Posts Tagged ‘Lincoln Highway’

Changes at Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition

February 25, 2010

The Illinois Lincoln Highway Colaotion is saying goodbye to long-time Associate Director Diane Rossiter. “We owe her an immense debt of gratitude for taking us to a new level,” says Project Director Bonnie Heimbach. “When she first started we were just enhancing our website and taking our visitor guide form a map format into a comprehensive guide … and believe me, the Gazebos and Interpretive Murals were just pages in our Master Plan. Look at us today!”

Program Director Sue Hronik will take on increased responsibilities. Already in charge of creating the Interpretive Panels for their gazebos, Sue will be the prime contact for the mural project, the new exhibit, and a re-editing of the documentary for their website. They are also welcoming Mary Jo Coleman as part-time Byway Coordinator and point person for the website, partner communication, and marketing.

Learn more about the ILHC at www.drivelincolnhighway.com/.

Lenore Weiss, co-author of LH book, passes

February 22, 2010

Kathy Miller, Publisher/Co-Editor of The 66 News, wrote to say that Lenore Weiss passed away today after a battle with cancer. Weiss and her husband John recently published Traveling the Historic Three about the intermingling near Chicago of the Lincoln Highway with Route 66 and the Dixie Highway. Lenore also regulary sent news to this blog. Learn more about their work at www.il66authority.com/.

Arrangements for a final goodbye and celebration of her life will be held on February 25, 2010, from 4 to 8 pm and on Friday, February 26, 2010, from 9 to 10:30 am at
Patterson Funeral Home
401 East Main/Highway 113
Braidwood, IL 60408
815-458-2336

Funeral Mass will be at 11 am on February 26, 2010, at
St. Rose Church
600 S. Kankakee St.
Wilmington, IL 60481

Donations in memory of Lenore may be made to one of these two:
Hospice of Kankakee Valley
482 Main Street Northwest
Bourbonnais, IL 60914
Phone: 815-936-3370

The Flat-Coated Retriever Foundation – Cancer/Health Fund
Please make check payable to: The Flat-Coated Retriever Foundation – Cancer/Health Fund
Mail check to: Cheryl Kistner/FCR Foundation Treasurer
27941 W. Flynn Creek Drive
Barrington, IL 60010

Her obituary is in the Joliet, Illinois, News-Herald.

Looking for pottery place near Ship Hotel

February 18, 2010

David Schwartz writes from California with a question:

Forty years ago, I rode Route 30 on my Honda Superhawk 305 from Pittsburgh to New Jersey to visit my girlfriend. Somewhere east of the Ship Hotel, I stopped for gas and a snack at a roadside establishment that had a large yard full of pottery figurines and lawn ornaments. The owners made and painted the stuff themselves. Do you have any idea what the name of the place was and if they or their successors are still in business?

Does anyone else recall this pottery business that would have been near Bedford, Pa.?

Rochelle lighthouse no longer a Beacon

February 16, 2010

Friend Road Dog just wrote about his recent trip from Dixon to DeKalb, Illinois. Sorry to say he reports that the The Beacon Inn restaurant in Rochelle is now a Chinese buffet and that the lighthouse was removed from its sign. Here’s a view in 2005, after it had been remodeled from the original.


Read more of Road Dog’s posts at downdaroadigo.blogspot.com/.

2010 Lincoln Highway conference set for Illinois

February 11, 2010

The City of Dixon, Illinois will host the 2010 Lincoln Highway Association National Conference from June 22 – 26. The fun-filled event will feature bus tours of historical sites, a book and collectibles sales room, an art show, a cruise night, a session of presentations, and a visit by President Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.

Amazingly, the Illinois Chapter worked hard to contain costs and rolled back the registration cost to the 1999 price!

The Quality Inn and the Comfort Inn are the two official main hotels for the Conference. The Loveland Community House will be the location of two banquets, the book room, the art show, and the conference speakers. It will not be within walking distance of the hotels but they will help with carpooling.

