LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition has completed another of its impressive Interpretive Murals that line the 179-mile Illinois byway corridor. The detailed painting at 208 East Main Street in Morrison, Illinois, depicts the 1921 Whiteside County Fair.
The hand-painted scene shows that the newly paved Lincoln Highway gave motorists the opportunity for ease in traveling out of town for entertainment and special events like the fair. Participating communities are asked to designate representatives to secure a building site for the mural, research stories and images linking their community to Lincoln Highway, and agree to provide maintenance and preservation of the mural. Here are details of the arrangement:
As the designated Scenic Byway management agency overseeing the Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway, the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition (ILHC) continues to seek ways to recognize the significance of the highway and ways to make the stories come alive. After receiving a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism, Attraction Development (TAP) Grant, ILHC worked with our vendor, Jay Allen of ShawCraft Signs, to make this project come to life.
Visit drivelincolnhighway.com for more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway, places to see and things to do, a mobile app, and to download the new Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide (read more here about this soon).
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
It’s once again time for the annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale running August 4, 5 and 6, 2011. The miles-long event began in Ohio seven years ago and has since expanded to all of Iowa and parts of Illinois and Indiana.
Ohio publishes an official Traveler’s Guide that includes a map of the state’s Lincoln Highway alignments plus listings of many yard sales and community events along the way. This free guide is available at convention and visitor bureaus and chambers along the route.
BUY-WAY Yard Sale participants in any state may list their yard sale information on the byway website www.historicbyway.com that shoppers can print out and use to navigate their shopping.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
An important link in the Lincoln Highway is examined in an article in the PhillyBurbs.com that also includes this vintage photo (note the Lincoln Highway sign at left).
The first bridge across the Delaware River between Trenton NJ and Morrisville PA opened 150 years ago on July 1, 1861. When the wooden “City Bridge” burned, an iron bridge was built in 60 days by 83 workmen. It opened October 20, 1884, as the Calhoun Street Toll-Supported Bridge but was made toll-free on Nov. 14, 1928. It is now run by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, which was formed in 1934 and operates seven toll bridges and 13 toll-supported bridges. A $7.2 million rehabilitation project in 2010 included improvements to the rails and sidewalks, new lighting, blast cleaning, and painting. A vintage iron marker noting the Lincoln Highway state border crossing remains on its downstream side near the Pennsylvania abutment.
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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LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A newly posted video uses a vintage player piano to play “Lincoln Highway,” a 1922 march by George B. Lutz. Click below to hear it.
I ran a photo of the sheet music in my book The Lincoln Highway: Pennsylvania Traveler’s Guide (music at right). Other similar marches were produced in 1914 and 1921.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
We’re once again lucky to have Denny Gibson traveling and documenting part of the Lincoln Highway, this time some of the roads to and from the 2011 LHA conference in Lake Tahoe. You can follow his adventures beginning at www.dennygibson.com/lhfest11/day09/index.htm when he visits bits of the Lincoln in Utah. He starts with the beautiful little Lambs Canyon bridge (below). Then it’s across the Utah desert (below #2) and into Nevada.
At the conference, participants rode the old road at Clarksville, Cal., in Model A Fords (below). We’ll save more for our next blog entry….
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Rawlins Daily Timesran a nice article about the centennial celebration at the famed Virginian Hotel along the Lincoln Highway (now US 30) in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.
The celebration was part of Medicine Bow Days this past weekend, when the town’s population of fewer than 300 often jumps five-fold. The hotel hosted a sold-out dinner with actor James Drury, who played the Virginian on TV. Hotel owner Vernon Scott said, “This place means the world to me. It’s something I enjoy, and I hope other people stop in to enjoy (it), too.”
Vernon’s grandparents bought out the majority of hotel shares in the 1930s. Vernon’s mother later took charge, and Vernon took over in 1983. His wife of nearly four decades, Vickie, worked there as a youth at the restaurant and general store.
One customer — who was dancing with her 2-year-old, Summer Apple, in the hotel dining room— said, “Scottie and Vickie have kept it nice, helped with strangers and the community.… I really think they’ve made this hotel the heart and soul of the town.”
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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Lincoln Highway News 