Posts Tagged ‘Lincoln Highway’
March 16, 2010
With Spring weather arriving, don’t forget that the 2010 Lincoln Highway Driving Maps CDs are now available through the Lincoln Highway Trading Post.
LHA mapping committee director Paul Gilger notes that, although you can view the 2010 map files with earlier versions of DeLorme, it is best to view the new maps with the new 2010 DeLorme program, as DeLorme adjusted a significant number of new vector points. The 2010 CDs and DeLorme program are available through the LH Trading Post, and purchases in part support the LHA:
http://www.lhtp.com/Store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=137
There are many improvements to the maps this year, including the three Chicago Feeder Routes. Paul says, “A big thank you goes to Jan Shupert-Arick and Fred Sachtleben who sent me a full-size scan of a wonderful 1921 Rand McNally Auto Trails Map of the entire Chicago area. The map has 34 auto trails mapped out, and has the LH routes clearly marked.”
Here’s a partial list of some of the map improvements and additions for 2010:
New York: new Eastern Terminus sign at Times Square.
New Jersey: confirmation of 49th Street from JFK East to JFK West.
Pennsylvania: addition of all 70+ Pennsylvania Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor murals, exhibits and roadside giants sculptures.
Washington DC Loop: possible alternate route through Bel Air now shown, Zero Milestone added in White House Ellipse.
Ohio: adjustments made to 1918 alignments through Canton, Mansfield & Lima, new brick monument locations added.
Indiana: adjustments of routes through Ft Wayne, Eastern Feeder Route to Chicago (from Dyer) added.
Illinois: Southern Feeder Route to Chicago (from Chicago Heights), and Western Feeder Route to Chicago (from Geneva) added, Lincoln statue added at Chicago Heights.
Nebraska: new LH historic marker locations added.
Wyoming: Matthew Shepard memorial added at Laramie next to the LH, previously unknown 1913 alignment added east of Evanston.
Utah: nine new map updates due to further research by Jess Petersen, new Fisher Pass Monument added.
Nevada: alignment corrections made through Sparks and Reno.
California: previously unknown 1913 alignment added near Auburn.
U.S.: Locations of businesses and tourist spots featured in the PBS documentary A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway added.
Tags:driving old roads, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, maps of old roads
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel | Leave a Comment »
March 11, 2010
Mike Buettner reports that LHA member Larry Webb of Van Wert, Ohio, has been honored with a Jefferson Award for his many years of volunteer service. An article in The Lima News mentions his work with both the local historical society and the Lincoln Highway. The nomination was made by LHA members Art and Connie Weber, also of Van Wert.
Mike sent this photo from the dedication of the Ohio’s Lincoln Highway Historic Byway in April 2004: “The ribbon-cutting was in Van Wert, appropriately, because Larry and Kriss Salters (also with scissors) were the two people who did the most to make that happen, processing a lot of paperwork with ODOT to make the thing a reality.”
Tags:Historic Byway, Jefferson Award, Lincoln Highway, OH, Van Wert OH, volunteer service
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
March 10, 2010
The Iowa amateur radio operators who for the last two years have operated a summer “special event” radio station celebrating 95 and then 96 years along the Lincoln Highway have banded together under the name Lincoln Highway Amateur Radio Group (LH-ARG). They applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a special call sign to use during on-the-air club operations and they now hold the unique call sign: NY2SF — that is, ”New York to San Francisco, from the eastern terminus to the western terminus of the Lincoln Highway.
Key officers of the new LH-ARG are Van & Bev Becker, LHA Life Members. As in the past, the group plans to team with the Benton County Amateur Radio Club to operate another special event station celebrating 97 Years along the Lincoln Highway from Youngville Station the weekend immediately before the 2010 Lincoln Highway Association Conference in Dixon, Illinois. Last year’s special event spread the word of the Lincoln Highway to almost 1,000 different stations in 3 countries.
Tags:amaeur radio, ham radio, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, NY to SF call letters
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March 9, 2010
Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition unveiled two more of the 40 Interpretive Murals being installed along the Illinois Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway and its corridor. The two are in Cortland and Genoa, the latter never on the route but nonetheless being recognized as being within the highway’s corridor of influence. Both murals feature “The Good Roads Movement.”
The Cortland mural, at 55 West Lincoln Highway, showcases dirt and gravel roads evolving into concrete. The Genoa mural, at 232 West Main Street, depicts road dragging contests. According to ILHC:
After receiving a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Bureau of Tourism, Attraction Development (TAP) Grant, ILHC worked with our vendor, Jay Allen of ShawCraft Signs, to make this project come to life.
Each of the 40 communities is asked to designate representatives to work with ILHC on this project, as well as 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. Each mural is valued at $10,000. Upon completion of this project, a print piece will be created highlighting each interpretive mural and gazebo (16 of them from a recently completed project) with a map and small description of each.
You can view images of the progress HERE and HERE as slideshows or individually.
For more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition, visit www.drivelincolnhighway.com/.
