LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
I don’t post here much any more, finding far more people are in my Facebook LH group. But I’ve always loved this quote from Bellamy Partridge about the solitude in western Nebraska, on a little stretch of Lincoln Highway just off US 30, so I wanted to share it here too….
The Lincoln Highway was dedicated on October 31, 1913 — 100 years ago tonight. Bonfires, parades, concerts, and speeches were held all along the coast-to-coast route on Halloween.
West of Chambersburg, Pa., Shatzer’s Fruit Market (2197 Lincoln Way West) has been serving the public since 1933. Outside is one of the decorated fiberglass pumps sponsored by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor along with one of LHHC’s interpretive panels. ~ Photo by Brian Butko, October 2007.
Have you wondered if there was any significance, or is the date a coincidence? Most likely, the LHA’s directors chose it knowing it was a time for public celebrations. The U.S. was just beginning to celebrate Halloween in 1913 but there was a centuries-old tradition of bonfires, parades, and dressing up on All Hallows’ Eve that recent immigrants had brought here. LHA leaders were masters at harnessing public relations, and what better date to choose for fanciful nighttime celebrations than the one day a year that such activities already took place?
The San Francisco Chronicle (October 26, 1913) reported, “It is the idea of the boosters of the transcontinental motorway that the dedication be a sort of spontaneous expression of gratification and it has been left to each city and town along the route of the proposed highway to devise and carry out its own plan of celebration.”
On the 31st, the Chronicle added, “The exercises will be a fitting Halloween celebration, but overshadowing all the goblins and ghosts of the evening there will be the spirit of the great national boulevard.”
In the dedication proclamation from Wyoming, Governor Joseph Carey stated, “It is thought especially fitting that on the evening of October 31st there should be an old-time jollification to include bonfires and general rejoicing; this for the purpose of impressing upon the people and especially the younger generation-the services and unselfish life of Lincoln, and for the further purpose of painting a big picture so far as amusements are concerned of the highway which is to cross our state.”
Some of that wording likely came from an LHA press release, as an article in the November 1 Salt Lake Tribune noted it had been “the request of the directors of the Lincoln Highway to make October 31 an evening of general rejoicing.”
And so the Lincoln Highway was dedicated that night 100 years ago in a spirit of pride and optimism. May we do the same for the coming century.
Shelton, Nebraska, will celebrate its 13th-annual Lincoln Highway Festival and car show this Sunday. The Kearney Hub reports that the car show starts at 10 a.m. with trophy presentations from 2:30-3 p.m. The Shelton Historical Society will serve lunch at the American Legion Hall, and the Lincoln Highway Visitor’s Center will be open all day.
The Grand Island Independent reports that more than 60 cars are expected. Also as a part of the festivities, a kids tractor pull starts at 2 p.m. on C Street and kids can get fire truck rides at the fire station from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact Bev Thomas at (308) 647-6617 or Bob Stubblefield at (308) 647-6554. To register for the car show, call Cindy Ryan at (308) 390-4123: fee is $10 in advance or $15 the day of the show.
Photo of Bob Stubblefield in Visitors Center by Dave McLane.
What are the must-see places along the Lincoln Highway? It’s impossible to answer, as everyone has their favorite things. Some like natural scenery, or good eats, or wacky attractions, or shopping, or water towers. I veer towards vintage roadside attractions like the Shoe House, seen below being repainted.
Rick Sebak, producer of A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway, commented last time I brought this up, “Isn’t every stop different depending on weather, time of day, people you meet, your mood and the temperament of everybody else in the car?” Yep, that’s why the well-known attractions might not even be on your list of favorites.
Nonetheless, I charge ahead with my top 10 places from East-to-West that will make you feel like a Lincoln Highway regular:
1 Shoe House/Dunkle’s Gulf/Coffee Pot/Lincoln Motor Court, PA
2 Balyeat’s Restaurant, Van Wert OH
3 Ideal Section, IN-IL border
4 LHA Headquarters, Franklin Grove IL
5 LH concrete bridge, Tama IA (image above)
6 Scout’s Rest Ranch, N Platte NE
7 Virginian Hotel, Medicine Bow WY
8 Salt Lake Desert route, UT (image below)
9 Carroll Summit road, west of Austin NV
10 Donner Summit, west of Truckee CA
That’s 10 if you don’t mind my PA quad pick (and that’s leaving out the fabulous Poquessing Creek Bridge and Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum).
So what must-see sites did I leave out?? I already can think of more places that I can’t believe didn’t make the list. But the ones above would be a great start to a lifetime of Lincoln Highway touring.
