Al Pfingstl, NJ LHA director, writes about an annual celebration at the Abraham Lincoln statue located along the Lincoln Highway in Jersey City, as seen in his photo below. This year is special in that it’s the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.
The Lincoln Association of Jersey City is the oldest organization in the country dedicated to the memory, preservation, and understanding of Abraham Lincoln and what he stood for. Begun in 1865, it was formally founded in 1867, 2 years after the death of the President and provides a forum to present scholarship concerning the life, career, and legacy of the 16th President of the United States. The Lincoln Association of Jersey City strives to promote fellowship as well as scholarship in the spirit of Lincoln.
On Thursday, February 12, 2009, at Noon at the statue of Lincoln at the entrance of Lincoln Park, Kennedy Boulevard, and Belmont Avenue in Jersey City, First Vice President Guy Catrillo will host the annual monument ceremony. Dr. Jules Ladenheim, a Past President of the Lincoln Association, will deliver one of President Lincoln’s memorable speeches. The ceremony will conclude with a placing of a wreath at the statue.
At 5:30 PM, the Association will host the 144th Annual Dinner at the Casino in the Park, with a featured speaker to be announced. Cost of the dinner is $60 if you reserve a space or $70 at the door.
To reserve a dinner spot or for more information contact info@thelincolnassociationofjerseycity.com/ or send a check with your name and the names of those attending, and your postal and e-mail addresses to the Secretary of the Lincoln Association, 9120 Columbia Ave., North Bergen NJ 07047.
Diner fan and fanatic John Shoaf couldn’t just read about the deconstruction of the Crosser Diner along the Lincoln Highway in Lisbon Ohio — he had to drive from West Virginia to see the situation for himself. Sorry to say, not only will St. Louis not be getting the diner, but neither will anyone else. John reports that if there ever was a deal to move it, the buyer never showed or paid. The porcelain enameled panels have been taken off and stored, but by now the wooden framing has been burned!
At least he got a look at it first:
WOW!! B.G. Harley’s design used by Sterling is highly evident in what’s left. Each of the four-foot sections is highly visible. The “frame base flanges/bolts” can easily be seen in how it was constructed, with each four-foot section bolted together till the diner was the size you wanted.
Interesting even more to me: It started as a CURVED ROOF diner in the plant but was given a flat-ish over roof (using the same wood as the curved part so it wasn’t an after add-on) to make it a later updated squared-off design.
Too bad that even one neato four-foot section isn’t going to be saved for posterity, it’s a crying shame. A beautiful example GONE FOREVER
Renovation plans have been drawn up for the Summit Rest Area and Information Center along I-80 (x 323) and across from the Lincoln Highway in eastern Wyoming. The site is best known for a giant bust of Abraham Lincoln and a monument to LHA president Henry Joy. The site is atop the Pole Mountains in the Medicine Bow National Forest — the highest point on both roadways.
Plans were prepared by the Roybal Corporation, which worked closely with the Wyoming Travel & Tourism Council to create interpretive exhibits providing information to visitors about things to explore along the I-80 corridor in southern Wyoming.
A video was posted in November 2008 showing the drawings in 3-D:
Researchers and photographers Shellee Graham and Jim Ross have a new book out, Roadside USA: Route 66 and Beyond, published by Jim’s Ghost Town Press. Though they’re known for their work along Route 66, they’ve also done extensive photography along the Lincoln Highway — note the “L” pole on the cover.
Shellee told me, “We had a ball driving the Lincoln Highway in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah. Memorable scenery, people and landmarks — can’t wait to do the rest. It was so interesting looking for the Scouts’ [1928 concrete] Lincoln markers.” The 64-page paperback, featuring 30 postcards, is $10.95 and available on Amazon.
The Crosser Diner, which has served the Lincoln Highway in Lisbon, Ohio, for more than half a century, is being carted away. The rare Sterling model at 127 W. Lincoln Way has been closed for years, leading to speculation and concern that it might be demolished. The Lisbon Morning Journalreports that Herb Chesney is disassembling the historic diner for owners Gayle Beck and Paul Hammond, who are salvaging as much of the diner as possible in hopes of reconstructing it just outside St. Louis, Missouri. This photo by Patti Schaeffer is from the December 28 Morning Journal.
The Sterling-brand diner was manufactured about 1944 by J.B. Judkins of Merrimac, Mass., best known for their streamliner models featuring one or both ends rounded. This Dinette model is one of only 4 survivors.
Discussion continued about the progress of Crosser’s Diner off Lincoln Way. Lewis expressed his dissatisfaction with the level of communication among the village and the owners and contractor. “Do we have any contact or time frame?” Lewis asked. “We seem to be in the dark up here.” No members of council could give an answer about the progression of the demolition. Solicitor Virginia Barbarak said she did speak with the fire chief but that she “didn’t have a time frame.” Lewis said he’d like to find out when the contractor will be finishing the work. “We need to know,” he said. “A lot of people are upset. I’d like to see it gone by the end of the year.”
With Lincoln Highway tourism rising, the diner could have been an amazing draw for the town, which has a 1950s diner a few blocks away. Here’s the diner in 2007:
Lincoln Highway fans can help send birthday greetings in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birth 200 years ago. According to an AP article sent by Jan Shupert-Arick, the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is asking people to send cards to Lincoln for his 200th birthday on Feb. 12. The 16th president even has an official USPS address: Abraham Lincoln, Old State Capitol, 1 Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, Illinois, 62701-1512.
Commission chairwoman Marilyn Kushak says she hopes birthday greetings pour in from around the world to Lincoln’s hometown, where he moved after growing up in southern Indiana. She recommends that people make the cards by hand. The cards it receives may be used for displays or publicity.
