Todd Keeran writes, “Just wanted to let everyone know I set up an (admittedly amateur) website at www.savemistereds.com/. My kids really loved the store and museum and I’m primarily hoping to gather some elephant donations to help the museum rebuild.”
I get lots of emails and some slip by for months. Here’s an interesting one from May from Rick Etchells of Richmond, Texas:
My Friend Ken Rozek and I recently took a trip to follow the Lincoln Highway from San Francisco to Laramie, Wyoming. This was our third trip following the Lincoln Highway and we have now completed it all except for New Jersey and New York.
On all of these trips we used your great book Greetings From the Lincoln Highway and on this trip we also used your latest book The Lincoln Highway Companion. These made it much easier to find Lincoln Highway locations. We were able to duplicate the main photo that you have on the covers of both books.
A highlight of our trip in California was all of the snow we encountered at Big Bend Visitor Center in the Sierras. The section of Asphalt that you say is there was completely covered in snow. We had to walk over about 3 feet of snow just to get to the Lincoln Highway cement post!
Attached are a few photos of our visit at the Big Bend Visitor Center. Thanks so much for your very interesting blog and books about the Lincoln Highway.
West Virginia joined the Lincoln Highway in 1928 when the road between Pittsburgh and Ohio was rerouted through the the town of Chester in the state’s panhandle. Today, the big teapot is the best-known attraction, but back then by far is was Rock Spring Park. Now the amusement park has been given star treatment by Joe Comm, a teacher in Greensburg, Pa., who recently released Rock Springs Park for Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series.
The Review of East Liverpool, Ohio, featured Joe in a story about the books launch along with this photo and caption:
Joseph Comm, author of “Rock Springs Park,” signs a book for Patty Swiger at a signing event held Monday at the Chester Municipal Building. Prior to the signing, Comm talked about how his book came to be. (Photo by Nancy Tullis).
As the article explains, “The park was all but a memory during his boyhood in Chester, and its remnants raised many questions in Comm’s mind. He sought out the answers, and along the way, Rock Springs Park took on a life of its own.” In the early 1970s, the park was demolished to make way for ramps and lanes to the new US 30 bridge across the Ohio River.
From the book jacket:
In its hey-day this unique panhandle playground attracted twenty thousand visitors a day with a number of popular attractions including the World’s Greatest Scenic Railway, the Cyclone Roller Coaster, and the classic hand-carved 1927 Dentzel Carousel. The book features over 200 rarely seen images and portrays the life of Rock Springs Park from its earliest history as a Native American hunting ground to its development as a local trolley park and full-fledged amusement park.
You can find Joe’s book in stores for $21.99 or $14.95 on Amazon.
The fifth annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way, a yard sale that stretches across five states, will be held Thursday–Saturday August 5–7, 2010. The event was launched in Ohio, then expanded to include West Virginia to the east and Indiana and Illinois to the west. This year the sale has grown to include Iowa. “This event has grown to national awareness in just five years,” said Mike Hocker, executive director of Ohio’s byway group, whose mission is economic development. A free Traveler’s Guide includes a map of Ohio’s Lincoln Highway alignments along with listings of many yard sales and community events along the way. Learn about Ohio here or get other state links on the LHA site.
The Tracy Press reports that more reproduction LHA “Control Station” signs are being posted along the original Lincoln Highway route in western California: “A sign tacked on the front of the Tracy Inn provides another identification of 11th Street as a route of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first highway network to span the nation in 1915. The new sign identifies the Inn as a ‘Control Station,’ where motorists using mileage listed on the Lincoln Highway map can exactly gauge their location. Similar signs are being posted in Stockton, French Camp, and Livermore.”
This updates a story posted here last year about the signing the route here. Great work by Mike Kaelin and the California LH supporters!
Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, writes, “I drove by Palmantier’s Motel near Minerva yesterday and saw a sign for an auction Aug 11th. I guess there is nothing else we can do.” The beautiful 9-unit motel is within sight of the famous stretch of Baywood Road paved in red bricks (bottom center of photo).
Palmantier’s Motel, opened 1947, was purchased five years ago by Scott Segeti, “lured to these parts by the beauty of nearby farm fields, grazing cattle, grassy meadows, chirping birds, fresh air and an opportunity to be his own boss.” By last year, slow business forced him to put the motel, swimming pool, two houses, and 3.25 acres for sale at $425,000.
Photographers Eric Mencher and his wife Kass have been photographing the Lincoln Highway since 1997. I reported on their trip last year HERE as they drove Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Now they’re at it again! Visit lincolnhighwayseen.blogspot.com to see some interesting takes on familiar (and some not-so-familiar) landmarks.
Eric, a former Philadelphia Inquirer photographer, and Kass are spending 10 weeks driving from San Francisco to Philadelphia and back on the LH. He says, “I’m trying to blog two photos a day (one from each of us), but as the trip goes on that may be cut to 3-4 times a week. The pictures are more esoteric than most people shoot, but that’s how we see! I also have a gallery on my website at: www.ericmencher.com/.”
The News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Indiana, reports that one of the 15 remaining Lincoln Highway concrete markers in the state has a new home in front of New Haven City Hall, 815 Lincoln Highway E., just a few feet from the road’s original route.
“Our board felt that one of the markers should be on the eastern side of the state,” said Jan Shupert-Arick, president of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association. “Mayor Terry McDonald has been active in our association, and the city did an extraordinary job of restoring the marker. This is a treasured resource.”
That didn’t keep the marker from falling into disrepair and near-oblivion in recent years, however. Believed to have been one of two markers that once stood near what is now the Harrison Street Bridge just north of downtown Fort Wayne, the heavy post was eventually donated to the Lincoln Museum, which never displayed the damaged marker before closing in 2008.
The museum gave the more-intact marker it did display to the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, but the Lincoln Highway Association was only too happy to accept the post that has been restored by New Haven employees and local stone carver Timothy Doyle, whose expertise allowed city workers to blend old and new concrete seamlessly.
The exhibit includes a bronze plaque donated by the association and the city.
Don’t forget to follow along as John and Joyce Jackson of Delaware, Ohio, follow the Lincoln Highway westward. Actually, they’ve already reached the Pacific and are taking Route 66 back eastward but their adventures are preserved online. Follow along at blog.jacksonlhtour.com/.
Shelton, Nebraska, will celebrate its 13th-annual Lincoln Highway Festival and car show this Sunday. The Kearney Hub reports that the car show starts at 10 a.m. with trophy presentations from 2:30-3 p.m. The Shelton Historical Society will serve lunch at the American Legion Hall, and the Lincoln Highway Visitor’s Center will be open all day.
The Grand Island Independent reports that more than 60 cars are expected. Also as a part of the festivities, a kids tractor pull starts at 2 p.m. on C Street and kids can get fire truck rides at the fire station from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact Bev Thomas at (308) 647-6617 or Bob Stubblefield at (308) 647-6554. To register for the car show, call Cindy Ryan at (308) 390-4123: fee is $10 in advance or $15 the day of the show.
Photo of Bob Stubblefield in Visitors Center by Dave McLane.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Like this blog? You'll LOVE my books!Lincoln Highway Companion features detailed maps and places to eat and stay. Click the book to buy it on Amazon.
Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
Another fun book! The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway recalls the greatest roadside attraction along the coast-to-coast road.
And for those who LOVE diners, click the book below to purchase our completely updated guide to the history, geography, and food of Pennsylvania's Diners!
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