YouTube features many videos about RAGBRAI, the annual bicycle tour across Iowa, which this year followed much of the Lincoln Highway. In this first one, even President Lincoln gets into it at 3:09. (Can any non-Iowa readers identify the location of the statue?
In this one the riders dip their wheels in the rivers, just like LH travelers did at the oceans!
As many as six tornadoes touched down near Kearney, Nebraska, Thursday evening, including some in the city limits, according to the Kearney Hub. The city will host the LHA’s Centennial Conference, July 1-5, 2013.
The tornadoes first touched down near the Lincoln Highway communities of Elm Creek (with hail as large as baseballs) and Overton before moving east to Kearney, uprooting trees, tearing away roofs, and derailing 90 train cars on the Union Pacific Railroad. The Buffalo County Fairgrounds’ large Exposition Center, home to rodeos and large farm shows, collapsed, and damage was reported at the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus. This photo is a screen capture from the Hub’s photo section – click it to browse photos, video, and stories on the storm from the Hub:
Last night, 12,000 customers were without power in Kearney (pop 30,000). The storm continued eastward along the LH/US 30 to Shelton, doing similar damage. A tornado was also spotted 3 miles west of Grand Island. The number of US tornadoes so far in 2008 – 1,191 – is nearly double what it was for the same period last year.
The governor declared a state of emergency Thursday night, and Interstate 80 was closed from Aurora to York due to downed power lines. The National Weather Service issued several advisories for Nebraska and Kansas into Friday morning, including flood warnings for areas already struggling from heavy rains earlier in the week. A weather alert in the Kearney Hub included this advice for anyone ever caught in such a storm:
DO NOT USE HIGHWAY OVERPASSES FOR SHELTER. OVERPASSES DO NOT PROVIDE PROTECTION FROM TORNADIC WINDS. VEHICLES STOPPED UNDER BRIDGES BLOCK TRAFFIC AND PREVENT PEOPLE FROM GETTING OUT OF THE STORM’S PATH AND TO SHELTER. IF YOU CANNOT DRIVE AWAY FROM THE TORNADO, GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE AND LIE FLAT IN A DITCH.
John and Lenore Weiss sent this photo from a trip they took last year. They stopped in Clarks, Nebraska, and spoke with Norm Manstedt, who was having the building restored that features this Lincoln Highway mural. It is on Millard Street, the original LH through the small town. Lenore says, “New siding frames the mural. it will house a lawn and garden business with a small shop in front. John talked to this fellow for quite a while and he seems to be interested in promoting the Lincoln Highway.”
The Abbottstown Beautification Project is a capital campaign to improve the Center Square located in the middle of the Lincoln Highway in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Personalized bricks and other sponsorship opportunities will help fund brick sidewalks, colonial era lighting, crosswalks, and landscaping. Also included is a large, lighted flagpole in the center of the traffic circle and the Abbottstown schoolhouse bell and cupola on the northwest corner. Here are the four corners plus a Lincoln Highway mural. Photos by Becky Fengfish.
Abbottstown is the eastern end of the 200-mile-long Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in Pennsylvania. Those wanting a brochure can contact Becky Fengfish at bfengfish@comcast.net or (717) 259-7332.
The AP reports that the area around Reno, which the Lincoln Highway traverses in western Nevada, has been hit by two moderate earthquakes:
The Seismology Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, says a magnitude 4.2 tremor shook the city early Monday and has been followed by at least a dozen aftershocks….
It’s the latest in a two-month swarm of earthquakes that started in February, and scientists say this is unusual because the tremors are getting stronger, instead of weaker.
The strongest shock so far was a magnitude 4.7 quake that shook cans off shelves on Friday.
As you can tell, huge projects are keeping me away from computers and blogging but I did want to note a number of forthcoming Lincoln Highway Association chapter meetings.
April 12: The Illinois LHA board meeting in Franklin Grove (see photo above) will feature Jo Marner of the Kountry Walkers discussing the Lincoln Heritage Highway Volksmarch that starts Saturday, May 31, at the Geneva History Center and runs through December 31, 2008.
April 26: Ohio LH League 14th Annual Business Meeting, Galion, Ohio, 9:15 am – 2:15 pm, includes lunch. (Thanks Denny!)
May 10: Joint Indiana-Illinois chapter meeting at Teibel’s Restaurant, US 30 at US 41, Schererville, Indiana. Starts at 11 am CDST and includes lunch. Details to follow.
July 12: Joint Illinois-Iowa chapter meeting at Palisades-Kepler State Park between Mt. Vernon and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Contact the state LHA chapters for more information: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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