Archive for the ‘transportation’ Category
June 24, 2009
Many, many newspapers across the country are reporting on stops of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association 90th anniversary convoy as it makes its way across the U.S., mostly via the Lincoln Highway. The convoy launched from Washington, D.C. on June 13 and at times has as many as 150 historic military vehicles. An example of an article announcing its plans can be found in the Lexington [Neb.] Clipper-Herald, which reports that the military convoy will stop at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles at noon on Friday, June 26. The MVPA has posted numerous photos on Flickr such as this one from near Jefferson, Iowa:
A parade through South Bend was part of the LHA conference last Friday. Here are some photos after the group left the overnight stop at a fairgrounds; some of the vehicles were awaiting repair such as the first one below.
The Transcontinental Motor Convoy of 1919 was a project of the Army’s Motor Transport Corps. The group decided to organize a military convoy to drive from coast to coast, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, traversing the newly created Lincoln National Highway, conceived just seven years earlier. It took 62 days to travel 3,251 miles, averaging a little more than 50 miles per day, to cross from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, Calif. It is best known today for Dwight Eisenhower being one of its young officers. The MVPA is anticipating the 2009 trek across the U.S. to take 26 days. For more information, visit www.mvpa.org/.
Tags:90th anniversary tour, antique trucks, Jefferson IA, Lincoln Highway, military convoy, parade, re-enactment, South Bend IN
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation | 1 Comment »
June 19, 2009
The 2009 Lincoln Highway conference was a lot of fun — so much so that I couldn’t keep up with this blog! Tuesday evening found us at dinner with special guest Emily Anderson, who along with copilot Christie Catania is retracing Alice Ramsey’s pioneering 1909 trip. That’s them below along with dad Richard Anderson, who built the car from parts.
But that’s not the only Alice Ramsey trip re-creation!
Dana McNair alerted me that she and Dorothy Grace are also driving much of the Lincoln Highway in commemoration of Alice Ramsey’s 1909 trip. Dorothy is driving a 1913 Model T and Dana is driving a 1909 Cadillac.
We stopped for the best chocolate cake in the world at Niland’s Cafe in Colo, Iowa, and got to put our cars in the gas station for photos. We stood at the confluence of the Jefferson and Lincoln highways. How cool is that!
Friday morning found them eating breakfast in Missouri Valley, Iowa, when they saw Emily drive by! You can follow their journey at aliceramsey-theroadtrip.blogspot.com/.
UPDATE
Dana just sent this update from Nebraska:
We are so enjoying this trip. We are definitely driving without fanfare. We are just having fun, stopping to visit folks who have been kind enough to offer us lodging or a visit. Camping or fixing cars along the way, sometimes under trees by the side of the road, sometimes in truck stops, it all depends on the autos and whether they are having a good day or not. We have met some great folks, and as it is so low key it is very intimate. We have a lot of new friends in cafes and truck stops.
Sometimes is does get a little discouraging to be confused with the Emily Anderson trip and we do hate to disappoint people but what we are doing does count in it’s own way and the purpose has always been just to drive the drive and have fun together. So, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your writing back to us, truly it makes us feel good about our trip that at least someone is keeping track of us besides our mothers.
Tags:1909, Alice Ramsey, antique autos, early auto trips, Lincoln Highway, re-enactment, women's history
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June 15, 2009
The fifth and final project in the “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” series is an antique truck celebrating farming heritage. Designed by the Franklin County Career & Technology Center students in Chambersburg, the 1920 Selden Apple Truck replica truck is fully dimensional and features a steering column and bench seat plus wheels that spin. The 11-foot tall, 2-ton antique truck is located at Shatzer’s Fruit Market along U.S. 30 heading east. A dedication was held Tuesday, June 9, 2009.
The hood sign reads “Lincoln Highway Fruit Growers Serving Franklin County Since 1907.”
Read more in the Chambersburg Public Opinion HERE.
And read about other Roadside Giants across the U.S. in Roadside Giants the book, available from Amazon by clicking HERE.
