Mount Vernon, Iowa, is hosting its first annual Lincoln Highway Open Air Antique Show on July 4, rain or shine. Antiques vendors will set up along Main Street, which is the Lincoln Highway through town. Antique shops, cafés, and other stores also will be open on July 4. Parking and admission are free. Call (319) 210-9935 for more information, or email Kristy SeBlonka at kristy@visitmvl.com/, or visit www.visitmvl.com/. Photo courtesy Rubicon Photo, map from the LHA’s DeLorme map pack.
LHA director Kay Shelton alerted us that, for the couple million people with Hotmail accounts, logging out takes them right to the www.msn.com Web site and a few weeks ago the site had a link: “Forget 66: A Better Cross-Country Route” with a short article on the Lincoln Highway. It’s still available HERE.
The story by award-winning author Earl Swift advises “Forget Route 66. This here is our Main Street.” And “With a couple of weeks free, you can still take this curvy, low-speed cruise from end to end and, in the process, gain an understanding of just how big and varied and spectacular this country is.”
Van Becker sent news that two Iowa locations celebrated “96 Years on the Lincoln Highway” on June 13-14 with two amateur radio stations operating for two days from two historic one-stop locations. Above is Bev Becker, WØWDC, LHA life member and experienced amateur radio operator taking her first turn at the mic; following is Van’s report.
The Benton County Amateur Radio Club, KØKBX, put the restored Youngville Cafe on the air operating with three transmitters on the 20, 40 and 80 meter ham bands. This is the second year for this crew and practice sure helped the results! We had 12 operators rotating through one-hour stints at the microphone.
ABOVE: Youngville Cafe, 20 miles west of Cedar Rapids, Iowa on the Lincoln Highway. Inside, an original 1928 LH marker is on display.
The Ames Amateur Radio Club, WØYL, operated from Reed-Nyland Corner in Colo, Iowa. This group experienced a slow start while installing temporary antennas in the rain. This was the first year for this group and they had respectable results and lots of fun. They also had the comfort of a fully-operating cafe for refreshments.
ABOVE: Reed-Nyland gas station, Colo, Iowa, on the Lincoln Highway.
Together, we contacted over 1,000 different stations from coast to coast, quite a few Canadian stations, and even one fellow in Scotland!
The operators had a sheet of “talking points” and LH facts to help enlighten the over-the-air listeners. All the stations contacted will receive an impressive color confirmation certificate upon receipt of their QSL (confirmation) card. Each certificate will be accompanied by a Lincoln Highway Association brochure too.
We spread the Lincoln Highway word far and wide!
RoadTrip America, a wonderful site for travel news and ideas, gave a very kind review to my Lincoln Highway Companion, calling it
a perfect size and format for riding shotgun on road trips. With 190 pages packed with color photographs and detailed maps, road trip aficionados can easily follow this historic highway…. Reading the book is like sitting in at a “round-table” and listening to people share their favorite discoveries.
The goal of the book is to make it easy to travel the road but not need a stack of guides and maps, all while not taking away the element of surprise. Click HERE to get it at reduced price from Amazon.
A dedication of the restored Black and Orange cabins and a reenactment of the 1919 U.S. Army Military Transport transcontinental convoy will be held at Fort Bridger State Historic Site, July 1 at 10 a.m. The cabins are along the Lincoln Highway in western Wyoming. Here are two views from Rick Sebak as the cabins looked last summer.
The Uinta County Herald quoted Wyoming Lincoln Highway Director Shelly Home that the convoy will arrive in Evanston on July 1, following an overnight stay in Green River and a stop in Fort Bridger for the dedication of the restored Black and Orange Motor Cabins at 10 a.m. Because Uinta County has many miles of old, but drivable, Lincoln Highway, the convoy will follow dirt roads from Granger to Fort Bridger, and over Eagle Rock to Evanston. Admission to the fort will be waived for all attendees.
The recently restored cabins are along the east side of Fort Bridger State Historic Site. They served travelers from 1926 to 1936. Past LHA conferences have visited the decayed remnants.
Sponsored by the Military Vehicle Preservation Assn., the 1919 Military Transport Convoy reenactment celebrates the 90th anniversary of the event. The convoy will make a brief stop at Fort Bridger for the dedication before continuing on to Evanston. Fort Bridger is located at Exit 34 on I-80. Call (307) 782-3842 for more information.
