Archive for the ‘Lincoln Highway’ Category
February 11, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
On Saturday, February 12, 2011, noon, an annual ceremony will be held along the Lincoln Highway at the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the entrance of Lincoln Park, Kennedy Boulevard and Belmont Avenue in Jersey City. Lincoln Association VP Michael Ricciardone will host the ceremony, and Past President Dr. Jules Ladenheim will recite a letter or speech of President Lincoln. A local chorale will provide patriotic music, and the ceremony will conclude with a placing of a wreath at the monument. At 6 pm, the Association will host the One Hundred Forty-Sixth Annual Dinner at the Casino in the Park, Lincoln Park, Jersey City.
Tags:Abe Lincoln, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, New Jersey, roadtrip, statue, travel
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February 8, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Los Angeles Times reports that while planning for a 30-mile bike path along the Nevada shore of Lake Tahoe moves ahead, concerns from local Native Americans may halt the project at Cave Rock, considered a sacred site by the Washoe Tribe. The vintage slide below shows the site before a second tunnel was bored; the Lincoln Highway originally ran around the left side, which overlooks the lake.
The path is to be part of the Nevada Stateline-to-Stateline Bikeway Project, which aims to provide non-auto transportation opportunities that link recreation areas, community centers, transportation facilities, and neighborhoods in the bikeway corridor to expand recreational access and transportation choices for residents and visitors to the Tahoe Basin.
The Native American tribe doesn’t want people traveling around either side of the rock, which has been the target of past lawsuits over rock climbing. Proponents have looked into a route that would take the bikeway down the Old Lincoln Highway route, which roughly detours around Cave Rock on the lake side.
“The tribe is not interested in us using the Old Lincoln Highway,” project manager Karen Mullen told the Carson County Board of Supervisors earlier this week. “They are also not interested in us using the trail system around the other way.”
Project leaders told the board they want to keep the cycling route off U.S. Highway 50 as much as possible for the good of bikers and motorists alike. The path would connect Stateline on the south shore to Crystal Bay in the north.
Tags:bike path, Cave Rock, highway history, historic highway, land dispute, Lincoln Highway, Native American site, Nevada
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February 7, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The York Dispatch ran a nice story (and the photo below) about the reopening of Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum, a popular Lincoln Highway roadside attractions west of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Seven months after arson destroyed Ed Gotwalt’s business, the museum opened Saturday. State police have no suspects for the blaze that destroyed the museum and its 10,000-piece elephant collection. “I’m very blessed,” Gotwalt said. “I’m very excited. I want to share this with the world.”
The new museum features two elephant sculptures made from salvaged pieces of the destroyed elephant souvenirs. You can visit at 6019 Chambersburg Road/U.S. 30 in Orrtanna, between Chambersburg and Gettysburg, from 10 am – 5 pm daily; admission is FREE. Contributions made to the Tammy Lee Cullison Save the Animal Fund, in memory of Gotwalt’s daughter, will be given to the SPCA in Gettysburg and Chambersburg and an animal sanctuary in Tennessee.
Tags:elephant museum, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, museum, Pennsylvania, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, roadside, travel | 1 Comment »
January 27, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A brochure scanned and online for free download touts a Lincoln Highway water fountain design that was to be placed from coast to coast. Also proposed were cement tourist cabins to be built resembling Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. Both ideas intended to honor the slain President. A map shows the “Reno Branch” of the LH from Reno, Nevada to … Los Angeles!
http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24589131M/Lincoln_Highway_Fountain_Society
Tags:Abe Lincoln, California, highway history, historic highway, honoring president, Lincoln Highway, Nevada, President Lincoln, Road trip, water fountains
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, souvenirs, transportation | 1 Comment »
January 14, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Our friend David Chase has a couple beautiful photos on his 42N blog taken along the original Lincoln Highway in Linn County, Iowa. Travelers can veer off the paved Lincoln Highway onto a gravel road to find an iron bridge and farm buildings. Check out the other barn here, and make sure to click them to see the images in beautiful large format: http://42n.blogspot.com/2011/01/old-and-new-along-original-lincoln.html
Tags:42N blog, barns, highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, snowy road
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, travel | 1 Comment »
January 10, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Tama-Toledo News reports that the most famous Lincoln Highway bridge — in Tama, Iowa — was hit recently by farm equipment, damaging one of the concrete rails which spell out “Lincoln Highway” and causing $1,500 damage.