Tags:Adams County PA, apple monument, Chambersburg PA, giant apple truck, Lincoln Highway, roadside giants, rural life monument, student project
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs, transportation | Leave a Comment »
June 12, 2009
LHA director Jerry Peppers was at the launch on Tuesday of the 100th Anniversary Commemorative ride of Alice Huyler Ramsey’s historic 1909 cross country drive. He writes:
The team got underway at approximately 9:00 am in front of 1930 Broadway (67th Street across from Lincoln Center and about 1-1/4 mile north of the Eastern Terminus in Times Square). Unfortunately a thunderstorm had just passed through and it was still raining.
I did get to talk to Emily Anderson, the driver, and Christie Catanie, the navigator, and they are of course excited about their trip. They are looking forward to being at the LHA annual conference in South Bend next week. Even the gloomy day and the thought of driving an open car (the canvas top was put up but there are no side windows so the vehicle is essentially open), and the reporters and cameras in their faces did not seem to dampen their spirits.
The first photo shows Emily at the wheel (note the right hand drive) and Christie in the passenger seat as the car was pulling away from the curb. The second shows Emily being interviewed with her mother in the foreground (holding flowers).
The 1909 Maxwell is magnificently restored. When they stepped to the front to hand crank it to get it started and the engine sputtered to life, it was amazing even though it ran with so much valve clatter it sounded like some of the diesel trucks going by it on Broadway!
Below is a photo from their trip eastward to NYC. LHA president Bob Dieterich snapped Kathy Franzwa in the restored Maxwell in front of her house in Tooele, Utah. Her late husband Gregory Franzwa ublished the book Alice’s Drive, which reprints her tale of the trip plus he added his modern-day sleuthing of her route.
Alice Ramsey’s story was once well-known: on June 9, 1909, she and three female companions set off from NYC in a new, dark green Maxwell DA. She reached the Pacific 59 days later, becoming the first woman to drive coast-to-coast.
Alice’s Drive: Republishing Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron
by Alice Ramsey, Annotation and “Chasing Alice” by Gregory M. Franzwa
Patrice Press, 265 pp, 161 illustrations, 108 notes, index, softcover
ISBN 1-880397-56-0
$19.95 plus $4.95 s/h direct from Franzwa’s Patrice Press.
Tags:1909, Alice Ramsey, Lincoln Highway, pioneer woman motorist, transcontinental trip, vintage car
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 3 Comments »
June 10, 2009
A DVD written and produced with the Indiana State curriculum for 3th and 4th grades features the Lincoln Highway. “The Lincoln Highway Story” was produced by Ed Chamberlin and narrated by Bruce Chamberlin with guest appearances by Dr. Patrick Furlong, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University, South Bend, IN and Jan Shupert-Arick, author and past president of the Lincoln Highway Association.
The DVD chronicles the history of the Lincoln Highway. Chapters include: background about the Highway, Carl Fisher’s and Henry Joy’s influence in the development of the Highway, the Lincoln Highway Association and the part it played in promoting the Highway, route determination, the Ideal Section in Indiana, the success of the Highway and the rebirth of the Lincoln Highway Association. This DVD was produced by Chamberlin Video Productions, Mishawaka, IN.
Cost is $10 plus $2.95 for shipping and handling from the Hannah Lindahl Children’s Museum, 1402 S. Main St., Mishawaka, IN 46544, (574) 254-4540, http://www.hlcm.org/.
Tags:curriculum, DVD, historic highway, history lesson, Lincoln Highway
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June 9, 2009
The Johstown Democrat ran a story about the recreation of the 1919 U.S. Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy being run by the Military Vehicles Preservation Association. The original trip covered 3,250 miles and took 62 days to complete. The 90th anniversary convoy departs Washington D.C., on Saturday, June 13, and will arrive in San Francisco 26 days later on July 8. Here are some of planned stops on Sunday, June 14:
Drive through McConnellsburg 8:30 am.
Old Bedford Village about 11 am – 2 pm.
Parade through Everett, Bedford, and Schellsburg.
Onto Somerset County and Flight 93 National Memorial.
Stop in Stoystown about 4:30; Main Street will be closed and a brief ceremony is planned at the Hite House.
Arrive at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg about 6 pm, where there will be a display depicting the historical significance of the 1919 convoy.