Tuesday, June 22

Board of Directors Annual Meeting
Evening Welcoming Banquet

Wednesday, June 23
Bus Tours, East and West

Thursday, June 24
Bus Tours, take opposite tour

Friday, June 25
Speakers
Evening Awards Banquet

Sunday, June 26
Post-Conference Triangle Tour: Lincoln Highway, Dixie Highway, and Route 66, Starts in Joliet

Learn more at http://illinoislincolnhighway.tripod.com/2010.html

Talks to explore Lincoln Highway, Sac to San Fran

February 1, 2010

Gary Kinst will give a presentation tomorrow night about the Lincoln Highway, particularly the original 1913 route from Sacramento to San Francisco, California. The Lincoln Highway: Main Street Across America will be given Tuesday, Feb. 2, 7:00 p.m. at the Livermore Public Library in Livermore, CA. Borrowing its title from Drake Hokanson’s landmark book about the road, the talk will include both present-day and vintage photos. Kinst is the editor of the Lincoln Highway Association California Chapter’s newsletter The Traveler, and is a member of the Livermore Heritage Guild and Tracy Westside Pioneers.

Another treat is in store at the Livermore Library two weeks later when Bill Roe presents The Lincoln Highway by Bicycle on Feb. 23, 7:00p.m. In 1999,  Roe took two months to bike the Linoln Highway, some 3,000 miles through 13 states. Bill will share his trials, tribulations and triumphs as he climbs the Sierras, battles the elements, and encounters locals along the way.

Livermore Public Library
1188 S. Livermore Ave.
Livermore, CA 94550
(925) 373-5500

Lincoln Highway icon takes a tumble

January 29, 2010

It’s not often that an individual’s health gets reported on at Lincoln Highway News but Bernie Queneau is not your average Lincoln Highway fan. He is best known as one of the four scouts who crossed the U.S. on a safety and promotional tour in 1928. In recent years he’s resurfaced as the leading goodwill ambassador for the cross-country road. He can also be seen with wife Esther in the PBS video, A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway.

It was just a few years ago that Bernie married Esther, a past LHA president. Unfortunately she called to say that 97-year-old Bernie was in the exercise room when he accidentally slipped and broke his shoulder and knee. It may take a long time to recover but Esther felt it’s nothing he hasn’t overcome before. And we all expect to see them at the Lincoln Highway centennial celebration in three years! You can send get-well wishes to him c/o:

Providence Point
500 Providence Point Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15243

Winter weather exposes Omaha brick pavers

January 27, 2010

A story in the Omaha World-Herald has only a small but interesting Lincoln Highway connection. Harsh winter weather has created endless potholes in this eastern Nebraska city, including one at 42nd and Dodge Streets that has exposed a rail from the old city streetcar line and “bricks that were likely part of the Lincoln Highway.”

Rare coins found in "Lincoln Highway hoard"

January 26, 2010

New Jersey LHA director Al Pfingstl wrote to say that “Collectible Coins from New York” is advertising Lincoln Highway Hoard Morgan silver dollars. The coins, like the Lady Liberty here priced at $89, aren’t a LH relic but rather the collection was found along the Lincoln. (Note this coin is dated and labeled 1888 but the web site calls it 1902.) Find out more or buy one at www.newyorkmint.net/.

Thousands of motorists have traveled on the road in the century since it first opened. Little did they know that a quaint house they passed by in rural Pennsylvania was more than it seemed. Far from being the pastoral farmhouse in the middle of Amish country, the house contained a fortune in silver coins. Dubbed the “Lincoln Highway Hoard” for its proximity to the famed roadway, the stash contained over 8,000 Morgan Silver Dollars, including many scarce dates and mint marks secured directly from the release of the U.S. Treasury Hoard in the early 1960s.

This is the largest Morgan Silver Dollar hoard we’ve seen in decades. In fact, finding even small hoards of Morgan dollars is a rarity today. We couldn’t pass this opportunity up, and now we’re passing the deal on to New York Mint customers. The coin we’re offering here is an 1902-O Morgan Silver Dollar—struck at the famous New Orleans Mint. It comes graded and encapsulated by NGC in Mint State-63, Brilliant Uncirculated condition with a special pedigree label.

Lincoln Highway photos on neat stuff blog

January 25, 2010

At Atomic Antiques, Mark Stevens posts “neat stuff from the 20th century.” He recently posted these two cool Lincoln Highway images. Visit his page (scrolling down a bit) to see the photos larger and read a bit about them. Feel free to comment too.

Before visiting his site, can you identify the location of the first and the purpose behind the second?