We can dream of summer road trips this time of year but for now it’s only one month into Winter. Here’s a nice photo (if you like cold weather) from the Omaha World-Herald showing a Lincoln Way street sign in Woodbine, Iowa, known for it’s brick-paved stretch of Lincoln Highway.
The Sixth Annual BUY-WAY Yard Sale along the Lincoln Highway has been set for August 5, 6 and 7, 2010. The leading state is Ohio, which last years had over 1,000 yard sale locations.
“Ohio started this, and parts of Indiana and Illinois soon joined in,” said Mike Hocker, executive director of the Historic Byway in Ohio, “and now there is talk of New Jersey and Iowa joining this year.”
The dates are now established to be the “first Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in August” and will occur along with the “Route 127 Sale” which crosses the Lincoln in Van Wert, Ohio, the same weekend.
A Travelers Guide will be distributed to businesses along the corridor for pick-up by shoppers in late July, and the official byway website, www.historicbyway.com will host free and paid listings of yard sales and other activities beginning in May.
Various local editions of Suburban Chicago News are telling of work today about noon to mount a new Lincoln Highway mural in Aurora, Illinois. The 200-square-foot mural, spearheaded by the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition, depicts the city nearly a century ago, when the Lincoln Highway was the premier transcontinental trail.
Coalition Associate Director Diane Rossiter explains, “Each mural is painted on what’s called di-bond – a vinyl clad aluminum product — so if a building is remodeled or torn down, we could take it down without losing it.” The mural is on the north wall of the La Quinta de Los Reyes restaurant, 50 N. Broadway. Click HERE to see the image below larger.
The project has been in the works for years, according to Sue Vos, head of the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau…. Each mural costs roughly $10,000, but the cities and towns receiving them are asked to contribute very little, Vos said. Aurora was responsible for finding a building owner willing to host the mural and for installing the brackets to hang it. The image of a streetscape lit by electric street lamps was chosen by Vos, her staff and the Aurora Historical Society.
Aurora was the first community in Illinois to install electric streetlights in the early days of last century, which led to its official nickname: the City of Lights.
Visit drivelincolnhighway.com for more information on the Lincoln Highway Coalition and the murals.
NOTE: A nice UPDATE ran the day after.
Much of the country is suffering from cold and snow, which means much of the Lincoln Highway is impassable. An Iowa TV station reports, “Deputies had to shut down part of old Lincoln Highway for a short time between Ames and Nevada.” A road worker added, “The road’s plugged up!” And once the road is cleared, it covers over right away so some trucks are not even attempting the job for safety.
My web site has selected weather updates along the Lincoln Highway at www.brianbutko.com/lh.gr.weather.html/. As you can see, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa are below zero in addition to being snowed in.
The 2010 Illinois Lincoln Highway Visitor Guide from the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition is now available around the state or by mail. New features include a page about the completed interpretive gazebo project, a half page for the current interpretive mural project, and an easier-to-use map of the highway with icons for gazebos, murals and exhibits. Another change moved accommodation listings from each community to their own section.
Fill out the form here to get yours: www.drivelincolnhighway.com/visitorsguide.html or view and download a complete copy at www.drivelincolnhighway.com/LH2010guide.pdf/.
Paul Gilger, head of the mapping committee for the Lincoln Highway Association, has uploaded a national and statewide maps of the Lincoln Highway to the LHA site. Though they only show basic routings, the maps should be a huge benefit to fans thinking of following the first coast-to-coast highway.
Paul explained a little about the layout and process of creating them:
Once you get to the United States map, you click on the individual states to go to that state map. (There is also a place to click at the top of the page to get to the states.) Once on the state maps, you can click and go from state to state.
As you can see, at this scale, these maps can only be very generic, and can only show the general layout of the Lincoln Highway. Included are the county names, the names of major cities, and the route signs for the major highways that follow the Lincoln. To see the exact location of all the alignments, it is still necessary to purchase the Lincoln Highway Driving Maps CD.
It has taken 2 years to format these maps, and then another year to set up the map pages. A very big thank you goes to our webmaster Jimmy Lin who worked hand-in-hand with me. I provided the map artwork, and then Jimmy set up the pages and their various cross-links. He also provided many graphic refinements to the maps.
You’ll find the maps at www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/maps/.
To purchase the Driving Maps CD, visit the Lincoln Highway Trading Post.
Another new gazebo is spreading news of the Lincoln Highway in Illinois. Though the town of Oregon is not on the coast-to-coast the route, it played a part in the road’s development and history. The Ogle County News reports that officials unveiled the addition to the Ogle County Courthouse lawn with hopes that tourism dollars will follow. The image below is a screen capture from that article, and excerpts follow.