NOTE: times are subject to change — and like the original convoy, I think that celebrations and traffic will constantly put them behind schedule.
Tags:1919, 90th anniversary, antique vehicles, Bedford PA, Convoy, Lincoln Highway, Military Vehicles Preservation Association, U.S. Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 2 Comments »
June 8, 2009
The centennial recreation of Alice Ramsey’s pioneering trip across the U.S. has already garnered coverage in the LA Times, NY Times, and PR Web. In 1909, Ramsey became the first woman to drive across the U.S., accompanied by three female companions and publicity people from her carmaker, Maxwell. Much of the trip followed what would become the Lincoln Highway four years later.
Emily Anderson (right) is recreating the cross-country trip in a 1909 Maxwell over the same route. Emily and her group leave New York City on Tuesday, June 9, for a five week journey to San Francisco. They launch from 1930 Broadway, near Lincoln Center, at 9 am. For those who wish to visit, they will bring the car over the Queensboro Bridge around 6:30 am and be on Broadway by 7:30. They will stop in Tarrytown, New York, for a quick photo op at the old Maxwell Briscoe Motor Co. plant where Maxwells were built for many years.
Emily will be joined by friend and navigator Christie Catanie of Colorado. Also traveling in separate vehicles will be her dad Richard Anderson, who built the Maxwell from pieces, and his wife Margaret. Also along will be chief mechanic Tim Simonswa and his wife Barb.
You can track the journey at www.aliceramsey.org and click on the map marked “Follow Along.” They hope to visit the LHA conference in South Bend, Indiana, on June 16.
Tags:1909, Alice Ramsey, cross-country trip, Lincoln Highway, Maxwell auto, women pioneers
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June 1, 2009
Hobo Day 2009 was held May 23 along the Lincoln Highway in Bucyrus, Ohio, at the Toledo & Ohio Central railroad station. The Crawford County Post reported that hundreds attended the annual event at the Victorian station, which is being restoredHere is a photo of the station and event by Doug Foreman from the paper’s story:
Train equipment on display included offbeat equipment such as a velocipede, pocket watches, and the bell from president Lincoln’s funeral train. Antique vehicles included a 1916 Maxwell truck and 1930 Ford Model A coupe.
Tags:annual festival, Bucyrus OH, Hobo Day, Lincoln Highway, Model A, Ohio, train station restoration
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May 28, 2009
Paving the Way: The National Park-to-Park Highway is 2-part program airing on PBS that recalls the journey of 12 motorists who followed the 5,000+ mile circular highway in 1920. The Park-to-Park Highway connected all 12 of the national parks at the time; the 1920 trip took 76 days. Leading the tour was famous AAA trails “pathfinder” Anton Westgard. Check local listings to see when it will air in your area.
ABOVE: Route map provided by Terry Coolidge, Wellspring Digital Studio.
ABOVE: Photo by A.G. Lucier, provided by John T. Hinckley Library, Northwest College, Powell, Wyoming.
Producer/director Brandon Wade told me that the video was inspired by Lee and Jane Whiteley, who wrote about the highway and the famous tour in their 2003 book, The Playground Trail: The National Park-to-Park Highway. Lee and Jane are known to Lincoln Highway fans for their pioneering work researching the LH route through Colorado, including a small but info-packed book, The Lincoln Highway in Colorado. To learn more about the film, visit pavingtheway.tv where you can also purchase the DVD for $24.95.
Tags:1920 auto trip, AAA pathfinder, COlorado, Lincoln Highway, National Park to Park Highway, National Parks, park highway, PBS, Westgard
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
May 27, 2009
The third Roadside Giant sculpture along the Lincoln Highway in western Pennsylvania will be unveiled today. The Community Installation Celebration for the Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center’s “Packard Car with Driver” will take place at 1 pm at the entrance to the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and the Mt. Odin Golf Course, on the original Lincoln Highway. Guests will enjoy a “giant” Packard Cake, in the same shape as the giant, but edible! Photos of the installation courtesy Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.
Tags:Greensburg PA, highway history, highway sculpture, history, Lincoln Highway, PA, Road trip, roadside giants, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
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