On June 27th, your blogger here, Brian Butko, will present a program on the Lincoln Highway at Ligonier Valley Library, Ligonier, PA, which is also hosting a drive-in theater exhibit. The program starts at 11 am followed by discussion and a book signing that benefits the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. Below is the Van-Del Drive-in, along the LH between Van Wert and Delphos, Ohio.
The library is on the Ligonier “diamond,” or square, at 120 W. Main Street / the Lincoln Highway. After the presentation I’ll be signing my latest book, Lincoln Highway Companion.
The book signing complements the exhibit, Movies, Motors, & Memories: Pennsylvania’s Drive-In Theaters, which includes photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia. Above is exhibit curator Jennifer Sopko at the drive-in I grew up attending, the former Woodland Drive-In, West Mifflin, PA.
Some of the items include a huge c. 1950 carbon-arc projector, speakers, signs, photographs, artwork, and notebooks containing copies of drive-in ads and memorabilia. Visitors can see the display in the Pennsylvania Room Mondays through Thursdays from 10 am-8:30 pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am-5 pm through July 7, 2009. For more information log onto the Ligonier Valley Library’s website at www.ligonierlibrary.org/.
You can follow along with the two teams of women who are retracing the path of pioneer motorist Alice Ramsey. Both are mostly taking the Lincoln Highway across the Midwest.
The better-known trip, by Emily Anderson, can be followed in photos on Flickr. Here’s a sample photo from Snook’s Dream Cars and Auto Museum, Bowling Green, Ohio:
You also can follow their blog at aliceramsey.org; here’s a portion of the most recent update:
Greetings from Ogllala, NE! We made it here yesterday at around 4pm. Unfortunately, our 200 mile day in the Maxwell (Babbs) was cut short because the dreaded noise returned. The day started out so well — the Maxwell, the Spyker and the Rambler were rolling down the road at 8am. Our first rolling stop was over the original Lincoln Highway bricks in Shelton, NE that we learned about in South Bend, IN. We were excited to see Bob and Lennie [Stubblefield] again (3rd time! South Bend, IN Grand Island, NE & Shelton, NE). This time Lennie ran out to the car to hand us some SUPER cold water! Thank you both for all of your hospitality and energy! It really keeps us going!
Unfortunately the car broke down again at the end of yesterday:
How many times can we put a patch on the same problem? What are we missing? Where is the closest specialty shop? Are we driving tomorrow? ………………………
You can also join this Alice Ramsey Yahoo group about women who are driving pre-1916 cars this summer for the commemoration, notably Dana McNair and Dorothy Grace. It also has many interesting photos such as this before they departed Vassar College, and the next one in DeKalb, Illinois:
Here’s their latest post, documenting from Kearney to Ogallala, Nebraska:
We started out (after tent camping in the thunderstorms) at the AAA office for some more maps. When Dana & I returned to the parking lot, a woman said, “I’ve aged well – I’m Alice Ramsey.” Alice White Ramsey was at AAA because she & her husband are heading to Alaska shortly. She had seen a newspaper article about the trip. When I looked toward the Model T – there were blue T shirts everywhere – Central Elementary kids had swarmed Dan, and were excited to honk the horn. Candi, one adult with them, had said they recently went to the Hastings Museum and were curious about the cars there. The kids moved on to the Cadillac horn, then the dogs.
The women’s club building and the canal were cool in Kearney.
In Lexington NE, we visited with Rick from the Early Cadillac Website – from Dana’s posts re: a hubcap for the 1909 — the saran wrap/ziplock is still working. He inherited a 1906 Cadillac project when his stepfather died. He also has few of his own cars in his building.
Things were going well in North Platte, so we headed on to Ogallala. We are in the next time zone now.
Mosquitos were bad — right next to South Platte River, but a swimming pool at the hotel.
Many, many newspapers across the country are reporting on stops of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association 90th anniversary convoy as it makes its way across the U.S., mostly via the Lincoln Highway. The convoy launched from Washington, D.C. on June 13 and at times has as many as 150 historic military vehicles. An example of an article announcing its plans can be found in the Lexington [Neb.] Clipper-Herald, which reports that the military convoy will stop at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles at noon on Friday, June 26. The MVPA has posted numerous photos on Flickr such as this one from near Jefferson, Iowa:
A parade through South Bend was part of the LHA conference last Friday. Here are some photos after the group left the overnight stop at a fairgrounds; some of the vehicles were awaiting repair such as the first one below.
