I spent last week preparing for my drive to Illinois, and now this week I’ve been on the road day and night driving and taking pictures. So I’ll quickly share a couple photos: the first a well-known re-themed gas station in Geneva, Illinois, and the second a view of the old road east of DeWitt, Iowa.
First up Tuesday morning, I’ll be giving a PowerPoint presentation to the ILHC at the Ellwood House Museum Visitor Center in DeKalb, should be lots of fun!
Archive for the ‘Road trip’ Category
LHA conference launches Tuesday
June 22, 2010Newspaper tours Lincoln Highway sites in PA
June 5, 2010A 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.
Edison Tower celebrated; restoration planned
June 1, 2010Al 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.
LHHC to tour from Schellsburg to Gettysburg, PA
May 13, 2010The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor is sponsoring a one-day bus trip along the Lincoln Highway from Schellsburg to Gettysburg and back on June 26. Departure from Shawnee State Park will be 8:30 am, return by 8 pm.
Jean Bonnet Tavern along the Lincoln Highway west of Bedford.
The deluxe motor coach trip will be narrated by Dr. Fred Gantz, an adjunct faculty member at several area colleges who knows the route well and will share little-known facts about the country’s first coast-to-coast route.
In addition to photo opportunities at two roadside giants and five Lincoln Highway murals, bus guests will be treated to a lunch buffet at the 1815 Inn at Herr Ridge, where the Battle of Gettysburg began in the fields around the inn. The tour will then catch Neil Simon’s “45 Seconds from Broadway” matinee at the Totem Pole Playhouse. This is not community theater, but live professional theater. Dinner in historic McConnellsburg. Cost for meals, transportation, show, and lots of LH history is $110.
For information or reservations visit www.LHHC.org or call 724-238-9030.
Lincoln Highway, vintage roads in 2011 atlas
May 12, 2010
Rand McNally has launched its 2011 Road Atlas with updated maps, more city and national park insets, five new “Best of the Road” tours, and most exciting to Lincoln Highway fans, the marking of historic highways. The company describes this as “The addition of specialty highway shields to show historic and scenic routes including Route 66, the Lincoln Highway, the Great River Road, the Great Lakes Circle Route, and the Lewis & Clark Trail Highway.” The 144-page atlas (suggested retail $13.95) is arriving in stores or visit randmcnally.com/.
Lincoln Highway pics from a 1921 road trip
May 10, 2010Mike Auran of San Jose, California, sent a couple photos and a story:
In June 1921 my grandparents along with their fathers and my mother, age 3, left Alameda, CA, and followed the Lincoln Highway as far East as Ohio before turning off to Zanesville, Washington DC, and Mt Vernon. Turning north they went to New York City and followed the Hudson to Canada, crossing back into the U.S. at Niagara Falls. They then visited family in Cincinnati and then rejoined the Lincoln as far as Denver, turned south to Colorado Springs and over the Rockies to the Colorado River, then Salt Lake and home. 9,000 miles in 3 months, made about 15 miles to a gallon. I have about 100 photos from the trip.
Mike wondered about the locations of these two photos. Can anyone identify the desert shot by the mountain range? Click images to see them larger!
The second is readily recognized by LH fans but I won’t say in case you like to guess.
Iowa's Lincoln Cafes go opposite ways
May 6, 2010Two stories tell two different tales of Lincoln Cafes located along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that “Matt Steigerwald, owner and chef of the Lincoln Cafe in Mount Vernon, has retained his title as the Midwest region’s ‘Prince of Porc’ after winning the Cochon 555 competition for the second straight year…. Cochon means ‘pig’ in French. The competition features five chefs, five pigs and five winemakers in 10 cities. The chefs are challenged to use a whole pig to create a series of dishes.”
As the murder trial continues for the owner of the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine, Iowa, LHA director Van Becker reports that the well known restaurant still sits idle and nothing inside has been touched for months.
Pollardville roadside attraction demolished in CA
April 16, 2010A colorful roadside attraction along the Lincoln Highway in western California is finally being demolished after closing in 2007.
The Lodi News-Sentinel reports that Pollardville, “once home to staged gunfights, Vaudeville plays and juicy fried chicken, was systematically demolished Tuesday morning.” The site included a ghost town that featured the set of the 1957 film “The Big Country,” with actors portraying bank robbers and sheriffs, the Pollardville Palace Showboat Dinner Theater, and the Chicken Kitchen, formerly the Polynesian-themed Islander Restaurant from Stockton.
The odors from the machine’s diesel engine served as a sharp contrast to the former aromas of mashed potatoes and comfort food Pollardville’s restaurants were once known for. The creaking of the structures collapsing was balanced by the sound of the cars quickly zipping past on Highway 99
Only hint of good news?? The company that handled the demolition said the 50-foot Pollardville sign will remain until someone buys the property and decides what to do with it.
Ship Hotel / Lincoln Highway book reviewed
April 13, 2010Still trying to catch up, and here’s one exciting reason I’m behind — my new book on the Ship Hotel is out and I’ve arranged some signings. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette just published a very nice feature review about the book and of the Ship itself.
Back from trip; Ship Hotel book signings set
April 5, 2010My 10-day trip south was fun but left no time for blog updates. Lots to catch up on including the scheduling of three signings of my new book, The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway.
FRI, April 16, 7–8:30 pm: B&N Waterfront, Homestead PA
SAT, April 17, 10–Noon: Coffee Bean coffeehouse, 5345 Rt 30, across from Westmoreland Mall, Greensburg PA
SAT, April 17, 2:30–4 pm: newly restored Union Hotel, 128 E. Main St., Everett PA
The non-profit Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor is coordinating the two on Saturday and will have books available for purchase with cash or check. Coffee mugs and t-shirts featuring vintage pictures of the Ship Hotel will also be for sale along with my other books on the Lincoln Highway and roadside attractions. Sales benefit the non-profit LHHC.
Lincoln Highway News 