I’m once again on the Lincoln Highway Association board. I was a founding director in 1992, representing Pennsylvania, then left to raise kids and write books. I’m still doing those but will be filling a vacancy in an At-Large position. For the full list of directors, visit the LHA’s web site: www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/about.
Plan to attend the LHA conference in Evanston, Wyoming, June 17-21, 2008.
John and Lenore Weiss are well-known to Route 66 fans for the work they’ve done to help preserve, promote, and document that road, especially in Illinois. Lincoln Highway fans are starting to hear about them too, most noticeably leading the acquisition from IDOT of a 1928 concrete LH post, then John served as Master of Ceremonies at its dedication on Veterans Day 2006 at the Joliet Historical Museum. Their newest project merges 66, the LH, and even the Dixie Highway.
Traveling the … Historic Three is a 74-page spiral-bound guide to traveling those three highways in a 110-mile, triangle-shaped route south of Chicago. John and Lenore freely give credit to the conceptual idea of combining these three roads into one road trip to Elaine Egdorf who administers Drivin’ the Dixie, a web site devoted to that road. The booklet has an intro, then tabs divide each section, and there’s a page of related organizations at the end. Narration is casual in the way a good friend would lead you on a tour, with instructions for when to turn, what to see, where to park, and recommended places to eat and visit. Lincoln Highway fans will be pleased to discover much that they may not have noticed until slowed down to a tour on the local level.
Lenore told me a little bit about their work:
The unique aspect of the triangular tour is that you can start at any of three locations and end up exactly where you started! With any road trips, folks travel say 100 miles, then they must return. This results in an extra 100 miles.
In this area, the Lincoln Highway and especially the Dixie Highway communities and businesses are not very accustomed to tourism. This is an interesting aspect when compared to those on Route 66. On the Lincoln, the town of Frankfort wants to get involved. On the Dixie, the town of Homewood is equally as excited.
Since we already had the Route 66 portion, and have lived on that particular section of the Lincoln Highway for 30 years, only the Dixie needed some real investigation. And that, too, was a rewarding experience.
And she notes that every time they drive it, as recently as last week, they keep discovering new things.
Above: John and Lenore Weiss with Route 66 tattoo man Jim Bush in the souvenir-filled gift shop at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, a must-stop for road fans.
Highlights at the intersections include the Art Institute of Chicago at Jackson Avenue and Columbus Drive in Chicago, where 66 and the Dixie launch; the Joliet Area Historical Museum where 66 and the LH meet, at Cass and Ottawa streets in Joliet; and the Arche Memorial Fountain where the LH and Dixie meet, built 1916 as part of a rest park for travelers of the two roads in Chicago Heights. As you can see, the three roads offer lots to see for fans of old roads. This and other books by the Weisses are available at gift shops such as the Joliet Museum or through the couple’s web site. An autographed copy of Traveling the … Historic Three is $9.95 + $4.60 postage and handling.
A lengthy article on Cindy’s Diner (830 S Harrison St, Fort Wayne) was published Sunday in the Toledo Blade. Anyone traveling the Lincoln Highway in eastern Indiana will want to visit the diner for excellent food and a fun, friendly experience—and a Lincoln Highway logo near the door. Owner John Scheele (below) can always be found cooking for 15 patrons and handing the take-out orders.
After recounting the diner’s history (a 1952 Valentine), the article discusses its clientele:
A large number of the diner’s patrons are regulars – “Probably 85 percent of them we know by their first names,” Cindy said – and they include students, businessmen, cops, lawyers, construction workers, and researchers using the nearby library’s world-class genealogical collection.
Plenty of out-of-towners find their way to Cindy’s, too. A dog-eared guest book has been signed by patrons from every state, as well as foreign countries from China to Iran to South Africa to Russia.
Like the Mystery Photos we sometimes run on weekends, there are likewise lots of postcards that we wonder “whatever happened to that place?” This beautiful linen card from the Curt Teich Company pictures the Country Club Motor Lodge and Coffee Shop, 2665 Parley’s Way, Salt Lake City, Utah. It advertised 55 “strictly modern units” and “Sun Porch and Modern Coffee Shop for Convenience of Guests.” It’s named for The Country Club across the road, one of the West’s oldest courses (founded 1899) and still an elegant, private 18-hole course. Today, housing separates the two just west of the tangle of ramps where I-80, I-215, and UT 186 meet.
This card, postmarked Aug 4, 1949, was sent by a child:
“We got here right today We will be back to Sacramento California soon We are haveing a nice trip so good-by and I will see you soon from Mary Jean”
What’s left at the site today? The phone number is now a private residence. A Yahoo aerial view shows it still there, but you can buy for a condo at the Country Club Ridge subdivision at the same address. Price for #310 is $649,000 for 2,065 sq ft, built 2007. Are we a year too late…?
The Iowa Lincoln Highway Association is organizing its first-ever River to River Motor Tour across Iowa for August 8-10, 2008. All cars are invited, and classic car owners can rest easy that no gravel alignments will be on the official route. Participants can join or leave the tour at any point.