The Transcontinental Motor Convoy of 1919 was a project of the Army’s Motor Transport Corps. The group decided to organize a military convoy to drive from coast to coast, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, traversing the newly created Lincoln National Highway, conceived just seven years earlier. It took 62 days to travel 3,251 miles, averaging a little more than 50 miles per day, to cross from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, Calif. It is best known today for Dwight Eisenhower being one of its young officers. The MVPA is anticipating the 2009 trek across the U.S. to take 26 days. For more information, visit www.mvpa.org/.
Speaking of PBS producer Rick Sebak, you’ll feel you’re with him on you own Ride Along the Lincoln Highway when you read his blog. His next dozen entries will be about his trip to the Lincoln Highway Association conference in South Bend. His first two posts have not even gotten him out of Ohio as he stops and enjoys the wonders along the way. Check it out at www.wqed.org/tv/sebak/blog/.
PBS producer Rick Sebak received the first Gregory M. Franzwa award that recognizes the individual or group who does the most for the Lincoln Highway Association. Franzwa was a founder, past president, and long-time journal editor of the association.
Sebak’s 2008 program, A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway, greatly increased membership and interest in the road. Mindy Crawford sent the photo above showing Sebak with LHA secretary Sue Jacobson and president Bob Dieterich. Here’s a teaser to Sebak’s PBS program:
The 2009 Lincoln Highway conference was a lot of fun — so much so that I couldn’t keep up with this blog! Tuesday evening found us at dinner with special guest Emily Anderson, who along with copilot Christie Catania is retracing Alice Ramsey’s pioneering 1909 trip. That’s them below along with dad Richard Anderson, who built the car from parts.
But that’s not the only Alice Ramsey trip re-creation!
Dana McNair alerted me that she and Dorothy Grace are also driving much of the Lincoln Highway in commemoration of Alice Ramsey’s 1909 trip. Dorothy is driving a 1913 Model T and Dana is driving a 1909 Cadillac.
We stopped for the best chocolate cake in the world at Niland’s Cafe in Colo, Iowa, and got to put our cars in the gas station for photos. We stood at the confluence of the Jefferson and Lincoln highways. How cool is that!
Friday morning found them eating breakfast in Missouri Valley, Iowa, when they saw Emily drive by! You can follow their journey at aliceramsey-theroadtrip.blogspot.com/.
UPDATE
Dana just sent this update from Nebraska:
We are so enjoying this trip. We are definitely driving without fanfare. We are just having fun, stopping to visit folks who have been kind enough to offer us lodging or a visit. Camping or fixing cars along the way, sometimes under trees by the side of the road, sometimes in truck stops, it all depends on the autos and whether they are having a good day or not. We have met some great folks, and as it is so low key it is very intimate. We have a lot of new friends in cafes and truck stops.
Sometimes is does get a little discouraging to be confused with the Emily Anderson trip and we do hate to disappoint people but what we are doing does count in it’s own way and the purpose has always been just to drive the drive and have fun together. So, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your writing back to us, truly it makes us feel good about our trip that at least someone is keeping track of us besides our mothers.
I spent Monday driving across Ohio and Indiana, heading to the annual Lincoln Highway Assn. conference in South Bend. I followed many old stretches of the LH and took many photos — so many that the 6 hour trip took me 14 hours. my camera is overloaded, its batteries are dead, and my head is kinda hurting but it was a great time, I got great photos, and met some very nice people. Here are some photos from the trip.
The fifth and final project in the “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” series is an antique truck celebrating farming heritage. Designed by the Franklin County Career & Technology Center students in Chambersburg, the 1920 Selden Apple Truck replica truck is fully dimensional and features a steering column and bench seat plus wheels that spin. The 11-foot tall, 2-ton antique truck is located at Shatzer’s Fruit Market along U.S. 30 heading east. A dedication was held Tuesday, June 9, 2009.
The hood sign reads “Lincoln Highway Fruit Growers Serving Franklin County Since 1907.”
Read more in the Chambersburg Public Opinion HERE.
