LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Van & Bev Becker send good news from Iowa that the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine is about to reopen. The landmark eatery closed a year and a ahlf ago after the owner was murdered as part of a family dispute. Click the image below to watch a video report from KGAN-TV, Cedar Rapids. Check out my previous entries such as this and this.
Above, the remodeled cafe, and below, before its closure.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A fire has left the future uncertain for a vintage motel on the Lincoln Highway south of Plainfield, Illinois. About two thirds of the Lakeview Motel, 15824 S. Joliet Rd. at Renwick Rd., was damaged at a loss estimated at $350,000. The Plainfield Patch reports police believe the blaze started in an unoccupied room and quickly spread into the roof of the 19-room motel. The longtime maintenance manager thinks an unhappy tenant may have been the source, and said, “Out of 19 rooms, 10 of them are pretty much gone.” A photo the paper ran from before the fire (by Kevin Whaley) shows the c. 1950 motel.
The Herald-News reports that even before the fire, the village’s building inspector says multiple code violations made the buildings a dangerous place to live. He has since condemned the motel, house, and mobile homes but the owner would rather rebuild than demolish. The inspector said he’ll give the owner 30 days to figure out how to proceed: “I think people deserve better…. And it’s a prime corner. There’s a lot of potential on this corner.”
Like most mid-century motels, tourists are no longer the primary customers. One online reviewer cried “WHAT A DUMP!!!!!!: This place does not belong in Plainfield. A drug den, where there is nothing but losers & transient people there. Not even safe to park vehicle there. Should be torn down…” but a response said, “It’s not the greatest place on earth, but some people are not as fortunate as others [and] have to stay wherever they can afford and at least they have a roof over their head and not sleeping on the corner.”
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
David Alan Badger has been gathering recipes from businesses along the Lincoln Highway in Illinois and combining them with pencil drawings of the businesses to produce Recipes from the Illinois Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway. The book includes sections for each community along the route, plus a special section on the ILHC’s Interpretive Gazebos and Murals. Learn more about the recipes book at www.drivelincolnhighway.com, which includes a list of the communities.
You can also visit www.davidalanbadger.com to see more of Badger’s artwork.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The state has awarded $500,000 for recreation projects in Franklin and Cumberland counties in Pennsylvania, one of which will be an iPhone application to promote the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. According to the Chambersburg Public Opinion, “the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources invested $23 million in 189 conservation and recreation projects in 65 counties. Another 177 applications were not funded. A grant of $180,000 will be used to develop an iPhone application to promote tourism in the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor and to finance a variety of other Lincoln Highway programs — mini-grants, school programs and repair interpretive exhibits and signs. The state’s National Road Heritage Corridor is also developing an iPhone application.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Eastern Iowa Life reports that the last intact block of “automobile row” in Cedar Rapids will be razed as early as Monday:
Lagniappe Investments plans to raze 706 and 712 Second Ave. SE, buildings that in recent years served as the Home Appliance Center and a hall for the Emerald Knights Drum & Bugle Corps…. Tom Slattery, authorized representative for Lagniappe, would not say why the site is being cleared.
Mark Stoffer Hunter, an expert in Cedar Rapids history, said architecturally, the buildings are not significant, but the block is important to Cedar Rapids history. “It’s the one block of downtown Cedar Rapids that hasn’t changed in 50 years,” he said…. As the Lincoln Highway was routed onto Second Avenue around 1920, businesses replaced homes along the route.
In the above photo, supplied to the paper by historian Mark Stoffer Hunter, Barron Motor Supply is shown at 706 Second Ave. SE in this 1935 photo. The store was one of several that lined Cedar Rapids’ “automobile row” along the Lincoln Highway.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition announced the completion of its newest Interpretive Mural along the 179-mile byway corridor: 127 N. Third Street in Malta, Illinois, on the Malta Historical Society’s Old Town Hall.
The Malta mural showcases the Lincoln Highway’s first Seedling Mile with a detailed painting of workmen pouring the concrete from a steam-operated mixer and a view at right of men smoothing the surface. The LHA used Seedling Miles to demonstrate the advantages of concrete over dirt surfaces in hopes that it would inspire further road improvements.
