Above: Youngville Station, a beautiful restoration effort on the Lincoln Highway west of Cedar Rapids. When it’s open, visitors will find great pie and a historical display. The photos here show places NOT in the radio tour. Photo courtesy of G. Januska.
Gianofer Fields of Chicago Public Radio has completed her Lincoln Highway tour, but after 5 entries (plus a launch segment), she stopped along the Lincoln only 1 of those 6 days. As she admitted on the third day, ” I’m starting to rethink my whole Lincoln Highway plan. Maybe I should forget my linear route and think of the highway as a springboard.” Here are her topics:
Launch: Burlington’s Crookedest Street
1: Eldon’s American Gothic house
2: Missouri Valley’s Welcome Center and Museum of Religious Arts
3: Elkhorn’s Danish Windmill
4: Amana Colonies
5: Le Claire’s Buffalo Bill Museum
All very interesting, but only #2 is along the Lincoln Highway. What did she miss?
Trying to think of a list as quickly as possible, I came up with:
• Smith Brothers General Store in Clinton
• Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and Grant Wood Studio
• Youngville Station (top photo)
• Lincoln Cafe and Preston’s station in Belle Plaine
• King Tower Cafe (above) and LH bridge in Tama
• Shady Oaks Tree House east of Marshalltown
• Niland’s Cafe in Colo
• Three concrete bridges on the old road near Grand Junction
• Lincoln statue and carillon tower in Jefferson
• Moss markers with Lincoln busts north of Scranton (below)
• Spanish-deco Park Motel in Dennison
• Woodbine’s brick streets and Brick Street Station
• Loess Hills winding road across from Omaha
There’s lots more, from great old signs and garages to wonderful people in the diners and coffee shops along the way. What is your favorite?
Colo, Iowa, city clerk Scott Berka told me today that construction is progressing well at the Colo Motel, part of a wonderful “one-stop” restoration project in central Iowa. Painting is done and carpenters will start trimming next week, but furniture was just ordered today so it looks like it will be the first of the year before the motel reopens. Sounds like it will be ready in time for Springtime road trips!
The S.S. Grand View Ship Hotel was perhaps the best-known, most-visited landmark along the 3,300+ miles of Lincoln Highway. The famous roadside attraction was 17 miles west of Bedford, Pennsylvania, but unfortunately burned in 2001. With my Lincoln Highway Companion book ready for the editors, I’m starting on my next book, a fun look at the Ship. I first wrote about the Ship in 1989 and have been gathering information, recollections, and photos since then.
People took lots of snapshots there, and though they probably took movies, few of those surface, so it’s exciting to see this rare film from 1972! (Total time 3:32) Roger Shaulis shoots out the back window as they speed east on the Lincoln Highway through the Seven Mile Stretch, passing coal trucks. About 45 seconds in, they arrive at the Ship and go to the deck for the view and some goofing. The family jumps on the Turnpike for the final minute, passing through three tunnels on their way to New Jersey.
The folks who sent this card in 1951 from the Weeden Motor Hotel wrote, “Not many motels along this route so far. Lucky we stopped when we did, got the last one and the next one is 25 miles…. When we got to Dwight [Illinois, on Route 66] Randy wanted to know if we were in Calif.”
The original Lincoln Highway went through downtown; this was on a US 30 bypass (itself now bypassed). The card says the motel was 3 miles south and 1/2 mile west of town. I think it later became the Weeden Holiday Motel with a bigger c. 1970 sign at 2569 240th Street/Iowa Avenue. Any readers know its history? Or about Lloyd’s next door, which claimed to be Iowa’s most beautiful restaurant?
The Charles Weever Cushman Collection at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, consists of ten cubic feet of materials, including 2,200 b/w negatives and prints. Just three of those cubic feet are slides, but what a collection — more than 14,400 color Kodachrome slides shot from 1938 to 1969. Cushman’s photos have been digitized through Indiana University’s Digital Library Program and the Indiana University Archives and are now online.
An amateur photographer, most of Cushman’s images are scenic, many are from such countries as from Lebanon, Germany, Austria, England, and Mexico. There are few roadside or industrial sites, but roads and cars do make it into many of the slides. Here are some from along the Lincoln Highway or close to it—click the links to see larger views.
A clear day in Salt Lake City, 1958, looking north on State Street toward the capitol.
There’s lots else to see plus essays about Cushman and his collection. Photos reprinted here with the kind permission of Indiana University, Office of University Archives & Records Management, with special thanks to Curator Bradley D. Cook.
John and Lenore Weiss are well-known to Route 66 fans for the work they’ve done to help preserve, promote, and document that road, especially in Illinois. Lincoln Highway fans are starting to hear about them too, most noticeably leading the acquisition from IDOT of a 1928 concrete LH post, then John served as Master of Ceremonies at its dedication on Veterans Day 2006 at the Joliet Historical Museum. Their newest project merges 66, the LH, and even the Dixie Highway.