Tags:Cortland IL, Genoa IL, highway history, history murals, Illinois history, Lincoln Highway
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, signs, transportation | 1 Comment »
March 8, 2010
Author Lee Whiteley will present “Old Trails of Northern Colorado: From Foot Paths to Interstate” at 7 p.m. tonight, March 8, at the Loveland Museum/Gallery, 503 N. Lincoln Ave., Loveland, Colorado. The slide show, sponsored by the Loveland Historical Society, will revisit the Trappers’ Trail, Cherokee Trail, Overland Trail, several auto trails, and the Lincoln Highway’s controversial routing through the state. The program is open to the public; donations are accepted. Call Sharon Danhauer at (970) 290-0169 for details.
Whiteley and his wife Jane are experts on the auto trails through Colorado, including the Llncoln Highway; they wrote the book below to coincide with the LHA conference there in 2007.
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Tags:auto trails, COlorado, emigrant trails, highway history, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Loveland CO, pioneer trails
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, signs, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
March 5, 2010
You’ll wanna check out Chris Kennedy’s new CD, Postcards from Main Street, a collection of 11 odes to small towns, 2-lane roads, and a simpler, slower life. Sounding like 1970s singer songwriters such as James Taylor and maybe Gordon Lightfoot, Kennedy and his acoustic guitar sing of your favorite cross-country road on the fourth track, “Looking for the Lincoln Highway.”
Here’s an excerpt:
thieves have long since stolen, the bronze of Lincoln’s head;
but an arrow and an L still point the way in white, blue, and red;
for any wistful wanderer weary of the Interstate …
who needs to go, down the road….
the Lincoln’s mostly gone now, pieces of it last;
but not many of us see them, ’cause we’re drivin by so fast….
so as you do your ramblin, as you hear the highway call;
try to read the fading letters on the crumblin old brick walls;
try to scratch beneath the surface of that monster Interstate;
you know there’s memories off Route 30 but the days are gettin late,
they’re bound to go, down the road….
The CD covers feature postcards from Kennedy’s hometown of Rock Springs, where he is Associate Professor of Communication at Western Wyoming Community College. You can get your CD by sending $15 to Chris Kennedy, 108 South Main St, Rock Springs, WY 82901.
Tags:CD of road songs, Lincoln Highway, main street, ode to Main Streets, the West, travel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel | Leave a Comment »
March 4, 2010
My editor, Kyle Weaver, has asked a number of times if there are enough haunted places along the Lincoln Highway to fill a book. I know of many rumors but only a couple stories (and ghosts) jump out. How about it — do you know of any good ghost stories from the Lincoln Highway?
PS: Today’s blog title is a reference to a song by Buddy Nutt that I love, “Goin All the Way (on the Lincoln Highway).” To hear an extended demo of the one heard in Rick Sebak’s PBS special about the Lincoln Highway, CLICK HERE.
Tags:ghosts on the highway, haunted highway, historic highway, Lincoln Highway
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, transportation | 3 Comments »
March 3, 2010
About 200 people are expected to participate in the Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival 5K Run/Walk in Tama, Iowa, on Saturday, May 15, 2010. The run is part of the annual bridge festival May 13–15 that will include a carnival, ice cream social, street dance, pancake breakfast, and parade. The small concrete span that’s the focus of events is the most famous bridge along the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, with its side rails cast to spell out “Lincoln Highway.”
The run starts at 8 am. For more information, contact Amy Ridout at ridout@iowatelecom.net or (641) 484-3984. For more about the festival, visit www.tamatoledo.com/calendar.html/.
Tags:bridge festival, carnival, famous bridge, highway history, Lincoln Highway, Tama IA, vintage bridge celebration
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, transportation, travel | 2 Comments »
March 2, 2010
Wyoming’s Uinta County Herald reports that a Lincoln Highway-era bridge is being examined for possible replacement. The concrete span on County Road 221 north of Fort Bridger was built in 1921 on the Lincoln Highway. According to Laura Nowlin, historic preservation specialist at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, it is one of the oldest bridges on the Wyoming stretch of the famed coast-to-coast highway. However, Julie Francis, Wyoming DOT archeologist, said the bridge is in “extremely poor condition” and a proposal for replacing it has been prepared.
Tags:Fort Bridger WY, Lincoln Highway, preservation, threatened historic bridge, vintage concrete bridge, WY
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, road surface, transportation | 1 Comment »
March 1, 2010
Another Lincoln Highway mural was unveiled in Illinios on Friday, February 19. The mural in Joliet tells the story of auto camping and campgrounds such as the one in the city’s Pilcher Park. This mural is the second in a series of 40 that will be installed within the Illinois Lincoln Highway’s corridor by Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition with funds received from a Federal Highway Administration grant. ILHC is the byway management agency for Illinois Lincoln Highway, the only National Scenic Byway in northern Illinois.
Learn more at www.drivelincolnhighway.com/.
Tags:highway mural, historic highway, Joliet IL, Lincoln Highway, mural
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, signs | 1 Comment »
Lincoln Highway News 