“This area draws tourists and tourism draws dollars,” said State Representative Jerry Mitchell (R-Rock Falls) during a grand opening ceremony for the structure Nov. 28. “Hopefully, tourists will stop at the gazebo and spend some time and money here.”
The gazebo is one of 16 constructed along the Illinois Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway and its corridor in northern Illinois.
It was recently constructed on the northwest corner of the courthouse square, facing Ill. 64 just one block west of Ill. 2.
Bonnie Heimbach, project director for the Illinois Highway Lincoln Coalition (ILHC) said Oregon qualified for a federal grant to help construct the gazebo because the city was part of early marketing efforts soon after the coast-to-coast highway was opened in 1913.
“Oregon is not exactly on the highway, but it is mentioned as early as 1915,” said Heimbach.
The Lincoln Highway is located south of Oregon and runs east to west, through Franklin Grove and Dixon. It was the first highway in the United States to connect the east and west coasts.
Oregon and Ogle County are included in the Lincoln Highway corridor because Lorado Taft’s Black Hawk statue was part of the cover of the original promotional flyer that advertised the first all-weather transcontinental highway, said Marcia Heuer, executive director of the Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce….
Each gazebo was constructed for $16,000 with a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). That grant provided 80 percent of the funding for each gazebo with local groups providing the remaining 20 percent.
WIFR-TV also covered the story.
Lancaster Online posted their regular Flashback column, which often has news of the Lincoln Highway. This story from December 1934 explains how the highway was to be widened east of Lancaster through Soudersburg. It’s interesting to see that this always-crowded stretch was already straining under its traffic 75 years ago.
State and local officials announced that an eight-mile-long project to widen the Lincoln Highway, from the east end of Lancaster City to Leaman Place, was beginning in a few weeks. Plans called for a four-lane highway from the city to Mellinger’s Church, and a three-lane road from the church to Leaman Place. The project was made possible by the decision to abandon trolley service from Broad and East King streets to Leaman Place. That move made available the land needed to widen the road, which was considered one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the area.
The Shopper Online reported on the dedication of two new highway plaques honoring the Lincoln Highway’s Ideal Section between Dyer and Schererville, Indiana. Ideal Section authority Art Schweitzer says the section was “a test highway to lay groundwork for future highway construction.” Engineering of its lighting, underground wiring, expansion strips, and 10”of concrete pavement was quite advanced in its day and was to serve as a model experiment.
Speaking at Dyer was Steve Cramer, v-p of Dyer town council. Town manager Joe Neeb was unable to attend but is credited with much of the work involved in getting the approval for the plaques. The speech for Schererville marker (in the Hometown Inn parking lot) was presented by town manager Bob Volkmann.
Two awards were also presented to two members of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association: Joyce Chambers, a retired teacher and active member of the INLHA was presented with the Teacher of the Year Award. Chambers spent three years developing a historic two week classroom curriculum about the Lincoln Highway and its history. Indiana LHA president David Hay accepted an award to the INHLA from the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana for its “Outstanding Advocacy, Organizational Planning and Development in Preserving Historic Landmarks.”
Two authors signed books afterwards: Cynthia Ogorek for “The Lincoln Highway Around Chicago” and Jan Shuper-Arick for her “The Lincoln Highway Across Indiana.”
The Pilot News of Marshall County, Indiana, reports that Plymouth, a town along the Lincoln Highway in central Indiana, has opened a new transportation museum that includes the famed coast-to-coast road:
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Sunday marked the culmination of the efforts of many individuals, businesses, and organizations that contributed to the expansion of the Marshall County Historical Society and Museum. Welcoming the guests for the occasion was the president of the Historical Society, Dr. Ronald Liechty. Dr. Liechty explained that the process started full steam upon receiving an INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) grant in 2005 to open a transportation museum….
Local resident Kurt Garner was among those in the audience with deep affection for the completed project. Garner was one of several who were instrumental in formulating the original concept of the Transportation Museum highlighting the crossroads of the Dixie Highway: 1915, Yellowstone Trail: 1912-1930, Grand Army of the Republic (U.S. 6): 1931-present, Lincoln Highway: 1913-1950s, and Michigan Road: 1826-1900.
Garner said, “It is a great asset to the county. The museum will be a huge draw across the state for those interested in discovering historic routes.”
The museum is located in the Lauer Building at 123 North Michigan St., Plymouth, (574) 936-2306 or visit www.mchistoricalsociety.org/. The above map of the town is from the LHA’s DeLorme road atlas package; click here to purchase your own — the 2007 version is on sale for $12.50, nearly 70% off while the 2010 edition is prepared.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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