For more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition, including its murals and gazebos plus places to see and things to do, or to download an ILHC’s 2010 Visitor Guide, visit www.drivelincolnhighway.com/.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Scott Segeti, former owner of Palmantier’s Motel, said he was “lured to these parts by the beauty of nearby farm fields, grazing cattle, grassy meadows, chirping birds, fresh air and an opportunity to be his own boss.”
Now Rainie Sonntag wrote to say:
My husband and I have the same dream so we went to the auction and purchased the Palmantier’s Motel. We fell in love with the place when we saw it. We had to have it. My mother was the long time owner of the Akron Turnpike Motel. She too had a dream and we helped her make it happen with her motel. Now we plan to do the same with ours!! We purchased it in July and we are now open. So for all you folks who stayed there in the past please return and make it happen.
Palmantier’s Motel, opened 1947, is a classic 9-unit motel along the Lincoln Highway in eastern Ohio. Segeti put it up for auction, saying he was struggling. The beautiful motel is within sight of the famous stretch of Baywood Road paved in red bricks (bottom center of photo). The new # for reservations is (330) 868-6000.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The California Lincoln Highway Association will tour the Central Valley Route from Sacramento to San Francisco, via Sacramento Valley and across the Carquinez Strait on Saturday, October 30. Tour departs and ends at the Holiday Inn Sacramento I-80 at 9 am. Cost $25 or $40 with a guide. Each year, the California Chapter of the LHA hosts four self-guided cruises and guided tours. Cruise along in your own car, or ride along as a passenger in one of our guide cars! The cruise is open to passenger cars, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, classic cars, and antique cars capable of freeway speeds.
One-day excursion begins and ends in Sacramento. Highlights include: Old Sacramento, Tower Bridge, Yolo Causeway, Davis, Dixon, historic downtown Vacaville, the Solano County Courthouse, entrance into Napa Valley on Jameson Canyon Road, historic Vallejo, Carquinez Strait, Rodeo, Pinole, Berkeley Pier, Bay Bridge, Lincoln Highway markers in San Francisco. Return trip to Sacramento on I-80.
Advance registration required. Lunch not included but will include a stop for lunch, or tour participants may also bring their own food and snacks. For more details visit http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/ca/tours/
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Limited tickets are available for An Affair with Lincoln, a gala on November 6, 2010. The event, to benefit the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in PA, will be held at the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve located in Latrobe. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and signature drinks while mingling with en plein air artists Kevin Kutz, Rita Haldeman, Bill Pfahl, Bill Vrscak, Ron Donoughe, and Robert Bowden.
The mission of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor is to identify, conserve, promote and interpret the cultural, historical, natural, recreational, and economic resources along the Lincoln Highway in Westmoreland, Somerset, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin and Adams counties. Established 15 years ago, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor was recently recognized by the governor with induction into the Keystone Society for Tourism and received the celebrated Enterprise Award as a “visionary in destination leadership and community development.”
Visit http://www.lhhc.org for a PDF invitation and to purchase tickets.
Northwest Indiana Times newspaper continues its coverage of U.S. 30 and the Lincoln Highway:
In honor of the “Region’s Road,” The Times takes a look at the many communities — starting from west to east — that use U.S. 30 as a main artery of transportation and a critical part of their residents’ very lives.: The region’s road is an extensive look at the communities.
The newspaper photo, above, shows a plaque at the region’s famous Ideal Sections. Towns profiled include Dyer, Schererville, Merrillville, Hobart, Union Twp., and Valparaiso.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Like this blog? You'll LOVE my books!Lincoln Highway Companion features detailed maps and places to eat and stay. Click the book to buy it on Amazon.
Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
Another fun book! The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway recalls the greatest roadside attraction along the coast-to-coast road.
And for those who LOVE diners, click the book below to purchase our completely updated guide to the history, geography, and food of Pennsylvania's Diners!
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