LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Fellow roadtripper Denny Gibson visited the Ohio Lincoln Highway League’s meeting last Saturday in Ashalnd Ohio. As always, he documented it with great photos. Click the link to start on the second day, then follow along as he takes the Lincoln Highway through Mansfield and westward. www.dennygibson.com
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
Jeff Blair has been walking the Lincoln Highway across Indiana to promote the highway but also asking for pledges of support to be split evenly between the Alzheimer’s Association in Indiana and the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association. He has reported on his walk daily since he headed west from the Ohio border on April 14. His blog at www.blairwalk.com/daily-blog is a fun read and many await his daily updates. As he nears the completion, just yesterday he wrote:
I can tell we are tiring …the decibel level of groaning when we climb out of the car to check in to a new motel rises each day. But we eat a good meal, get a good night’s sleep, and everyone is ready to go again the next day.
Jan and Bill Arick walked with Jeff a couple days, as many others have. Jan wrote, “The success of this walk is an incredible story and Bill and I have been honored to be part of it. Crowds and school kids have been turning out along the route. Mayors are walking and holding dedication ceremonies! People are stopping along the road and handing Jeff donations! It’s so neat to see the support for Jeff’s efforts.”
Here are some photos from Jeff’s blog, starting with a Lincoln Highway sign near Townley; New Haven City Hall; the Bonnie Doon in Mishawaka; B&J’s American Cafe in LaPorte; and making the turn at Oak Knoll.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The 19th annual Lincoln Highway Association conference will take place June 20–24 at Stateline, Nevada, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. The host hotel is Harrah’s Lake Tahoe (along with with Harvey’s), where you will register for the conference, browse the book room, enjoy the Opening Night Banquet, attend the Thursday program lectures, and celebrate the end of a great conference with Friday’s Continental Breakfast Buffet.
Paul Gilger, conference committee co-chair, sent a report from a planning meeting held Saturday at Harrah’s. Among the 20 committee members attending from Nevada and California were Jim and Lani Bonar at head of table, Bob Dieterich to Lani’s left, Geno Oliver 3rd from right, Bob Chase front left, with Paul taking the photo.
The group took a tram up Heavenly Mountain to visit Lakeview Lodge, site of the awards banquet.
Paul took a telephoto shot of the conference hotels: Harveys at left, Harrah’s behind tree at right, and the Lincoln Highway between them.
And then a shot of the Rainbow Bridge at Donner Pass.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition unveiled its newest mural on April, 13, 2011, at 810 Main Street in Ashton, Illinois. The Coalition’s murals will soon be found in more than two dozen communities along the 179-mile National Scenic Byway corridor across the northern tier of the state.
The Lincoln Highway Coalition collaborated with Ashton Mayor John Martinez and Village Clerk Sharon Van Dam to develop the theme with designer Jay Allen, President of ShawCraft Sign Company. Ashton’s mural recalls the town’s 1921 Pavement Jubilee, a two-day celebration honoring the newly paved section of the Lincoln Highway and the town’s new electric streetlights.
For more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition — places to see, things to do, festivals, special events, highway history and stories or to download a free ILHC Visitor Guide — go to www.drivelincolnhighway.com/
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
LHA director for Indiana Jeff Blair will be walking the Lincoln Highway across the state starting this Thursday, April 14. The walk will start at the Ohio border and for two weeks head west over the 170 miles to Illinois. He is asking for pledges of support or donations that will be split evenly between the Alzheimer’s Association in Indiana and the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association. Follow his blog at www.blairwalk.com or contact him at jeffblair87@gmail.com or (574) 453-3158.
Jeff says he’s looking forward to seeing some of the old buildings, businesses, and Midwest scenery along the original 1913 route and posting photos on his blog:
Also, I want to celebrate my 63rd birthday by walking the 170 mile distance over 2 weeks just to prove I still can. I have driven 2/3 of the coast-to-coast route over the past two years and only the Wyoming to San Francisco drive remains. About 3 years ago I also got interested in Alzheimer’s as my father in law (Leo Radkey) was deteriorating physically and mentally.
