LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
Lincoln Highway fans in the midwest can visit two events this weekend tied to the highway. The 33rd Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival starts today and runs through tomorrow (May 18–19) in Tama, Iowa. Then drive 180 miles east and enjoy the Lincoln Highway Car Show in Franklin Grove, Illinois.
Tama is known for it’s concrete bridge with “Lincoln Highway” spelled out in its rails. Events kick off Friday night with an ice cream social and entertainment. Saturday gets underway with a Firefighters Breakfast at 7 am, a 5K Run at 8 am, and a parade Tama at 10 am. For the 59th consecutive year, Merriam’s Midway Carnival will set up around the Tama Civic Center.
Franklin Grove is home to the Lincoln Highway Association’s National Tourism & Visitor Information Headquarters. Registration starts at 10 am and continues through trophy presentations at 4 pm. The points-basis show is open to all cars, pick-up trucks, and motorcycles, with music by 3-D Sound. The Show will be on Elm and South streets.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition has installed another in its series of interpretive murals along the 179-mile Illinois byway corridor. The newest mural was installed April 27, 2012, at 348 Victory Drive, Park Forest.
This mural commemorates the proclamation of the route and the naming of the first coast-to-coast highway. The Lincoln Highway’s proclamation declared that the quest to establish a paved highway was everyone’s patriotic duty and that it would serve as a lasting memorial.
Each community receiving a mural is asked to designate representatives to work with ILHC on the project, as well as secure a building site for the mural, research the stories and images that link their community to the Lincoln Highway, and agree to provide maintenance and preservation of the mural. Shown above is the team from ShawCraft installing the mural, with finishing touches by founder/designer Jay Allen.
For more information on the Illinois Lincoln Highway, places to see and things to do, stories of the highway’s significance and history, or to download an Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide, visit drivelincolnhighway.com.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Indiana Lincoln Highway Association will dedicate the state’s newest Lincoln Highway Byway interpretive kiosk on Saturday, May 5. The public is asked to arrive at 9:00 a.m. Central Time for the 9:30 ceremony. Other Lincoln Highway interpretive kiosks in Indiana are in New Carlisle, Warsaw, and Plymouth.
Meet Lincoln Highway officials from Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois and join in as the local business community, represented by the La Porte Chamber of Commerce President, Mike Seitz, and La Porte Mayor Blair Milo welcome the crowd to the City for the dedication.
The kiosk is under construction near the intersection of Washington Street and Michigan Avenue in downtown La Porte (just off Lincoln Way). Photos, maps, and text tell the story of how the Lincoln Highway was built as well as the response by local businesses to serve travelers’ needs.
The kiosk was funded by a grant from the national LHA and donations from local businesses and private individuals. Local members of the Indiana LHA, Jim Bevins and Fred Sachtleben, directed the project. They designed the kiosk, researched and selected images, and wrote text for the kiosk panels. They also raised the local matching funds.
Following the dedication, the Indiana LHA will hold its annual meeting, luncheon, and a silent auction fundraiser at B & J’s American Café, followed by a tour of the New York Central Train Depot (now the home of the La Porte Chamber of Commerce).
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 announced that the Village of Sutherland, Nebraska, recently was given technical assistance in the form of a comprehensive report for redeveloping a number of former gas stations in its downtown. Most notable is c 1930 cottage station. There is a beautiful photo of it online by photographer Jeffrey Bebee; click his photo to access it, and go to his site to see more:
According to the EPA:
At the core of the technical assistance are four abandoned gas stations located along U.S. Highway 30, which runs through downtown Sutherland and is the former Lincoln Highway. The abandoned gas stations may pose potential environmental and public health hazards due to underground storage tanks that remained after the stations closed. By addressing the tanks, including potential contamination and liability issues, these sites can be made viable for reuse that benefits the community while removing community eyesores and transforming the sites into community assets. The redevelopment of these sites can spur further revitalization in the area.
“The technical assistance provided to the Village of Sutherland allows the community leaders to restore four Brownfields properties to beneficial use for the community,” said Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7 Administrator. “This is a clear example that shows how being environmentally conscious can bring positive growth and development for our small rural communities.”
