LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway in Illinois received a Scenic Byway Award for the “Interpretive Gazebos and Murals” project in the Interpretation category at the National Scenic Byways 2011 Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The large-scale works of art not only relay the significance and history of the Lincoln Highway, but serve as modern-day tourist attractions themselves. The artwork is produced by Jay Allen at his ShawCraft Sign Co. of Machesney Park, Illinois.
Accepting the award, above from left: Justin Hardee, Heritage Corridor CVB; Melissa Hendricks-Kribs, Illinois Department of Transportation; Cindi Fleischli, Illinois Office of Tourism; Bonnie Heimbach, Northern Illinois Tourism; Bob Navarro, Heritage Corridor CVB; and Sue Hronik, Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition.
The newest Illinois Lincoln Highway Interpretive Mural was installed last week at 67 Main Street in Oswego, Illinois. Only the second vertical mural, it recalls the story of the Boy Scouts of America simultaneously planting thousands of Lincoln Highway concrete directional posts across the nation in 1928.
For more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway, places to see and things to do, exciting, historic stories and to download an Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide, please visit drivelincolnhighway.com/.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Long-distance travelers Bill and Karen post wonderful stories and photos about their 2-lane trips. The Ontario couple last drove the Lincoln Highway in 2009 and have used my books to track down every highlight and report back lots of updates. This year they picked up the LH near Downingtown, Pa., on Day 34 of their trip and traveled west to Plainfield, Illinois, by Day 50. Travel along at billstraveljournal.blogspot.com/.
Bill writes: We concluded our Lincoln Highway road trip at the same spot in Plainfield Illinois where we started the journey on July 7, 2009. It also marks the spot where we concluded our Route 66 road trip in 2008. This spot is where the two roads share the same 3 blocks…. All we need to do now is to drive from Times Square NY to Exton PA and we will have completely driven the Lincoln Highway from beginning to end.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A new brief video by VintonToday features antique cars that participated in last weekend’s Lincoln Highway tour across Iowa, specifically at the restored Youngville Station between Cedar Rapids and Belle Plaine.
The accompanying music — unfortunately uncredited — is Buddy Nutt singing Goin all the Way On the Lincoln Highway, which he wrote for the PBS Lincoln Highway program produced by Rick Sebak.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Also this weekend is the fabulous cross-state Iowa Lincoln Highway Motor Tour sponsored by the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association. Here are pics from last summer: Youngville Cafe by Jeff & Tammy LaFollette, and the lunch stop at Woodbine by Osberg.
This year’s tour began in Council Bluffs and heads east, ending in Clinton County on Sunday, August 28. The historic route travels nearly 330 miles across Iowa through the communities of Council Bluffs, Denison, Carroll, Jefferson, Boone, Ames, Marshalltown, Tama, Cedar Rapids, and Clinton. More information can be found on the Iowa LHA website, or contact tour director Jeff LaFollette at (563) 349-3047.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
LHA headquarters in Franklin Grove, Illinois, received a call that Ron Preston passed away last week. He was the son of George Preston, whose sign-covered gas station in Belle Plaine, Iowa, is a shrine for Lincoln Highway fans. George bought the station in 1923 for $100 and became famous for his endless tales of LH lore, which I got to enjoy on a visit there in 1991. After George’s death in 1993, Ron cared for the it and adjacent garage full of petroliana. LHA’ers saw Ron at almost every annual conference.
Kass and Eric Mencher, who are documenting the Lincoln Highway and publishing their images in an e-book, captured the station and Ron last year. Visit their blog page below by clicking on the image.
George’s most famous moment came on March 21, 1990, when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The interview starts around 2:30.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO The Evening Sun of York, Pa., reports that a pair of classic railroad cars that greeted Lincoln Highway travelers to nearby New Oxford have been demolished and sold for scrap.
The article explains that Stephen Hieber had the two passenger train coaches next to his business on Lincolnway West in New Oxford. His company, PWI Inc. (which specializes in petroleum dispensing products), acquired the two blue-gray Baltimore & Ohio Railroad coaches at auction in 1999. The company has rented out the 80-foot coaches to various small businesses but for the past three years, no one was willing to take on the expense of renting the coaches. With restoration too expensive, Hieber decided to sell them for scrap.
The two B&O coaches came to rest in New Oxford in 1972 thanks to business owner and railroad enthusiast Paul Wagner, who purchased the discarded cars and had them delivered and carefully placed in a V shape next to the tracks on the south side of Lincolnway West. Wagner used the coaches as home for his Paul’s Model Railroad Shop….
