Posts Tagged ‘centennial celebration’

Poster Commemorates Lincoln Hwy Centennial

October 29, 2012

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A new poster commemoratees the forthcoming centennial of the Lincoln Highway in 2013. The Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society Museum of Merrilville, Indiana, commissioned Mitch Markovitz to create the evocative image.

An article at nwitimes.com explains:

“We started this project more than a year ago,” said Dan Kleine, the project manager for the poster commissioning and a member of the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society board. “The whole idea was to build awareness that the Old Lincoln Highway is 73rd Avenue, just outside the museum’s front door.”

In his oil-on-canvas painting that is reproduced as a poster, Markovitz of Knox, creates a scene from 1929 when the Lincoln Highway was a major thoroughfare that led to Broadway and then north to Gary and Chicago….

Jeff Blair, Indiana’s national director on the Lincoln Highway Association, traveled from Leesburg, Ind., to witness the poster’s unveiling.

“Last year, I walked the Lincoln Highway west from Ohio to Illinois for charity. Next May, I’m going to walk east from Illinois to Ohio and I’ll pass right by here on the first day,” Blair said.

The article claims that the poster shows a 1929 Ford Model T, which is impossible. More likely it’s a Model A, though just as perplexing is why the image is said to portray the LH in 1929, a year after the LHA ceased active operations. Perhaps it was to include a 1928 concrete post, but that too is in an incorrect orientation, i.e., not facing the road.

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Lincoln Hwy Boy Scout Bernie Queneau turns 100

July 14, 2012

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Bernie Queneau, the Lincoln Highway’s best-known ambassador, celebrates his 100th birthday today. In 1928, he was one of four Eagle Scouts to cross the Lincoln Highway (at 16) as part of a Scouts’ Safety Tour, which also promoted the highway and its marking that September with thousands of iconic concrete posts.

I was fortunate that in 1997, LHA president Esther Oyster arranged with me to interview 85-yr-old Bernie at my workplace, the Heinz History Center. Years later they returned—together—and took me to lunch to announce their engagement! They were married in 2003 and continue to explore the world together, showing up a few weeks ago at the LHA conference in Ohio. That’s Bernie and Esther Queneau a few years ago at a LHHC event.

Check out Bernie recalling the 1928 trip in this brief outtake from Rick Sebak’s 2008 program about the Lincoln Highway. Click the image, then Bernie’s block near Pittsburgh, PA:

Today would also have been the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, known for his folk songs more closely associated with Route 66. The Lincoln Highway Association is also celebrating its centennial this year, culminating in a celebration July 1, 2013.

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Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, transportation, travel, video | 1 Comment »

Kearney plans 2013 Lincoln Highway centennial

May 27, 2010

The Kearney Hub reported on the Lincoln Highway Association’s plans to celebrate the road’s centennial in the Nebraska city, including new signage.

“This is something that we have wanted to accomplish for a number of years, and it’s wonderful to see the signs up representing the history that once passed through our community,” said Sarah Focke of the Kearney Visitors Bureau.

The visitors bureau has been working with several other Kearney organizations to erect the 12 signs and to lay the groundwork for the Lincoln Highway Association’s 2013 convention in Kearney.

The markers, with the letter “L” and red and blue bands, are going up along Highway 30, which passes east to west through Kearney.

A full article was in the May 26 Hub print edition.

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Fallon Nevada celebrates centennial today

December 18, 2008

Fallon, along the Lincolon Highway in western Nevada, is today celebrating its centennial of becoming an incorporated city. According to the Lahontan Valley News, there was no town at the turn of the century until rancher Mike Fallon sold his land to Warren Williams in 1903, who then began selling lots on what is now the west end of town. The eastern part was established on land owned by John Oats.

nv_fallon_butko

“Initially, Fallon was a mining town, and in 1919 the city experienced an oil boom. Growing alfalfa has been and is still one of the most stable income for local farmers. Currently, the valley’s 30,000 farming acres produces an average of 5 tons per acre — 70 percent is shipped out of state.” Mert Domonoske, past mayor of Fallon for 16 years, said when he moved to Fallon in 1948,  there were about 2,300 residents, and the only road leading out of town was a two-lane highway. Now “The Oasis of Nevada” has 8,000 citizens.

Smiley Kent moved to Fallon in 1950 after marrying Bob Kent in Elko. Her husband grew up in Fallon and has spent his entire life here. The couple first lived in a home in downtown Fallon, and Maine Street was the place in town where people shopped, Kent said there was not much traffic in the 1950s, and businesses were scattered throughout the city. What she first noticed about Fallon was its peacefulness and all the trees on Williams Avenue. She said Center Street also served as the Lincoln Highway and was the road on which people traveled when leaving town. She said the town always pulled together during tough times, and remembers Mom’s Place at Allen Road and Williams Avenue as the last business on the west side of town. “The town keeps going west,” she said. “The town has expanded so much.”

Events run this evening from 6-8 pm starting when the current mayor and council members arrive at Oats Park by horse-drawn Wells Fargo stagecoach. Festivities will include a bonfire, food, drinks, church bells ringing, musical performances, and singing “Happy Birthday” with a big birthday cake. Just bundle up – freezing temps are predicted all day and week.

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Model Ts 100 years old and touring coast-to-coast

May 9, 2008

Above, The 10 Millionth Ford (with Lincoln Highway markings) arrives at San Francisco, California, 1924. Drive Frank Kulick is handing Mayor J. Rolph a letter from Mayor Hylan of New York City. Courtesy University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, lhc3000.

A transcontinental tour of Ford Model Ts was launched on May 5 in honor of the car’s centennial. The “Sea to Sea by T” tour is traveling from Baltimore to Los Angeles via Route 40 and Route 66, missing the Lincoln Highway but nonetheless of note to old car and highway enthusiasts. The cars were shipped to Baltimore last month and the participants flew in May 3rd to start the tour. A sampling of overnight stops includes Springfield MO on May 13; Amarillo TX on May 17; Albuquerque NM on May 21; Williams AZ on May 24-25; and arrive LA on May 28. Details are scarce; the national Model T Club recommends contacting the Model T Ford Club of Southern California c/o Lee Chase (323) 938-4601, though most of what they know is reported here.

Also note that the Model T Ford Club of America and Ford Motor Company will honor the 100 year birthday of the Model T with an official celebration July 21-26, 2008 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds (861 Salisbury Road N) in Richmond, Indiana, which is 60 miles east of Indianapolis & 35 miles west of Dayton, Ohio. Click the logo above for more info.

Henry Ford chose not to align with the Lincoln Highway Association or any road that depended on private funding, but his son Edsel supported their efforts, most famously with a tour of the 10 Millionth Model T along the Lincoln Highway in 1924.

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