The 2nd Annual Iowa Lincoln Highway Motor Tour has been set for August 28-30, 2009. Featured stops along the west-to-east tour will include Desoto Bend, Carroll, Jefferson, Boone, Nevada, Marshalltown, Tama, Youngville, Cedar Rapids, Mechanicsville, Lowden, and Clinton.
ABOVE: George Preston’s station, Belle Plaine. Photo from the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association site, by Bryan Osberg, Urbandale, Iowa.
The tour is open to any make and model car, though a good many classics show up too. Registration is $20 per vehicle for Iowa LHA members or $30 per vehicle for non-members (includes a 1-year membership to the Iowa LHA) Click HERE for the registation form. For more information, contact Iowa LH Road Run coordinator Jeff LaFollette at jefflaf@peoplepc.com/.
The 1886 home of Col. and Mrs. Cody, a long-time Lincoln Highway stop in North Platte, Nebraska, is decorated for an 1880s Christmas. Nightly events include period reenactors, caroling, roasting chestnuts, horse-drawn carriage rides, hot cider, holiday music, the armed services honor tree, and Santa Claus. The 1887 horse barn, log cabin, and other outbuildings are decorated with exterior Christmas lights. The mansion has 18 lighted and decorated trees inside, while the barn has a large lighted and decorated tree, where visitors may make their own ornament to hang.
At Buffalo Bill State Park / Scouts Rest Ranch, 2921 Scouts Rest Ranch Road. Tonight is the last evening so hit the road now! “Christmas at the Cody’s” runs from 5:30-8 p.m.
Ken Ruffner wrote me with a question regarding an image in my book The Lincoln Highway: Pennsylvania Travelers Guide. It’s the historic photo on page 153 (1st ed., 1996) of the Horseshoe Curve above McConnellsburg, Pa.
I had said the view is looking west to McConnellsburg, with the new road on the right. Ken wrote, “but then the road on the right is lower than the one on the left when in fact it really is higher on the hill… this photo doesn’t register with me…. could you please help me out with this so I can let it go… a friend of mine and I left the area with more questions than we started out with.”
Above is an aerial view showing modern US 30 as a straight line and the old LH/US 30 curving up the mountainside. They still join at a prominent horseshoe curve but I wrote in my book that the photo was along the old curvy road, about where the “y” is in “Lincoln Way E.” I had discerned this by walking the old road, but after Ken inspired me to look at the aerial view, I realized the entire curve survives, though only partially driveable. The “lost” remnant is on the west/left side of Old 30/Lincoln Way E – it’s much more visible in the close-up below.
I see where Ken could be confused, but the new curve was broader and hence closer to the drop off. Look below at my proposed routings: red is the original (we’ll call it 1913 for LH reference), purple is the new (1924) curve. The original (red) road/curve that sat higher would have survived the 1924 reshaping, as seen in the historic photo, but was erased when the current road split the horseshoe about 1970.
The topo maps show the evolution, the first showing the original curve as a sharp turn, the second showing the broader 1930 revision.
The last mystery is the little road south of all this that likewise has a turnoff to the east. I marked it in blue. Is it an earlier alignment? A detour during construction in 1924? Or 1970? Or was there a house there at some point?
Note about exploring the 1924 alignment — the road in my 1992 photo is blocked and walking it may be trespassing now, though perhaps it’s just blocked to stop traffic. When I walked it back then, it was beautiful and thrilling to be discovering an old alignment. What an eerie feeling to stand where thousands of cars once chugged up the mountain.
Fallon, along the Lincolon Highway in western Nevada, is today celebrating its centennial of becoming an incorporated city. According to the Lahontan Valley News, there was no town at the turn of the century until rancher Mike Fallon sold his land to Warren Williams in 1903, who then began selling lots on what is now the west end of town. The eastern part was established on land owned by John Oats.
“Initially, Fallon was a mining town, and in 1919 the city experienced an oil boom. Growing alfalfa has been and is still one of the most stable income for local farmers. Currently, the valley’s 30,000 farming acres produces an average of 5 tons per acre — 70 percent is shipped out of state.” Mert Domonoske, past mayor of Fallon for 16 years, said when he moved to Fallon in 1948, there were about 2,300 residents, and the only road leading out of town was a two-lane highway. Now “The Oasis of Nevada” has 8,000 citizens.
Smiley Kent moved to Fallon in 1950 after marrying Bob Kent in Elko. Her husband grew up in Fallon and has spent his entire life here. The couple first lived in a home in downtown Fallon, and Maine Street was the place in town where people shopped, Kent said there was not much traffic in the 1950s, and businesses were scattered throughout the city. What she first noticed about Fallon was its peacefulness and all the trees on Williams Avenue. She said Center Street also served as the Lincoln Highway and was the road on which people traveled when leaving town. She said the town always pulled together during tough times, and remembers Mom’s Place at Allen Road and Williams Avenue as the last business on the west side of town. “The town keeps going west,” she said. “The town has expanded so much.”
Events run this evening from 6-8 pm starting when the current mayor and council members arrive at Oats Park by horse-drawn Wells Fargo stagecoach. Festivities will includea bonfire, food, drinks, church bells ringing, musical performances, and singing “Happy Birthday” with a big birthday cake. Just bundle up – freezing temps are predicted all day and week.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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Lincoln Highway fans can help send birthday greetings in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birth 200 years ago. According to an 
At Buffalo Bill State Park / Scouts Rest Ranch, 2921 Scouts Rest Ranch Road. Tonight is the last evening so hit the road now! “Christmas at the Cody’s” runs from 5:30-8 p.m.
Lincoln Highway News 