“There is no way a small business can afford the heating and cooling costs,” Hieber said. “There is no insulation. They are literally steel cans.”…
The coaches, built in 1930 by the Pullman Company and rebuilt in 1948 in the B&O shops, were used for service between St. Louis and Washington, according to a 1972 Hanover Sun story….
“If somebody had come along I would have been happy to sell them,” he said. “It doesn’t make me any happier than anybody else.”
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Grand Island Independentreports that Shady Bend, an old roadside business along the Lincoln Highway in central Nebraska, has been restored and is again serving customers on the east end of Grand Island. I reported on the plans two years ago on this blog. The images below are from the site’s Facebook page.
From the news report:
Shady Bend, once the site of an old-time tourist court, restaurant and store at Highway 30 and Shady Bend Road, has been reopened as a restaurant…. H.O. “Doc” Woodward built the original Shady Bend in the late 1920s after returning from a family trip to Arizona. Doc also donated the land for the first airport in Grand Island. Shady Bend has been passed down in the family to Craig Woodward, the third generation at Shady Bend….
He said Shady Bend was once a meeting place for farmers and everyone passing through. Since there were hardly any phones, people knew who was going to be there and could leave messages for when they arrived. It was a general store that had a lot of different people coming in and out.
“Not only is it historical, it was a fun place to go,” said Craig’s wife, Karen Woodward. “We want to be able to share the history with the people around here.”… The Woodwards started their restoration in 2008 but were delayed by family illness. Things picked back up in January 2010.
“Obviously, the plumbing, heating and electrical is all new and up to code,” Craig said. “We have a new full kitchen, but other than that, there haven’t been any changes. It’s true to what the State Historical Society has for requirements.”
Shady Bend opened its doors to the public on Tuesday serving pop, candy bars, beer, burgers and Italian food….
“I remember when I was 5 years old, my mom used to clean the cabins [now gone] and Fritz, Craig’s father, would pick me up from school and bring me back here,” [one patron said]. “I played on the merry-go-round and fished in the sand pit across the highway.”
Hours are 11 am to 10 pm Tues through Sat, and noon to 10 pm Sundays.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Roadside and Route 66 enthusiasts Emily Priddy and Ron Warnick recently took a 10-day road trip that Emily chronicled on her Red Fork State of Mind blog. She sent me news updates including that volunteers were stripping the World’s Largest Teapot in Chester, WV, with scrapers, heat guns, and blowtorches as part of an Eagle Scout project.
Above you’ll see they also visited two excellent roadside attractions in east-central PA: the Lincoln Motor Court east of Bedford, and the giant Coffee Pot on the edge of downtown. Then they filled up at Dunkle’s Gulf, a rare art deco gem still in the same family—and still pumping gas!
Emily said their goal was to see Ryne Sandberg managing the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Allentown, so she and Ron (who pens the Route 66 News blog, which inspired this one!) headed east on the Lincoln Highway:
I fell in love with the farmland of Iowa; the vibrant energy of Chicago; the charming downtowns of Goshen, Ind., and Van Wert, Ohio; the giant teapot in Chester, W. Va.; the winding mountain roads of rural Pennsylvania; and the ethnic neighborhoods and skinny townhouses with old men killing time on their front stoops in the narrow side streets of Allentown.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The popular Niland Café in Colo, Iowa, is re-opening on Thursday, July 7 @ 4:00 pm, to coincide with the Colo Farmer’s Market. New operator Sandra Huemann-Kelly already had a “soft opening” on June 30 during the market.
Regular hours will be:
Tue–Sat: 6:30 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday: 6:30 am – 2:00 pm (Breakfast Buffet till 1:00 pm)
Monday: closed
NOTE: Breakfast Buffet the first weekend will move to Saturday, July 9, till 10:30 am for Colo “Crossroads Festival.” No buffet this Sunday.
You can also make reservations through the cafe for the adjacent vintage Colo Motel, which offers 6 restored rooms with A/C, wireless, 3/4 bath, cable TV, and a shaded picnic area. Call (641) 377-3663.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Make sure you keep following Denny Gibson’s blog after the first day he hits the Lincoln Highway (his Day 9). Click HERE to continue with Day 10. Highlights include encountering snow at Donner Summit (note the LH “Subway” beneath the railroad overpass just left of center) and an adventurous ride along the sometimes perilous Kings Canyon Road (on a tour led by Nevada LHA director Jim Bonar).
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Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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