Join Jeff at a stop or walk along a while. Here’s a general schedule:
April 14 – OH/IN border to New Haven (11 miles)
April 15 – New Haven to Ft Wayne (11 miles)
April 16 – Ft Wayne to Churubusco (11 miles)
April 17 – Churubusco to Kimmel (15 miles)
April 18 – Kimmel to W. of Ligonier (13 miles)
April 19 – W. of Ligonier to Goshen (13 miles)
April 20 – Goshen to Mishawaka (17 miles)
April 21 – Mishawaka to South Bend (11 miles)
April 22 – South Bend to New Carlisle (11 miles)
April 23 – New Carlisle to La Porte (12 miles)
April 24 – La Porte to Westville (12 miles)
April 25 – Westville to Valparaiso (11 miles)
April 26 – Valparaiso to Schereville (13 miles)
April 27 – Schereville to IN/IL border (10 miles)
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Tom Neely, a songwriter and music teacher in the Lincoln Highway town of Dublin, California (just south of San Francisco) has been writing and performing music most of his life. After seeing Rick Sebak’s Lincoln Highway show on PBS, Tom was inspired to write a song about the joys of the open road: “it seemed like an easy metaphor for freedom. The lyrics, to be honest, wrote themselves.” Tom says he and his wife “plan to drive it with our kids some time. We love nothing more than throwing our kids in the back seat and following our noses.”
Listen to Tom’s bluesy tune “Endless Highway” or download an mp3 for free:
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Plans are underway to create a ‘gateway park” in Plainfield, Illinois, at the crossroads of the Lincoln Highway and Route 66 — now US 30 and SR 159. The Plainfield Patch reports that “Michael Bortell told the Plainfield Village Board Monday that he plans to apply for a $5,000 matching grant from the National Park Service to fund a redevelopment study for the .925-acre site, which is one of the most historic in the village.” A gas station at the triangle-shaped property was removed last year when Illinois 59 was widened. The historically significant Corbin-Bingham-Worst house would become a visitors center with parking and park land. Another house and two garages would be demolished.
Bortell says the project:
would not only celebrate the only place in the country where two of the most famous cross-county roads intersect but would preserve the land on which the village’s first industrial business, the Dillman Foundry, was built in 1848.”
As for the house, it belonged to one of the first families to settle in Plainfield within the first 20 years of the town’s establishment and was home to Plainfield’s second doctor, Oliver J. Corbin.
Bortell admits that part of his motivation is to keep yet another historic house from being torn down, with nothing built in its place.
Note that another crossroads of the two famous highways can be found in Joliet, Illinois.
Photo by Bill and Karen McKibbon from their excellent travel blog billstraveljournal.blogspot.com/.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A road project in western Pennsylvania will widen eastbound and westbound lanes along the Lincoln Highway/U.S. Route 30 to create a turning lane. The Tribune Review reports that “a 1-1/2-mile stretch in Hempfield to create a center turning lane is on schedule, with the opening of construction bids in November or December…. The project, which is estimated to cost between $7 million and $12 million, has been targeted since the early 1990s, but has funding available from state and federal sources to move forward.”
The project design covers an area near Walton Tea Room Road, just west of the Toll Route 66 interchange, through Lincoln Heights to the Route 30 intersection with Possum Hollow Road and West Penn Drive, near a West Penn Power building and Sacred Heart Cemetery.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Two Lincoln Highway talks are planned this week. Bonnie Heimbach, project director of the Lincoln Highway Coalition, will speak at Kishwaukee Valley Heritage Society’s Brown Bag Luncheon from noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 (at the Water Works Building, 622 Park Ave., Genoa) about the transcontinental road and its impact on Illinois. The luncheon also will feature the LHC’s traveling exhibit of the Lincoln Highway. There is no charge to attend, but donations are welcome. For more information, call (815) 784-5559.
Above, the offical LHA Packard visits the. MacMahon memorial brick pillar near Crestline, Ohio. Courtesy Univ. of Michigan, Special Collections Library.
On Saturday, February 19, Bob Lichty, Past President of the Lincoln Highway Association and former board member of Ohio’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, will discuss the Lincoln Highway at The National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio, northwest of Youngstown. His talk will include a brief history of the road, recollections of the 2003 Cross Country tour, and a preview of the LHA centennial tours in 2013.
The presentation, from 11 a.m. to noon, is part of the museum’s Coffee and Donut Seminar Series that coincides with its 1th Annual Antique Motorcycle exhibit, “Motorcycles on Main Street,” which feature a collection of more than 30 significant two wheel machines. They are on display through May 29 alongside 25 beautiful Packard automobiles and memorabilia from the museum’s outstanding collection.
The educational seminars are free and open to the public but you must pre-register. For more information or to registar call the museum at (330) 394-1899.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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