic development through tourism. Visit www.lhhc.org for more information about the Corridor.
Ford was producing so many cars in the ’teens and that it built satellite assembly plants in cities so Detroit could efficiently ship “knocked down” chassis, and final assembly could be done near the point of sale. Pittsburgh’s plant has long sat decaying on its automobile row, Baum Boulevard, the Lincoln Highway through the east end of town. Now the final tenant is moving out but plans call for a revamping into medical offices.
The Pittsburgh plant at 5000 Baum Blvd (at Morewood) in Bloomfield was one of two dozen that Ford opened in the spring of 1915. Though only 40 cars were produced per day, it served the needs of the region through 1932. The ghost of the Ford Motor Company script can still be seen along the roofline.
The Post-Gazette reports that the last tenant — the flagship Paper Mart store — closed after 25 years there:
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center bought the building about two years ago and began clearing tenants out as their leases ended. Papermart was the last tenant when its lease expired in January. UPMC extended the lease on a month-by-month basis, but the cost had gone up….
Frank Raczkiewicz, a spokesman for UPMC, said the building will be “another cancer research facility” and that the medical giant, which is based in Oakland with headquarters Downtown, has already outgrown the Hillman Cancer Center.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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