Archive for the ‘travel’ Category
January 6, 2010
Updating yesterday’s story on Brian Cassler’s efforts to deliver bricks to Nebraska, dad Jim sent this photo and info on where they came from:
The bricks were uncovered in the summer of 2007 when Tuscarawas Street (the Lincoln Hwy through downtown Canton, Ohio) was unearthed as a part of a street renovation project. Former LHA president Bob Lichty asked the city to save them to be used for a future project. When the Archway requested bricks, we were able to fill their request.
The bricks will be used for a recreated stretch of the transcontinental road at the Great Platte River Road Archway that spans I-80 near Kearney in central Nebraska. Cleaning the bricks and arranging their transport was an Eagle Scout project for Brian Cassler. Jim operates the Lincoln Highway Trading Post.
Tags:archway museum, highway history, history, I-80, Lincoln Highway, Nebraska, Ohio, preservation, roadway reproduction, transporting bricks
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
January 5, 2010
An Eagle Scout project for Brian Cassler will be a gift for Lincoln Highway fans forever. The Kearney Hub reports that Cassler’s efforts will result in a recreated stretch of the transcontinental road at the Great Platte River Road Archway that spans I-80 in central Nebraska. The Kearney paper has 25 photos online, as seen in the screen capture below.
“The original paving bricks are getting pretty rare,” said Ronnie O’Brien, director of education/operations at the archway. “We were going to contract with a brick company to recreate a piece of the Lincoln Highway.” Instead, workers in Canton, Ohio, a city of 78,000, found original bricks in 2008 while reconstructing city streets. Brian Cassler of Canton took on a project of cleaning, organizing and palletizing the [2,200] bricks from the famous highway.
Cassler, along with trucker Tim Wunsch of Fort Morgan, Colo., delivered the load of pavers to the archway Sunday. “The city of Canton donated the bricks to the archway to be used in the display,” O’Brien said. “The bricks had been under other construction, and they were dirty and in a huge pile. They needed to be cleaned up and scraped before they could be hauled here.” Cassler, who took on the project as part of his Eagle Scout requirements, spent several months preparing the bricks. Cassler’s father runs the Lincoln Highway Trading Post in Canton.
Check out highway merchandise at the Lincoln Highway Trading Post online store.
The Omaha World-Herald also ran a feature story about the project.
Tags:archway museum, brick pavers, Canton OH, Eagle Scout project, historic highway, historic preservation, I-80, Kearney NE, Lincoln Highway, preserving brick roadway
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
January 3, 2010
Van & Bev Becker wrote to say that Belle Plaine, Iowa, hopes to encourage tourism by promoting the Lincoln Highway and its importance to the town. Artists have been commissioned to paint historic scenes on local structures. The Beckers sent the photo below of a mural on the outside of the history museum at the corner of 12th St. & 9th Ave.
A word about the dates 1913 through 1937 that were used in the caption at the bottom of the mural. The 1913 date is of course of the beginning of the Lincoln Highway; however, the 1937 date includes the early years when the Lincoln Highway was designated as US 30. Early highway planners routed travelers miles to the south into the city of Belle Plaine to avoid the steep and muddy “Bohemie Alps.” By the late ’30s, highway building techniques, including cut and fill, allowed the then-Highway 30 to run straight west through the extremely hilly region east of Tama, resulting in Belle Plaine being bypassed. This new route straight through the Bohemie Alps is the road you will drive today if you follow Highway 30 between Cedar Rapids and Tama.
So the mural portrays the 1913 route through the terrain it was, in reality, avoiding.
Tags:antique auto, Belle Plaine IA, highway history mural, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, mural, road history, US 30
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December 30, 2009
The WCF Courier of Eastern Iowa ran a lengthy feature about the impact of a coming US 30 bypass around Tama and Toledo, Iowa. Parts of the current road bypassed the original Lincoln Highway long ago, and even this 4-lane has been under consideration for decades. The 7.5-mile project is set to open next year.
Here are excerpts:
The $24 million expansion is expected to draw manufacturing and other industries that need access to a major highway. Unfortunately, some are concerned traffic-dependent businesses, including restaurants and hotels, could see a drop in customers….
The highway has been important to Tama and Toledo over time. Tama was home to the Lincoln Highway at the turn of the century. When most of the road was rebranded U.S. 30, the thoroughfare maintained its relevance.
Big T’s Maid Rite has been a longtime institution at the intersection of U.S. highways 30 and 63 in Toledo. Cars come and go as travelers stop for coffee and pie. Others want the “mo” – a Maid Rite with onions and mustard.
Manager Brad Crawford expects business to drop off after four-lane opens. There’s less impetus to pull off the highway and grab a bite to eat when cars are travelling at 65 mph, he said.
“Any business is going to be affected by that,” Crawford said. The main hope for businesses, like Big T’s, is that the brand is strong enough to keep people coming back.
Tags:highway bypass, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, Maid Rite restaurant, old road being improved, Tama Iowa
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
December 21, 2009
Kristin Poerschke of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor sent some photos of the Mountain View Inn east of Greensburg. The property was bought recently and much of the historic hotel was demolished for a planned shopping plaza. Kristin’s picture might look like the same building as in this vintage postcard but it’s not; the original section was razed and only sections built in the past decade were retained.
Tags:2-lane travel, Greensburg PA, Lincoln Highway, Mountain View Inn, old hotel demolition, Road trip
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, Road trip, roadside, transportation, travel | 6 Comments »
December 17, 2009
Craig Harmon launched a new web page today to commemorate the 100th anniversary of murals inside the restored Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City. The city, on pioneer trails and the Transcontinental Railroad, also hosted the Lincoln Highway. The station, originally just called the Oregon Short Line Depot, is at Third West and South Temple streets.