Traveling the … Historic Three is a 74-page spiral-bound guide to traveling those three highways in a 110-mile, triangle-shaped route south of Chicago. John and Lenore freely give credit to the conceptual idea of combining these three roads into one road trip to Elaine Egdorf who administers Drivin’ the Dixie, a web site devoted to that road. The booklet has an intro, then tabs divide each section, and there’s a page of related organizations at the end. Narration is casual in the way a good friend would lead you on a tour, with instructions for when to turn, what to see, where to park, and recommended places to eat and visit. Lincoln Highway fans will be pleased to discover much that they may not have noticed until slowed down to a tour on the local level.
Lenore told me a little bit about their work:
The unique aspect of the triangular tour is that you can start at any of three locations and end up exactly where you started! With any road trips, folks travel say 100 miles, then they must return. This results in an extra 100 miles.
In this area, the Lincoln Highway and especially the Dixie Highway communities and businesses are not very accustomed to tourism. This is an interesting aspect when compared to those on Route 66. On the Lincoln, the town of Frankfort wants to get involved. On the Dixie, the town of Homewood is equally as excited.
Since we already had the Route 66 portion, and have lived on that particular section of the Lincoln Highway for 30 years, only the Dixie needed some real investigation. And that, too, was a rewarding experience.
And she notes that every time they drive it, as recently as last week, they keep discovering new things.
Above: John and Lenore Weiss with Route 66 tattoo man Jim Bush in the souvenir-filled gift shop at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, a must-stop for road fans.
Highlights at the intersections include the Art Institute of Chicago at Jackson Avenue and Columbus Drive in Chicago, where 66 and the Dixie launch; the Joliet Area Historical Museum where 66 and the LH meet, at Cass and Ottawa streets in Joliet; and the Arche Memorial Fountain where the LH and Dixie meet, built 1916 as part of a rest park for travelers of the two roads in Chicago Heights. As you can see, the three roads offer lots to see for fans of old roads. This and other books by the Weisses are available at gift shops such as the Joliet Museum or through the couple’s web site. An autographed copy of Traveling the … Historic Three is $9.95 + $4.60 postage and handling.
Like the Mystery Photos we sometimes run on weekends, there are likewise lots of postcards that we wonder “whatever happened to that place?” This beautiful linen card from the Curt Teich Company pictures the Country Club Motor Lodge and Coffee Shop, 2665 Parley’s Way, Salt Lake City, Utah. It advertised 55 “strictly modern units” and “Sun Porch and Modern Coffee Shop for Convenience of Guests.” It’s named for The Country Club across the road, one of the West’s oldest courses (founded 1899) and still an elegant, private 18-hole course. Today, housing separates the two just west of the tangle of ramps where I-80, I-215, and UT 186 meet.
This card, postmarked Aug 4, 1949, was sent by a child:
“We got here right today We will be back to Sacramento California soon We are haveing a nice trip so good-by and I will see you soon from Mary Jean”
What’s left at the site today? The phone number is now a private residence. A Yahoo aerial view shows it still there, but you can buy for a condo at the Country Club Ridge subdivision at the same address. Price for #310 is $649,000 for 2,065 sq ft, built 2007. Are we a year too late…?
The Iowa Lincoln Highway Association is organizing its first-ever River to River Motor Tour across Iowa for August 8-10, 2008. All cars are invited, and classic car owners can rest easy that no gravel alignments will be on the official route. Participants can join or leave the tour at any point.
Above: The newly wiidened bridge between Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1924. (Univ of Michigan, Special Collections Library, lhc2218)
Starting in Clinton, highlights will include:
• Site of the Lyons-Fulton Bridge in Clinton
• Walk on the abandoned Lincoln Highway west of Lowden
• Restored Youngville Café in Benton County
• World-famous Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama
• State Center, the “rose capital of Iowa”
• Tour restored Reed/Niland corners in Colo
• Lincoln Highway Clubhouse in Jefferson
• Drive on the brick Lincoln Highway in Woodbine
• Hitchcock Nature Center near Honey Creek
Registration is $20 per vehicle for Iowa LHA members or $30 per vehicle for non-members that registers that person for a one year membership to the Iowa LHA. For more information, visit the Iowa LHA website or contact coordinator LHA Iowa director Jeff LaFollette, who has previously chaired motor tours along Route 66 in Illinois, at jefflaf@peoplepc.com or (563) 349-3047.
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!
Colo, Iowa, city clerk Scott Berka told me today that construction is progressing well at the Colo Motel, part of a wonderful “one-stop” restoration project in central Iowa. Painting is done and carpenters will start trimming next week, but furniture was just ordered today so it looks like it will be the first of the year before the motel reopens. Sounds like it will be ready in time for Springtime road trips!
Lincoln Highway News 