And read about other Roadside Giants across the U.S. in Roadside Giants the book, available from Amazon by clicking HERE.
LHA director Jerry Peppers was at the launch on Tuesday of the 100th Anniversary Commemorative ride of Alice Huyler Ramsey’s historic 1909 cross country drive. He writes:
The team got underway at approximately 9:00 am in front of 1930 Broadway (67th Street across from Lincoln Center and about 1-1/4 mile north of the Eastern Terminus in Times Square). Unfortunately a thunderstorm had just passed through and it was still raining.
I did get to talk to Emily Anderson, the driver, and Christie Catanie, the navigator, and they are of course excited about their trip. They are looking forward to being at the LHA annual conference in South Bend next week. Even the gloomy day and the thought of driving an open car (the canvas top was put up but there are no side windows so the vehicle is essentially open), and the reporters and cameras in their faces did not seem to dampen their spirits.
The first photo shows Emily at the wheel (note the right hand drive) and Christie in the passenger seat as the car was pulling away from the curb. The second shows Emily being interviewed with her mother in the foreground (holding flowers).
The 1909 Maxwell is magnificently restored. When they stepped to the front to hand crank it to get it started and the engine sputtered to life, it was amazing even though it ran with so much valve clatter it sounded like some of the diesel trucks going by it on Broadway!
Below is a photo from their trip eastward to NYC. LHA president Bob Dieterich snapped Kathy Franzwa in the restored Maxwell in front of her house in Tooele, Utah. Her late husband Gregory Franzwa ublished the book Alice’s Drive, which reprints her tale of the trip plus he added his modern-day sleuthing of her route.
Alice Ramsey’s story was once well-known: on June 9, 1909, she and three female companions set off from NYC in a new, dark green Maxwell DA. She reached the Pacific 59 days later, becoming the first woman to drive coast-to-coast.
Alice’s Drive: Republishing Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron
by Alice Ramsey, Annotation and “Chasing Alice” by Gregory M. Franzwa
Patrice Press, 265 pp, 161 illustrations, 108 notes, index, softcover
ISBN 1-880397-56-0
$19.95 plus $4.95 s/h direct from Franzwa’s Patrice Press.
The Canton Repository reports that a classic 9-unit motel along the Lincoln Highway in eastern Ohio is for sale. Fans will recognize it as being at the eastern end of the famous brick stretch of Baywood Street.
Palmantier’s Motel, opened 1947, was purchased four years ago by Scott Segeti, “lured to these parts by the beauty of nearby farm fields, grazing cattle, grassy meadows, chirping birds, fresh air and an opportunity to be his own boss.” Now Segeti is trying to sell the motel, swimming pool, two houses, and 3.25 acres for $425,000.
“I thought it was a gift from God,” he said.
He bought it on land contract from longtime owner Carolyn Koontz in 2005. He immediately digitized the motel’s old phone system. He hard-wired room fire alarms. He touched up units here and there. He moved into one four-bedroom house on the land and rented out the other.
Four years later, Segeti isn’t sure he can make it work.
The bad economy has squeezed the motel. Even for $50 a night, sometimes not a single room is rented. Its airy one- and two-bed country decor units remain empty. Most guests these days are building contractors who follow jobs into the area, stay for a few weeks and move on….
“It would be the ideal business for a retired couple,” Segeti said. “This place still has the ambiance of the 1950s. From a time when the whole world moved at a much slower pace.”
A DVD written and produced with the Indiana State curriculum for 3th and 4th grades features the Lincoln Highway. “The Lincoln Highway Story” was produced by Ed Chamberlin and narrated by Bruce Chamberlin with guest appearances by Dr. Patrick Furlong, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University, South Bend, IN and Jan Shupert-Arick, author and past president of the Lincoln Highway Association.
The DVD chronicles the history of the Lincoln Highway. Chapters include: background about the Highway, Carl Fisher’s and Henry Joy’s influence in the development of the Highway, the Lincoln Highway Association and the part it played in promoting the Highway, route determination, the Ideal Section in Indiana, the success of the Highway and the rebirth of the Lincoln Highway Association. This DVD was produced by Chamberlin Video Productions, Mishawaka, IN.
Cost is $10 plus $2.95 for shipping and handling from the Hannah Lindahl Children’s Museum, 1402 S. Main St., Mishawaka, IN 46544, (574) 254-4540, www.hlcm.org/.
