Archive for the ‘Lincoln Highway’ Category
August 8, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A new mural was placed in Batavia, Illinois, today as part of a series sponsored by the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition. The large works of public art stretch along the 179-mile Illinois byway corridor, in over two dozen communities. The latest mural is on the Batavia Floral building at 109 South Batavia Avenue. Artist Jay Allen, owner of ShawCraft Sign Company, created the interpretive mural series.
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition’s multi-site mural project showcases the history of the early highway, bringing the intriguing stories into people’s lives so they can recognize its impact on American travel and the communities. Visit drivelincolnhighway.com for more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway, places to see and things to do, stories of the highway’s significance and history, or to download an Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Illinois, interpretive murals, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, signs, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
August 6, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The 8th Annual Buy-Way Yard Sale along the Lincoln Highway starts this Thursday and runs through Saturday, Aug. 11. Started in Ohio, it has grown to include West Virginia and parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa’s Lincoln Highway communities.
“If you are looking for it, it’s out there somewhere waiting for you to buy at a bargain price,” says Mike Hocker, executive director for Ohio’s Lincoln Highway Historic Byway. “This three-day BUY-WAY Yard Sale has not only introduced people from all over the country to the history of America’s first coast-to-coast paved roads, but it also provides an economic boost to the communities that participate, and it serves the thrifty side of all of us who find that bargain.” Visit www.historicbyway.com for more info.
Tags:Buy Way yard sale, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Ohio, Road trip, travel, yard sale
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July 27, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The 15th annual Lincoln Highway Festival and Car Show is set for this Sunday in Shelton, Nebraska, which bills itself as the “Lincoln Hi-way Capital” of the state. As reported in the Grand Island Independent, festivities include a car show, antique tractor display, live music, and a photo contest on display at the Lincoln Highway Center. The festival is sponsored by the Shelton Historical Society.
Lunch served at the American Legion Hall will include sloppy joes, Polish dogs, chips, drinks, and pie. The United Methodist Men will be serving homemade ice cream at the north end of Main Street. Organizer Cyndy Ryan said a new addition to this year’s festival will be an antique tractor drive from Shelton to Gibbon and back.
Tags:highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Nebraska, Road trip, Shelton NE, small town festival, travel, US 30
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, signs, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
July 16, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Bernie Queneau, known to Lincoln Highway fans for his 1928 cross-country Boy Scout trip, celebrated his birthday Saturday July 14 with friends and family. An elegant dinner in Pittsburgh, Pa., included toasts and jokes ranging from his children to his young doctor. PBS’s Rick Sebak handed out DVDs of his Lincoln Highway program that includes the story of Bernie meeting LHA past-president Esther Oyster, and how that led to their marriage. A Powerpoint show by his daughter showed many fun times including the coast-to-coast trip.
Tags:100th birthday, Bernie Queneau, Boy Scout safety tour in 1928, Esther Queneau, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, travel
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, travel | 2 Comments »
July 14, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Bernie Queneau, the Lincoln Highway’s best-known ambassador, celebrates his 100th birthday today. In 1928, he was one of four Eagle Scouts to cross the Lincoln Highway (at 16) as part of a Scouts’ Safety Tour, which also promoted the highway and its marking that September with thousands of iconic concrete posts.
I was fortunate that in 1997, LHA president Esther Oyster arranged with me to interview 85-yr-old Bernie at my workplace, the Heinz History Center. Years later they returned—together—and took me to lunch to announce their engagement! They were married in 2003 and continue to explore the world together, showing up a few weeks ago at the LHA conference in Ohio. That’s Bernie and Esther Queneau a few years ago at a LHHC event.
Check out Bernie recalling the 1928 trip in this brief outtake from Rick Sebak’s 2008 program about the Lincoln Highway. Click the image, then Bernie’s block near Pittsburgh, PA:
Today would also have been the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, known for his folk songs more closely associated with Route 66. The Lincoln Highway Association is also celebrating its centennial this year, culminating in a celebration July 1, 2013.
Tags:100th birthday, Bernie Queneau, Boy Scout safety tour in 1928, Boy Scouts, centennial celebration, Esther Queneau, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, PA
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, transportation, travel, video | 1 Comment »
July 11, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
An auction is set for Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 9 am for highway memorabilia from the famous gas station once run by George Preston in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Not to worry — the signs on the station and adjacent garage are not being sold.
The station moved to 1301 4th Ave (west end of Main Street, green line on map) in 1921 when the Lincoln Highway’s route was changed through Belle Plaine. George started working there in 1923 at age 13 and soon purchased the Standard Oil station for $100. It later became a Phillips 66 and remained operational until 1989. George and wife Blanche also operated a 3-room motel.