Above: The newly wiidened bridge between Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1924. (Univ of Michigan, Special Collections Library, lhc2218)
Starting in Clinton, highlights will include:
• Site of the Lyons-Fulton Bridge in Clinton
• Walk on the abandoned Lincoln Highway west of Lowden
• Restored Youngville Café in Benton County
• World-famous Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama
• State Center, the “rose capital of Iowa”
• Tour restored Reed/Niland corners in Colo
• Lincoln Highway Clubhouse in Jefferson
• Drive on the brick Lincoln Highway in Woodbine
• Hitchcock Nature Center near Honey Creek
Registration is $20 per vehicle for Iowa LHA members or $30 per vehicle for non-members that registers that person for a one year membership to the Iowa LHA. For more information, visit the Iowa LHA website or contact coordinator LHA Iowa director Jeff LaFollette, who has previously chaired motor tours along Route 66 in Illinois, at jefflaf@peoplepc.com or (563) 349-3047.
Leigh and Chuck Henline of Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte, Nebraska, stopped at the Covered Wagon west of Kearney on their Thanksgiving trip to snap a few photos of the Covered Wagon, previously reported on here. Note the office now has a second story. Here’s a closeup of the wagon, still awaiting restoration:
Or click below for a 2-photo panorama of the site. Note the houses rising behind it on what was once the 1733 Ranch:
Friday was the last day for a popular DeKalb intitution. A story in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle recounts the history and good times at Ralph’s News Stand & Trophy House, 664 E. Lincoln Highway. Ralph Seats owned and operated the store from 1952 until his death last year at age 83. It was popular with locals but, as the article explained, “With a small number of street parking spots near the store—and an influx of chain stores offering some, but not all, of the same services as the shop—Ralph’s is yet another signature mom-and-pop style shop to shut its doors.”
Like an old-time general store, Ralph’s carried a bit of everything: “Lock de-icer can be found next to chewing tobacco. Toward the back of the store are rows of cards offering warm praises for birthdays, graduations and other life events. Sitting among chewing gum is an old-fashioned rotary-dial phone with a detachable ear piece connected to a cord … lottery tickets, trophy engraving, Western Union service, tobacco, magazines, newspapers and a tube tester from the years when TVs needed tubes to operate.
Ralph’s first opened in the middle of the 600 block before moving to the corner of Seventh Street and Lincoln Highway. For decades it was open 5 am till midnight. Ralph insisted a big-band radio station be on at all times, which it was—until he left! His widow Doris said it’s hard to close, but “it’s a little more than I can take. It’s sad not having him here. I miss him.”
Photo Ralph’s Magazines by Joe Thorn
The black granite used in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was supplied by a family firm along the Lincoln Highway in Lynwood, Illinois, south of Chicago. According to a recent article in The Times of Munster, Indiana, Rogan Granite (21550 E Lincoln Hwy/US 30, about 1000 feet west of the Indiana border) supplied the granite that carries the names of 58,256 veterans who either died in Vietnam or are listed as prisoners of war or missing in action. Tom Rogan says, “It was a very proud moment for our company and our family…. It was an opportunity for us to show what the region could do in support of our veterans.” The company, with roots back to 1874, was known as Calumet Memorial until 1980, when Tom and brothers Jim and Mick expanded the business.
The article recounts, “As part of the company’s headstone business, Rogan Granite supplied grave markers for veterans in several states. It was during a 1982 trip to Washington—to see which grave marker bids were successful—that Rogan learned of the plans for the memorial.” The bid required black granite because it could polish to a mirrorlike reflective surface and allow etched names to show up as white. The granite actully came from India, was cut and polished in Vermont, and etched in Tennesse, but the Rogan family coordinated the process of providing the 144 panels, each 44 inches wide each, that make up the two walls that are each 246 feet, 9 inches long. The memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day in 1982.
Photo Vietnam Memorial, The Wall, Washington D.C. by ehpien
Police patches are increasingly being collected by those interested in the imagery itself, causing concern that the patches will be used to impersonate an officer. Among the many collectable topics is the Lincoln Highway, particularly patches with a road-related graphic. The patch of the Tama, Iowa, police includes what is perhaps the most recognizable LH landmark, the town’s concrete bridge with the road’s name in its side rails. An article in the Marshalltown Times-Republican says eBay offers thousands of patches daily due to this cross-collectability: “Recently a pair of Tama Police Department patches which features the famed Lincoln Highway bridge along with an older department patch sold for just over $27 for the three. It’s likely both police patch and Lincoln Highway memorabilia collectors drove the price offering on the eBay site.” Most departments do not give patches to collectors, but instead destroy old or worn ones.
The police page for Cairo, Ohio makes clear in big red letters, “Cairo PD is not currently giving away or trading patches.” The patch shows the road and spells out “Lincoln Highway.” The page, which has a LH logo, also recounts the road’s history through town:
“In 1921 Lincoln Highway went through Cairo, which was known as West Cairo at the time, on the former Bucyrus Road. Lincoln Highway was eventually designated as U.S. 30. When U.S. 30 was expanded into a four lane, Cairo was bypassed approximately one half mile to the south. Although U.S. 30 has moved south, historic Lincoln Highway still runs through Cairo.”
Gianofer Fields of Chicago Public Radio is heading west, soon to pick up the Lincoln Highway. Her first stop was in Burlington, Iowa, checking out Snake Alley, aka the World’s Crookedest Street. As she says, “I haven’t even made it to the Lincoln Highway and I’m already having a great time. With about 2000 miles to go on this trip, I’d better pace myself.” Read the first day’s journal (Monday, Nov. 26) or listen to it at the Chicago Public Radio site.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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