The Johstown Democrat ran a story about the recreation of the 1919 U.S. Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy being run by the Military Vehicles Preservation Association. The original trip covered 3,250 miles and took 62 days to complete. The 90th anniversary convoy departs Washington D.C., on Saturday, June 13, and will arrive in San Francisco 26 days later on July 8. Here are some of planned stops on Sunday, June 14:
Drive through McConnellsburg 8:30 am.
Old Bedford Village about 11 am – 2 pm.
Parade through Everett, Bedford, and Schellsburg.
Onto Somerset County and Flight 93 National Memorial.
Stop in Stoystown about 4:30; Main Street will be closed and a brief ceremony is planned at the Hite House.
Arrive at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg about 6 pm, where there will be a display depicting the historical significance of the 1919 convoy.
NOTE: times are subject to change — and like the original convoy, I think that celebrations and traffic will constantly put them behind schedule.
The centennial recreation of Alice Ramsey’s pioneering trip across the U.S. has already garnered coverage in the LA Times, NY Times, and PR Web. In 1909, Ramsey became the first woman to drive across the U.S., accompanied by three female companions and publicity people from her carmaker, Maxwell. Much of the trip followed what would become the Lincoln Highway four years later.
Emily Anderson (right) is recreating the cross-country trip in a 1909 Maxwell over the same route. Emily and her group leave New York City on Tuesday, June 9, for a five week journey to San Francisco. They launch from 1930 Broadway, near Lincoln Center, at 9 am. For those who wish to visit, they will bring the car over the Queensboro Bridge around 6:30 am and be on Broadway by 7:30. They will stop in Tarrytown, New York, for a quick photo op at the old Maxwell Briscoe Motor Co. plant where Maxwells were built for many years.
Emily will be joined by friend and navigator Christie Catanie of Colorado. Also traveling in separate vehicles will be her dad Richard Anderson, who built the Maxwell from pieces, and his wife Margaret. Also along will be chief mechanic Tim Simonswa and his wife Barb.
You can track the journey at www.aliceramsey.org and click on the map marked “Follow Along.” They hope to visit the LHA conference in South Bend, Indiana, on June 16.
My Lincoln Highway Companion book hit Amazon and bookstore shelves a couple weeks ago. It’s literally a companion to my Greetings … book but also, I hope, a companion to anyone thinking of traveling the road. Reaction has been overwhelmingly kind, like this from LHA president Bob Dieterich:
This book is fantastic! The color maps are clear and easy to read. The photos are excellent. And the contents are superb. The places described in this book are unique and fascinating.
A couple tiny errors have shown up, one being the location of Stosh’s Barber Shop – the description correctly places it in Batavia, Illinois. So why in the photo caption did I write Rochelle?! Don’t know but if we produce a revised or updated edition, I’m ready.
Route 66 News also gave LHC a positive review — read it HERE. Ron Warnick kindly writes that it “truly shines with descriptions of choice motels and restaurants by Butko and a slew of contributors.”
He notes that some locales just don’t have people able to review motels or restaurants, most glaringly in Reno and Sparks, Nevada. This was surprising to me too but shows how the Lincoln Highway is still in the early stages of providing for modern tourists. Route 66 handles this with a volunteer program, Adopt a Hundred, that monitors places for inclusion in the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide.
For those considering buying it, Lincoln HIghway Companion does include both state maps plus regional maps that cover every mile of the road at 1″ to every seven miles. There are also selected city maps at 1″ = 1 mile.
A 20-foot tall, 1,600-pound steel quarter with George Washington’s profile is the newest of five Roadside Giants planned along Pennsylvania’s 200-mile Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. The quarter is located east of Bedford, Pennsylvania, near the Down River Golf Course in Everett. It was dedicated last Wednesday to acknowledge students from Bedford County Technical Center who were involved in its design and creation. The sculpture was created at MDL Manufacturing in Bedford; owners Mari-Pat and Doug Lingsch invited the students into their plant.
The photo below shows Mari-Pat and Doug Lingsch, owners of MDL Manufacturing in Bedford. Leah R. Cominsky, LHHC Marketing/Project Manager, says, “They had a lot to do with the project in terms of allowing the students to work on laser cutting the details of the Giant at their facility, plus they helped the students to order the materials that they would need to complete the Giant. They are such great, kind-hearted people, and Mari-Pat was on the Community Committee for the school to help them along the way with the design of the quarter.”