After his passing in 1993, the site was cared for by his eldest son Ronald with the same passion and intuition, and he continued collecting memorabilia until he passed away in 2011.
Ron’s daughter Mary Preston wrote to say, “We have no intention of selling the corner but in the same breath we must sell some of the ‘clutter’ on Preston’s Corner.” The family is working with the Lincoln Highway Association and Belle Plaine Historical Society to preserve The Corner for travelers to step back in time.
Objects for auction include gas pumps, toys, furniture, books, farm equipment, a 1927 Model T … and lots of signs.
For additional information about the auction see www.billkron.com/duwa.12-0811.html
Tags:auction, Belle Plaine IA, gas station, highway history, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, petroliana, roadside attraction, travel
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June 27, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The most revolutionary event for the Lincoln Highway since it was founded 99 years ago is now available — free, detailed, online maps of the Lincoln Highway!
The LHA Mapping Committee (myself and 2 dozen others) has worked for a decade to map all generations of the Lincoln Highway, from the obscure Proclamation Route to the equally-rare city feeders. Mapping software expert (and committee chair) Paul Gilger has done a stunning job, spending hundreds of hours to apply our info to DeLorme and now Google Maps. The maps are now available to the public for free. Click www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/map to see for yourself this stunning resource detailing exactly where the LH went from coast-to-coast. Here are some samples that you should be able to easily identify.
Tags:highways, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, map, maps of old roads, Road trip, roadtrip, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 14 Comments »
June 18, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Today launches the 20th annual Lincoln HIghway Association conference, located in Canton, Ohio. The Ohio chapters of the national Lincoln Highway Association along with the official Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway are hosting some 200 visitors at the McKinley Grand Hotel for a week of lectures, seminars, day-long road trips, banquets and other evening activities. The theme — Pathways and Presidents — celebrates the Lincoln Highway.
The annual conference is held each year somewhere along the corridor from New York to San Francisco. In 2011, Lake Tahoe dazzled attendees with local culture and history, and two years ago Dixon, Ill., hosted the week-long conference.
Organizer Jim Cassler said there will be tours focusing on Ohio’s Amish Country, a train trip on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway and a trip to the Packard Museum in Warren honoring Lincoln Highway co-founder Henry Joy, then president of Packard Motors. Presidential activities will include Canton’s McKinley and the First Ladies Museum, while a trip to Marion will highlight Warren Harding’s involvement in the early highway.
For details and developing registration information, go to www.lincoln highwayassoc.org or www.historicbyway.com.
Tags:highway history, highway history conference, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Mansfield OH, Ohio, Road trip, travel
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June 14, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
As the former Serro’s Diner moves closer to being back in service, the diner’s first waitress got to visit the restoration project. The Serro family opened the brand new 1938 O’Mahony-brand diner in Irwin, Pa., as a Lincoln Highway bypass was being built around the town for the coming Pennsylvania Turnpike terminus. The diner will soon be part of a museum complex being built by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor between Greensburg and Ligonier.
A story in the Tribune-Review (including the two images here by Eric Schmadel) reported how 95-year-old Jenny Baloh recently visited the diner where she began waitressing in 1938. As one of the 10 Serro siblings, she was THE first waitress:
My brothers (Louis and Joseph) bought the dining car when I was a teenager. I told them I didn’t know a thing about waitressing. They said, “You’ll learn.”
The diner was rescued from likely demolition in 1992 when I had the pleasure of arranging for its purchase and move by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, now the Heinz History Center. With no practical place to display the diner, it was given to the LHHC. After almost 2 years of work, the diner is almost ready for it’s new home, a soon-to-be-constructed addition at the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum along Route 30 East, across from the Kingston Bridge.
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Tags:Diner, highway history, historic highway, Irwin PA, Lincoln Highway, PA, roadside attraction, roadtrip, travel, US 30
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June 11, 2012
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
From May 28-July 28, a group of wounded warriors from America’s military is riding bicycles, hand cycles, and recumbent cycles from the Pacific to the Atlantic following much of the Lincoln Highway. For more than 20 years, the non-profit World T.E.A.M. Sports has organized athletic events for disabled and able bodied citizens, from mountain climbing to white water rafting. This year, 18 athletes are biking 3,698 miles from San Francisco to Virginia Beach.
Participating veterans of the Sea to Shining Sea ride live with disabilities ranging from loss of limbs to blindness to Post Traumatic Stress. These veterans served America in wars from Afghanistan and Iraq to Vietnam. Learn more at www.s2ssbikeride.org/2012-news/2012/6/6/along-the-lincoln-highway.html
Tags:bike ride, disabled veterans, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Nevada, Road trip, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
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