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Archive for the ‘museum’ Category

Lincoln & Dixie highways marker dedication

September 14, 2010

A historical marker for the Lincoln & Dixie highways will be dedicated on Saturday, October 2, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. EDT at the southwest corner of Washington and Michigan streets in South Bend, Indiana. All are invited to join a reception and program immediately following at the American Trust Place – Blue Gallery, 101 N. Michigan St. The marker notes the significance of the Lincoln Highway (Washington St.) and Dixie Highway (Michigan St.) intersecting at this corner.

Please RSVP to Joyce Chambers (574) 272-5374 by September 27. Parking is available on the street or behind the American Trust Place. Enter through Woodward Court on Colfax Street between Michigan and Main Streets

This marker is made possible through the Indiana Historical Bureau in collaboration with the GFWC/IFC Progress Club of South Bend, Indiana Lincoln Highway Association, and the City of South Bend.

Tags:highway history, historic highway, Indiana, Lincoln Highway, marker dedication, South Bend IN
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, roadside, signs, transportation | 1 Comment »

Edison Tower restoration continues in NJ

September 2, 2010

Al Pfingstl sent an update on the Edison Tower in Edison, New Jersey, the site of the inventor’s Menlo Park laboratory. It’s part of the 36-acre Edison State Park, which is also being rejuvenated to include a newly constructed museum (replacing a tiny one from 1947) and outdoor interpretive exhibits.

The building contractor has begun interior demolition. The old baseboard electrical heaters, some of which were almost falling off the wall, are being replaced. The original 1940s Men’s and Ladies’ rooms, neither of which met modern requirements for handicapped accessibility, are being gutted. By redesigning the restroom entrance location, architect Alice Deupree with the Jersey City firm of LWDMR & Associates PC, has combined the two original restrooms into one accessible unisex restroom. The existing floor is being removed for replacement with new flooring material.

However, an even newer update on the web site notes the uncovering of asbestos.

Built in 1937, the Edison Tower now suffers from crumbling concrete and was named by Preservation New Jersey as one of New Jersey’s Ten Most Endangered historic resources. Since 2006, over $3 million has been raised towards the Tower restoration and a new museum. One side of the park fronts the Lincoln Highway/NJ 27 but the tower and museum are accessed via Christie Street. Learn more about them at www.menloparkmuseum.org (source of the image below).

Tags:Edison Memorial Tower, historic highway, historic restoration, Lincoln Highway, Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison
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Review of Shelton's Lincoln Highway Festival

August 11, 2010

The Grand Island Independent ran a nice follow-up to the Lincoln Highway Festival in Shelton, Nebraska, including a walk through of the LH Visitor’s Center there. Following are some parts of their story.

But now as the 80-year-old Nebraska president of the Lincoln Highway Association, Stubblefield is doing more than watching the highway and its traffic — he’s helping preserve the history of its creation.

He helped create the Lincoln Highway Visitor’s Center located at C Street and Highway 30 in Shelton and shares time staffing that center with other volunteers of the Shelton Historical Society. All are just a cell phone away to greet visitors and open the center’s doors at the back of the historic First State Bank building….

Once inside, it’s everything Lincoln Highway.

Pens, postcards, water, letter openers, ashtrays.

There’s Lincoln Highway cigars — just 9 cents in the day — and of course, there’s Burma Shave memorabilia.

“Do you know where Jerome’s Tepee was in Grand Island?” Stubblefield inquired as he pointed to an original black pennant professing the tepee in Grand Island to be in the “center of North America.”

It was right by the big Husker Harvest Days billboard located at Highway 30 and Husker Highway, Stubblefield said, on the north side of the road.

“It was what was called a tourist trap,” he chuckled.

One of the most stunning displays in the visitor’s center is a row of original metal Lincoln Highway mileage markers. They were purchased by the Automobile Club of Southern California and erected along the highway to give travelers an idea of distance to the next stops.

“Brule 1 mile, Big Spring 11 miles,” stated one sign. “Paxton 10 miles, North Platte 43 miles.”

Stubblefield and other members of the association (there are 100 in Nebraska and 1,100 nationwide) have purchased the signs at auctions, antique stores or wherever they are found.

Tags:highway history, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, Nebraska, Road trip, roadside
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, travel | 5 Comments »

New site helping Mister Ed's Elephant Museum

August 6, 2010

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.”

Tags:elephant museum, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, roadside attraction, roadtrip
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Mister Ed's Elephant Museum destroyed by fire

July 6, 2010

Olga A. Herbert, Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, just alerted me that Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum in central Pennsylvania has been destroyed by fire. Owner Ed Gotwalt has spent decades amassing his collection of elephant-themed objects joined to a candy and gift store; he also serves on the Corridor board of directors. Olga said it “burned to the ground late last night, including every elephant. He plans to rebuild and be open by September 1.” Although the news is horrible, it’s equally astounding that he’s ready to rebuild and so quickly! The York Distpatch covers it here and the York Daily Record ran a story about Ed vowing to rebuild.

Tags:elephant museum fire, highway history, historic highway, history, Lincoln Highway, Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, Pennsylvania, Road trip, roadside, roadside attraction, US 30
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, roadside, souvenirs, travel | 14 Comments »

Newspaper tours Lincoln Highway sites in PA

June 5, 2010

A photo feature by Diane Stoneback for The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., features a couple dozen interesting photos of the Lincoln Highway in central Pennsylvania. Most places, like the Shoe House, get a number of views. And note, when a guy at Dutch Haven holds up a LH book, there are others such as Greetings from the Lincoln Highway that also feature the place famous for its Shoo Fly Pie!