In evaluating this damage, Schoonover Tuckpointing, Vinton, also found areas where cement is “spalling” – breaking up, flaking or pitting concrete. In addition, cracks caused by settling were also found. Total cost of these repairs and some spot painting was set at $4,382.
Mayor Chris Bearden urged city council members Monday night to approve the repairs. “The bridge is the only one in the country”, Bearden said. “It needs to be in top shape for the 150th anniversary (of Tama coming up in 2012.)”…. Tama’s bridge under went a renovation in 2006 costing $10,675 according to City Clerk Judy Welch.
The council also approved the purchase of seven new Lincoln Highway banners to replace ones street commissioner Stuart Eisentrager said are faded and showing signs of aging due to weather exposure. The new banners cost $153 each or a total of $1,071 plus shipping. The old banners will be offered for sale by the city with the sale procedure to be announced.
Tags:concrete historic bridge, famous old bridge, highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, roadside, Tama IA, travel
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January 6, 2011
Anyone who has seen the Pixar movie Cars — or thought for a moment about how roads have changed over the past half-century — knows that bypasses around towns have a tremendous impact on traffic patterns. The latest to experience this shift are Tama and Toledo on the Lincoln Highway in Iowa. As reported by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the 7,500 vehicles that daily went through the towns on U.S. 30 have been reduced to a trickle since a bypass opened. Motels and restaurants such as the King Tower Restaurant, below, are feeling the impact.
Since acquiring the local landmark eight years ago, Kristy Tovar has made a decent living running the King Tower Restaurant on the east side of Tama. Since the $82 million bypass opened, though, King Tower is no longer visible from the highway. Tovar’s anything but confident about the restaurant’s future.
“I never really thought that having this highway change would make that much difference, because most of our customers were local. I’d probably say business has been cut at least in half or more,” she said….
Since the days when it was known as the Lincoln Highway, Highway 30 has been the lifeblood of Tama-Toledo. Visitors recall the distinctive Indian head souvenirs sign at King Tower, which has been open since 1937, and the Lincoln Highway bridge that was an early architectural feature of the first transcontinental highway….
Brad Crawford is manager of the 54-year-old Big T Maid-Rite in Toledo. He said rumors are already flying about big restaurant chains like McDonald’s snapping up the good real estate along the bypass to open new restaurants.
Crawford is saving to buy a service sign on the bypass, but the cost will cut into funds he’d otherwise spend to advertise in the local newspaper and high school yearbook.
Tags:bypass problems, highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, old roads, restaurant, roadside, Tama IA
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 2 Comments »
January 5, 2011
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The famous (and world’s largest) Shoe Tree along the Lincoln Highway at Middlegate, Nevada, was cut down overnight last Thursday. The 70-foot cottonwood towered over U.S. 50 about 125 miles east of Reno. A gallery of photos such as the ones here can be found on Flickr.
According to the Lahontan Valley News, there are no suspects or motives:
There are a lot of angry people,” said Middlegate bartender Travis Anderton, describing the reaction from his customers. “That (the tree) helps out business. People come out to see the Shoe Tree.”… Anderton’s grandmother, Fredda Stevenson, is planning a memorial at the site of the tree on Feb. 13 from 2:30-5:30 p.m. The destruction of the Shoe Tree bothers Stevenson, who bought the Middlegate Bar and Restaurant 26 years ago. “I watched it grow up as a little tree,” said Stevenson, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years.
“We cried. It’s like losing a member of the family,” she said.
Rick Gray, executive director of the Fallon Convention and Tourism Authority, is another person who is outraged and hopes authorities can tie the loose ends together in finding the culprit or culprits.
“It was a quirky landmark on the Loneliest Road in America,” he said.
