LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO
A Des Moines, Iowa, TV station picked up on the story of the 1959 film showing US 30 in Iowa. WHO-TV channel 13 filed a report centered on the complex of gas, food, and lodging at Niland’s Corner in Colo, Iowa, which is seen in a screen shot in my report of the film. Scott Berka, Colo City Clerk, who is instrumental in keeping the buildings going, is briefly interviewed at the Colo Motel, a Lincoln Highway classic!
View the video HERE. Note it starts with a brief advertisement.
YOU WILL LOVE this video of central Iowa’s US 30, filmed in 1959 to show congestion and the need for road improvements. Highway Relocations was created by the Iowa State Highway Commission (ISHC), now IDOT, to show the downside of gas stations, rest stops, and the skinny two-lanes they populate. Filming started just east of State Center at the junction of Iowa 64 (now Iowa 330) and US 30 (the Lincoln Highway) and continued west along US 30 through State Center, Colo, Nevada, and Ames, ending just west of Boone. The film is 16 minutes long and covers 55 miles. {Note: Please read the comments for more info on the cars and the year it was filmed.]
Amazingly, most of it was filmed by a camerman perched atop a ladder connected to a car and extending approximately 22 feet in the air above the roadway! The camera, on a 1958 Ford Ranch Wagon, followed and filmed a 1958 Plymouth Fury. “The unidentified cameraman had the precarious task of trying to hold the camera steady and stay on the ladder, notably without a safety harness or other protective device.”
“As part of the Iowa DOT’s effort to preserve and archive its historical resources, the original Highway Relocations 16mm film was recently professionally cleaned and restored to its original film quality.”
It’s not Lincoln Highway-centric, but if you like old cars and gas stations you’ll want to watch for FREE the video that accompanies the book I mentioned previously, Fill ’er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Station. The half-hour-long show is on the Wisconsin Public Television web site in 8 segments or can be purchased as a DVD. It’s a fun and informative look at stations, and you don’t need to be from Wisconsin to appreciate the info, the places visited, and the cool films and photos. Click HERE to go to the page of segments plus some related clips such as a look at an 1878 experiment with steam-driven carriages that may have been the world’s first car race. Below is a scene from the video.
Here’s a clip from an Indiana Lincoln Highway student curriculum project that the Indiana LHA has been working on. The Lincoln Highway Story is a Chamberlin Video Production, financed by the Hannah Lindahl Children’s Museum. Full-length DVDs will be available at this summer’s LHA conference in South Bend, Indiana.
Here’s a fun video of downtown DeKalb, Illinois, assembled from thousands of still images, which are themselves a bit distorted in day-glo colors. The view races up and down Lincoln Highway at a stop-action 180 mph to the tune of “High Way” by guitar legend Link Wray (sounding like a faster version of his big hit, Rumble). It’s a jumble of imagery, but anyone familiar with DeKalb will recognize many landmarks – even if seen only for a second.
The Nebraska Division of Travel and Tourism has produced both a short and long video to promote the Lincoln Highway as a scenic route. The focus is on natural beauty and general history more than auto-era attractions, though there are some nice views of the brick road west of Omaha and Buffalo Bill’s Scouts Rest Ranch in North Platte.
The LH there is now a Nebraska Byway, not to be confused with an American Byway, the name for roads in the National Scenic Byways program, which the LH has only achieved in Illinois. The Nebraska tourism site has general descriptions of 10 such routes here.
More info and photos are available on the site for the Lincoln Highway Scenic and Historic Byway Association, “a grassroots organization that brings together businesses, government tourism entities, and individuals along Highway 30 in Nebraska to work together and promote this stretch of road to tourists.”
The only description online of the Byway program itself is in a Department of Roads brochure detailing highway sign regulations: “The Nebraska Byways Program identifies significant two-lane highways throughout the state that highlight Nebraska’s diverse topography, history, culture, recreational opportunities and landscapes.”
Here is the 29-second video. Other roads in their series get near identical narration:
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
Another fun book! The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway recalls the greatest roadside attraction along the coast-to-coast road.
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