UPDATE: An accompanying article was published on Sunday, June 6.

Tags:highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, PA, Road trip, roadside, roadside attractions, travel, US 30
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, museum, Road trip, roadside, travel | Leave a Comment »

Edison Tower celebrated; restoration planned

June 1, 2010

Al Pfingstl, LHA director for NJ, wrote that on Sunday May 16, 2010, the Edison Memorial Tower Corporation held an 85th Anniversary Celebration of its Menlo Park Historical Site. He also passed along an article from The Star-Ledger (January 24) that tells of restoration plans:

Edison Township took its name from the famed inventor who perfected the light bulb in the sprawling Middlesex County town.

But on the site of Thomas Edison’s laboratory, in the town’s Menlo Park section, sits a crumbling concrete tower surrounded by a makeshift metal fence and a tiny, shack-like museum.

The Thomas Edison tower and museum in Edison are both in need of repair.

For years, the lab has been overshadowed by the inventor’s West Orange laboratory, which boasts a popular museum that recently underwent a $13 million renovation. The Menlo Park site has long had trouble securing money for improvements.

The future, however, looks brighter. Work is expected to begin this summer to restore the memorial tower — part of a plan that includes a bigger museum and science center at the 37-acre historic site on Christie Street just off Route 27 (Lincoln Highway)….

A surge in funds has helped. The nonprofit Edison Memorial Tower Corp., formed to revitalize the site, has raised $3 million in four years….

Thomas Edison moved to Menlo Park in 1876, when he was 29. There, he patented more than 400 inventions — including the phonograph and incandescent light bulb. It’s where he earned the nickname “The Wizard of Menlo Park.”

In 1938, the 130-foot Art-Deco tower was raised in his honor. Sixteen years later, in 1954, Raritan Township changed its name to Edison Township to honor the famous inventor…. The Menlo Park lab collapsed in 1913 and Henry Ford used remnants to build a replica in Dearborn, Mich., in 1929.

The ramshackle Menlo Park museum still houses one of Edison’s first light bulbs, 22 working phonographs and a letter the inventor penned to a newspaper editor who gave him the “Wizard” nickname. About 10,000 people visit each year.

Tags:Edison Memorial Tower, Edison NJ, highway history, Lincoln Highway, Menlo Park memorial, Thomas Edison
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip | Leave a Comment »

Brick Lincoln Highway pillar dedicated in Ohio

May 28, 2010

Mike Buettner sent along a May 9 clipping from The Lima News about a new Lincoln Highway pillar in Ohio. Dedicated on May 1, 2010, near Williamstown, it stands where an original one had been set in 1930. The Eagle Creek Historical Organization (ECHO) planned the dedication with a meeting of the state’s LHA chapter. The pillar now overlooks the intersection of U.S. 68 and the fomer Lincoln Highway exit to the town. Photo courtesy ECHO.

Tags:brick pillar dedicated, highway history, Lincoln Highway, Ohio, Williamstown OH
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Lincoln Hwy lecture set for RailsWest Museum

May 19, 2010

Here’s a release reprinted from Southwest Iowa News about a talk this Sunday in Council Bluffs.

The Historical Society of Pottawattamie County will celebrate the Lincoln Highway in the final lecture of its spring lecture series at the RailsWest Railroad Museum, 16th Avenue and South Main Street.

On Sunday, Francie O’Leary, project manager for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway in western Iowa, will speak. The presentation is free to the public and will cover the story of the Lincoln Highway and explain how historic byway development can benefit the communities along the route. The lecture starts at 2 p.m.

For the past year, O’Leary has researched historical photos and literature for Pottawattamie, Harrison, Crawford, Carroll and Greene counties to be developed into a traveling Lincoln Highway exhibit.

More historic photos, stories and information related to the Lincoln Highway route from 1900 to 1940 are sought. The public is encouraged to bring any related material. Scanning and recording equipment will be available in the museum following the presentation until 4:30 p.m. For more information, contact O’Leary at (712) 792-4415, francieoleary@gmail.com or go online to http://www.mmdividercd.org.

The Historical Society encourages owners of classic automobiles to motor on down to the RailsWest to show them off. For more information, contact the Historical Society at 323-2509 or info@thehistoricalsociety.org.

Tags:Council Bluffs IA, historic highway, lecture on old roads, Lincoln Highway, RailsWest Museum, restored train depot
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, transportation | Leave a Comment »

Whiteley talks tonight about old Colorado trails

March 8, 2010

Author Lee Whiteley will present “Old Trails of Northern Colorado: From Foot Paths to Interstate” at 7 p.m. tonight, March 8, at the Loveland Museum/Gallery, 503 N. Lincoln Ave., Loveland, Colorado. The slide show, sponsored by the Loveland Historical Society, will revisit the Trappers’ Trail, Cherokee Trail, Overland Trail, several auto trails, and the Lincoln Highway’s controversial routing through the state. The program is open to the public; donations are accepted. Call Sharon Danhauer at (970) 290-0169 for details.

Whiteley and his wife Jane are experts on the auto trails through Colorado, including the Llncoln Highway; they wrote the book below to coincide with the LHA conference there in 2007.