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Plainfield Patchfeatures the story (and photo below) behind a diner and gas station best known for the windmill that marked the roadside business. The Windmill was along the Lincoln Highway southeast of town. It was also just off an alignment of Route 66 that shared three blocks with the Lincoln Highway.
John and Mabel Powell leased land at the southwest corner of Lake Renwick around 1925 for their whimsical building. The windmill served as the entrance to the diner and also had a canopy over gas pumps. The upper floors were an apartment for the Powells and their son Robert. The Depression led to the business closing around 1935 and it was leased to James Lyon, who removed the gas pumps and enclosed the canopy to provide a large saloon. Operating as The Palomar and later The Mill, the business survived into the mid-1950s.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition (ILHC) was awarded as Best Cooperative Partnership for their Interpretive Mural Series at the 2012 Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism on March 16, 2012 in Rosemont, Illinois. The conference celebrated the groundbreaking work of industry innovators with the “Illinois Excellence in Tourism Awards.”
As the designated Scenic Byway management agency overseeing the Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway, the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition received a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism, Attraction Development (TAP) Grant to fund the mural project. Each mural is a hand-painted, unique work of art, approximately 10 x 20 square foot, depicting an exciting story of the early Lincoln Highway. Visit drivelincolnhighway.com for more information on the murals and gazebos, or to download an Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A short and long tour this fall will feature visits to haunted places along the Lincoln Highway in Ohio. The 5-day tour runs Monday–Friday, September 17–21, 2012; the one day is Saturday, October 6, 2012.
The long trip begins with a guided motor coach tour of ” Half Acre of Hell,” a shady little neighborhood of East Liverpool. By Friday, you’ll have reached Salem for a Haunted & Historical Trolley Tour and dinner at Ricky’s English Pub. The one-day bus trip includes a tour of Columbiana County’s Ghostly Tales, Ricky’s, and the Salem tours. Fee for the week-long tour is $565 p/p and includes overnight stays and most meals, with motor coach pickups in Beaver Falls and Cranberry, Pa., and East Liverpool, Ohio. The one-day bus tour is $75. Contact Connie Faulk, conniegoldentriangle@gmail.com or 724-843-0980.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
The El Cerrito (California) Patch publishes monthly updates from the El Cerrito Historical Society. This month features a look at the early days of San Pablo Avenue, which served as the Lincoln Highway after the route was moved in 1928 to the northerly path between San Francisco and Sacramento.
The community was originally called Rust for Wilhelm Rust, whose blacksmith shop was on San Pablo Avenue at was is now the intersection of Fairmount Avenue. The area became El Cerrito in 1917 when the city was incorporated. The above view of the shop — before the Lincoln Highway and even autos came through — is looking west across San Pablo from Fairmount. Rust’s wife Lina sits in the carriage with Wilhelm to our right of her. Photo courtesy of Louis L. Stein, El Cerrito Historical Society collection.
LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A new interpretive mural was added yesterday to the impressive collection lining the Lincoln Highway in Illinois. The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition’s latest work of art was installed on the Fairway Foods building in Sauk Village, near the corner of Sauk Trail and Torrence Avenue.
Above, Jay Allen of ShawCraft Signs in front of his newest artwork.
Created and installed by ShawCraft Sign Co., it depicts a cow crossing the Kavelage Bridge that was along the Sauk Trail, an early piece of the Lincoln Highway. The artwork is the 24th of 36 murals that will line the Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway across the state. Watch below as the ShawCraft teams installs the Sauk Village mural.
As the designated Scenic Byway management agency overseeing the Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway, the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition (ILHC) continues to seek ways to recognize the significance of the highway and ways to make the stories come alive. After receiving a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism, Attraction Development (TAP) Grant, ILHC worked with Jay Allen of ShawCraft Signs to bring the murals to life.
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The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition proudly announces that partner vendor ShawCraft Sign Company and company president Jay Allen received the second place award in the 2012 International Sign Design Contest presented by Signs of the Times magazine for production of the ILHC Mural Series in the Best Murals/Banners category. The winning project features the Coalition’s series of large-scale murals designed and fabricated by ShawCraft’s lead designer Jay Allen; each mural is a striking, hand-painted work of public art, communicating the significance and history of the early Lincoln Highway.
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