The Altoona Mirror reported that:
Meetings for the project began in March 2008, said community committee member Karen Bowman. Finishing touches at the site, such as landscaping and stone, will be added in the fall by students….
It took about three days to build the form, one day for it to set and another day to pour concrete….
Assistance on this project was provided by New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., BC Stone, SKE Design and Rockland Manufacturing.
For Wednesday’s dedication, student Chelsea Long of the tech center’s Culinary Arts project created a matching 3-D cake in the shape of the giant quarter with assistance from instructor Pattie Liebfreid.
Fred Hammer wrote to say hello after reading my post on the history of his family’s motel along the Lincoln Highway in Kearney, Nebraska: “I grew up in that motel — watched it grow from 8 rooms to 35. My dad was one of the founders of the Best Western chain and took pride in that organization…. In the landscaping I donated to the university, I had three brick columns placed in the southwest corner, similar in shape to what was at the motel — and, in one of the columns, there is embedded a plaque which has a miniature imprint of the motel sign” So next time you’re in Kearney, take the time to find the honorary landscaping and plaque on Watson Blvd. at 19th Street.
Hobo Day 2009 was held May 23 along the Lincoln Highway in Bucyrus, Ohio, at the Toledo & Ohio Central railroad station. The Crawford County Post reported that hundreds attended the annual event at the Victorian station, which is being restoredHere is a photo of the station and event by Doug Foreman from the paper’s story:
Train equipment on display included offbeat equipment such as a velocipede, pocket watches, and the bell from president Lincoln’s funeral train. Antique vehicles included a 1916 Maxwell truck and 1930 Ford Model A coupe.
A new custom Visa Platinum® Rewards Card offers scenes from the Lincoln Highway and benefits the national Lincoln Highway Association. Five different scenes representing the coast-to-coast road are available.
Some of the specs:
• $50 donation to LHA by the bank when you first use the card, plus ongoing contributions.
• 0% Introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months.
• Earn points and bonus points at online and neighborhood retailers.
• Redeem points for merchandise, tickets, gift cards or travel rewards.
• No annual fee and no additional cost to you.
Get more information at www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/.
Paving the Way: The National Park-to-Park Highway is 2-part program airing on PBS that recalls the journey of 12 motorists who followed the 5,000+ mile circular highway in 1920. The Park-to-Park Highway connected all 12 of the national parks at the time; the 1920 trip took 76 days. Leading the tour was famous AAA trails “pathfinder” Anton Westgard. Check local listings to see when it will air in your area.
ABOVE: Route map provided by Terry Coolidge, Wellspring Digital Studio.
ABOVE: Photo by A.G. Lucier, provided by John T. Hinckley Library, Northwest College, Powell, Wyoming.
Producer/director Brandon Wade told me that the video was inspired by Lee and Jane Whiteley, who wrote about the highway and the famous tour in their 2003 book, The Playground Trail: The National Park-to-Park Highway. Lee and Jane are known to Lincoln Highway fans for their pioneering work researching the LH route through Colorado, including a small but info-packed book, The Lincoln Highway in Colorado. To learn more about the film, visit pavingtheway.tv where you can also purchase the DVD for $24.95.
The third Roadside Giant sculpture along the Lincoln Highway in western Pennsylvania will be unveiled today. The Community Installation Celebration for the Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center’s “Packard Car with Driver” will take place at 1 pm at the entrance to the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and the Mt. Odin Golf Course, on the original Lincoln Highway. Guests will enjoy a “giant” Packard Cake, in the same shape as the giant, but edible! Photos of the installation courtesy Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.
Parts of New York City’s Times Square, the real and symbolic eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, have been closed to traffic to make the busy crossroads more pedestiran friendly. Specifically, portions of Broadway between 42nd and 47th Streets have been closed to cars. The plan, partly inspired by the redevelopment of downtown Copenhagen, was conceived by the city’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says he will decide in December whether to transform the plazas into something more permanent. Click the image below to read more from The New York Times.
As the NYT reports, “So far the pedestrian mall in Times Square is marked by little more than a few wobbly tables and metal chairs. A row of orange barriers frames the mall’s northern edge, where a half-dozen police officers patiently redirect traffic heading down Broadway.”