Click HERE for a page full of fond recollections. Note that comments on one of the news stories also included this viewpoint:
“That used to be a beautiful shade tree in the middle of the desert. It has since become an eyesore with all those stinky shoes hanging in it. An Historical landmark? Give me a break!… Good riddance to an ugly dead tree.”
Thanks to Loungelistener and Denny Gibson for the tip.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Middlegate NV, Nevada, Road trip, roadside, Shoe Tree, vandalism
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, travel | 4 Comments »
December 22, 2010
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
In July, I reported on the motorcycle trip of Chris Hutter, who traveled the Lincoln Highway this past summer to complete his following of the road all the way across the U.S. After reaching San Francisco, he rode to Seattle, then took US 2 westward. Just outside of Montana, he stopped for coffee at a road stop, and that was the start of a brief adventure that I’ll let him tell.
As I was ready to leave the rest area I spotted something on the ground about forty feet away. I rolled my bike over to find a wallet. The wallet had a drivers license, a military ID and some of the basic stuff you would find in a mans wallet. I looked for a phone number but had no luck and besides up in these hills there is little cell service. I figured it was lost or stolen and tossed since there was no money. I threw it in my pack and figured I would send it to back through the U.S. Mail with a nice note telling him where I found it. As I was riding, I kept thinking that this guy is probably going crazy looking for his lost wallet. I pulled over to see where he lived. Turned out he was from Missoula, Montana. The town of Missoula was south of US 2 and was a slight detour for me but I decided to make the delivery. It was the least I could do for a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army. So I set my GPS to the address listed on his drivers license and off I went not knowing what I would eventually find…
I made a turn onto his street which was a typical small town street. As I rolled down the street near his house a middle age woman was standing in the driveway speaking to two younger woman in an SUV. The sound of my Harley caught their attention and they were all staring. When I turned into their driveway, stopped and took off my helmet they almost became slightly alarmed.
I politely introduced my self as Chris from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and that I was there to speak to the Nathan because I had something that belonged to him. Before I could finish my sentence they started screaming and cheering and repeatedly kept asking me where I found it. Within a moment, Nathan appeared and was walking down the sidewalk asking me where I found it. He was in total disbelief. He stated that he searched and searched and was getting ready to call his credit card companies to report the cards as lost. Turns out the wallet popped out of his pocket when he was pulling the leash for his dog that was also tucked in his back pocket. The dog took off and he quickly ran after it losing his wallet in the process.
He then began to ask me what he could give me and my reply was “nothing, it is the least I could do for a member of our armed forces.” It turns out that Nathan had already served four tours in Afghanistan. A few moments later Nate’s father came outside, on his hat it said U.S. Marines, Vietnam 69-74. Again, his father asked what he could do for me and my reply was I owe more to you than you could ever give to me. I explained to them that I truly felt this way and they graciously accepted my reply. They are a family of true patriots and have given more to our country than we could ever realize. We are all indebted to them for their service.
Without a doubt this was the best part of my 18 day trip. I quit blogging after this portion because it just could not get any better.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, lost wallet, military, Montana, roadside adventure
Posted in highways, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel | 4 Comments »
December 20, 2010
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A fire Saturday night destroyed a restaurant in Paradise Township near Lancaster, Pa., that had closed after a fire in 2008. The Garden Gate Diner at 3105 Lincoln Highway East, formerly the Wagon Wheel Restaurant and the Route 30 Family Restaurant, was the scene of the two-alarm blaze, as seen in the photo from Lancaster Online.
Another article reported that a rooftop cooling unit crashed through the ceiling into the dining room. More than a dozen fire companies responded to the scene. The older section of the building, which includes the kitchen and counter area, is standing but sustained smoke and water damage; the newer section to the west, which includes the main dining room, collapsed in the fire and was cleared by fire crews.
Tags:fire at restaurant, highway history, historic highway, Lancaster PA, PA, Paradise Twp PA
Posted in food, highways, Lincoln Highway, roadside | 1 Comment »
Lincoln Highway News 