Artists John McQuarrie & August C. Wocker were commissioned in September 1909 and by December the murals were finished. McQuarrie also made the bronze for the Betsy Ross Memorial Flag Pole at the Lincoln Highway’s western terminus.
In 1979, the paintings were restored by Scott M. Haskins, who also supplied current photos to Harmon such as the above. Learn more at Harmon’s page:
www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/BRMFP/200-JM/RR-01-SLC-Index.html
Tags:centennial of murals, Lincoln Highway, railroad murals, Salt Lake City, train station, Union Pacific
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, transportation, travel | 3 Comments »
December 14, 2009
Paul Gilger, head of the mapping committee for the Lincoln Highway Association, has uploaded a national and statewide maps of the Lincoln Highway to the LHA site. Though they only show basic routings, the maps should be a huge benefit to fans thinking of following the first coast-to-coast highway.
Paul explained a little about the layout and process of creating them:
Once you get to the United States map, you click on the individual states to go to that state map. (There is also a place to click at the top of the page to get to the states.) Once on the state maps, you can click and go from state to state.
As you can see, at this scale, these maps can only be very generic, and can only show the general layout of the Lincoln Highway. Included are the county names, the names of major cities, and the route signs for the major highways that follow the Lincoln. To see the exact location of all the alignments, it is still necessary to purchase the Lincoln Highway Driving Maps CD.
It has taken 2 years to format these maps, and then another year to set up the map pages. A very big thank you goes to our webmaster Jimmy Lin who worked hand-in-hand with me. I provided the map artwork, and then Jimmy set up the pages and their various cross-links. He also provided many graphic refinements to the maps.
You’ll find the maps at www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/maps/.
To purchase the Driving Maps CD, visit the Lincoln Highway Trading Post.
Tags:blue highway, coast-to-coast road, LHA, Lincoln Highway, old road map, Road trip, travel, US map, vacation
Posted in highways, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel | 1 Comment »
December 4, 2009
Another new gazebo is spreading news of the Lincoln Highway in Illinois. Though the town of Oregon is not on the coast-to-coast the route, it played a part in the road’s development and history. The Ogle County News reports that officials unveiled the addition to the Ogle County Courthouse lawn with hopes that tourism dollars will follow. The image below is a screen capture from that article, and excerpts follow.
“This area draws tourists and tourism draws dollars,” said State Representative Jerry Mitchell (R-Rock Falls) during a grand opening ceremony for the structure Nov. 28. “Hopefully, tourists will stop at the gazebo and spend some time and money here.”
The gazebo is one of 16 constructed along the Illinois Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway and its corridor in northern Illinois.
It was recently constructed on the northwest corner of the courthouse square, facing Ill. 64 just one block west of Ill. 2.
Bonnie Heimbach, project director for the Illinois Highway Lincoln Coalition (ILHC) said Oregon qualified for a federal grant to help construct the gazebo because the city was part of early marketing efforts soon after the coast-to-coast highway was opened in 1913.
“Oregon is not exactly on the highway, but it is mentioned as early as 1915,” said Heimbach.
The Lincoln Highway is located south of Oregon and runs east to west, through Franklin Grove and Dixon. It was the first highway in the United States to connect the east and west coasts.
Oregon and Ogle County are included in the Lincoln Highway corridor because Lorado Taft’s Black Hawk statue was part of the cover of the original promotional flyer that advertised the first all-weather transcontinental highway, said Marcia Heuer, executive director of the Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce….
Each gazebo was constructed for $16,000 with a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). That grant provided 80 percent of the funding for each gazebo with local groups providing the remaining 20 percent.
WIFR-TV also covered the story.
Tags:highway history, Illinois history, Interpretive Gazebo, Lincoln Highway, old roads, Oregon in IL, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
November 30, 2009
Lancaster Online posted their regular Flashback column, which often has news of the Lincoln Highway. This story from December 1934 explains how the highway was to be widened east of Lancaster through Soudersburg. It’s interesting to see that this always-crowded stretch was already straining under its traffic 75 years ago.
State and local officials announced that an eight-mile-long project to widen the Lincoln Highway, from the east end of Lancaster City to Leaman Place, was beginning in a few weeks. Plans called for a four-lane highway from the city to Mellinger’s Church, and a three-lane road from the church to Leaman Place. The project was made possible by the decision to abandon trolley service from Broad and East King streets to Leaman Place. That move made available the land needed to widen the road, which was considered one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the area.
Tags:history of roads, Lancaster PA, Lincoln Highway, PA, road widening, Soudersburg PA, travel
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November 6, 2009
Scott Berka (city clerk of Colo, Iowa) wrote to say Niland’s Cafe at the Reed/Niland Corner in Colo, Iowa, will host a man walking the Jefferson Highway from Winnipeg to New Orleans. The Colo Development Group invites all to attend on Monday, November 9, at 9:00 a.m. The one-stop gathering of classic roadside businesses is at the intersection of the E–W Lincoln Highway and the N–S Jefferson.
ABOVE: Standing on the Lincoln Highway and “above” the Jefferson Highway at Reed/Niland Corner. BELOW, Berka at the cafe counter.
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that Mike Conlin from New Orleans and Gary Augustine from Prince George, B.C., have already departed Winnipeg, the northern terminus of the Jefferson Highway.
“People are right into this stuff and, with the baby boomers all ready to retire, and into that age where you’re more into history, I’ve got a feeling that that highway is going to come back,” said Conlin.
The Jefferson Highway, established in 1919, was the first north-south transcontinental road to span the North American continent, named for the third U.S. president of the United States. It runs through Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, ending in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tags:Colo Iowa, cool cafe, Iowa, Jefferson Highway, Lincoln Highway, New Orleans, walking the continent, Winnipeg
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
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