This Sunday, May 24, Paxton, Nebraska, will celebrate the centennial of its incorporation as a village. The celebration will include a community pageant recalling Paxton’s history and a chuck wagon feed. Paxton, on the Lincoln Highway/US 30 west of North Platte, has a population of just 614. and one flashing red traffic warning light.
Russell Rein sent a link to a North Platte Telegraph story that gives details. The pageant —with 48 cast members and 30-voice choir — is at 3 p.m. at the Paxton High School with the chuck wagon feed at 5 p.m. in the high school’s bus barn. Tickets for the pageant and feed are $10 for adults; $5 for children, under 5 free.
Among Paxton’s businesses, there are three that have been serving the village for more than half the town’s existence. Kildare Lumber began serving the town and its rural farming and ranching population even before Paxton’s incorporation. Hehnke’s, a meat market and grocery on Paxton’s main street, has served the village for nearly 90 years. Ole’s Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge, in business for more than six decades along main street, has long been known throughout the United States.
UPDATE: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports the 30 signs will be placed along the route by mid-June. Clikc the image to read more and see a photo of the unveiling.
Lincoln Highway route markers will be dedicated this morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at 11:30 a.m. Mayor Henry will dedicate the new markers at the Lincoln Highway Bridge — Harrison Street at the St. Mary’s River. The markers will allow motorists to follow the historic corridor through the city. Call (260) 427-1127 for details.
Click the map above to see it larger. Note that the exact original route can no longer be followed in parts, such as east of town near the cloverleaf.
Three Somerset County Technology Center students who designed and built a giant “Bicycle Built for Two” sculpture saw their creation installed on May 6, 2009, at the Second Time Around shop along the Lincoln Highway/US 30 near Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. The steel and iron sculpture — 17 feet high, 22 feet wide, and weighs 1,800 pounds — depicts a man and a woman on an antique bicycle. The project took eight months, including the design time. It is the second of five pieces of art to be installed as part of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor’s “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” project.
The [Somerset] Daily American writes that The Sprout Fund of the Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections initiative paid for the project.
“I love art and education,” said Olga Herbert, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. “The Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway project combined the two and involved the community.” Highland Tank and Manufacturing Co. assembled the sculpture and transported it to the site. Weyand Sign Co. installed it.
The [Johnstown] Tribune-Democrat also covered the story, as did the Johnstown Our Town site.
The sculpture sits on land belonging to Georgia and Vic Sheftic at the Second Time Around shop just west of the intersection of Route 219, near the shop’s beloved praying mantis — a giant itself!
The Roadside Giants were envisioned by Olga Herbert, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. The sculptures were developed to draw attention to the historic roadway and provide a learning experience for high school students.
Set to be installed within a month is an oversized quarter with George Washington’s profile near the Down River Golf course east of Everett, a replica of a 1921 apple truck in Franklin County, and a Packard car in central Westmoreland County. A 1940s gas pump was installed in April in Ligonier Township.
Libraries in five Ohio counties along the Lincoln Highway now have the new PBS DVD, dedicated in memory of a Mid-Ohio Lincoln Highway League member and advocate of the road’s history.
Wayne (Wooster), Ashland, Richland (Mansfield), Crawford (Bucyrus) and Wyandot (Upper Sandusky) libraries were given a copy of the national PBS documentary A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway produced by Rick Sebak and WQED Pittsburgh.
The show’s final segment features Esther McNaull Oyster Queneau, an Ashland native and founder of Ohio’s Lincoln Highway League in 1993.
In its statewide meeting held in Massillon on May 2, the Ohio League voted to provide the DVDs to honor the late Howard Donbar, a long-time member of the Mid-Ohio chapter. The five counties receiving the gifts are in the Mid-Ohio membership area.
Anyone interested in joining the advocacy group can contact President Mike McNaull at (419) 281-3064. The DVD is available for purchase at www.lhtp.com/.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Now available: Lincoln Highway Companion features detailed maps and places to eat and stay. Click the book to buy it on Amazon.
Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
 | Roadog on Lincoln Highway fans converge … |
 | brianbutko on Updates on the 2 Alice Ramsey … |
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 | Larry Fiehn on Convoy’s national press;… |
| Larry Fiehn on Convoy launches Saturday … |
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