Lincoln Highway fans can help send birthday greetings in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birth 200 years ago. According to an AP article sent by Jan Shupert-Arick, the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is asking people to send cards to Lincoln for his 200th birthday on Feb. 12. The 16th president even has an official USPS … Continue reading »
Posted in December 2008 …
Deal to incease rail traffic in Lincoln Hwy towns
Chicago Breaking News reports that Canadian National Railway has won federal approval to purchase a line that would loop freight trains around Chicago, a bypass that may cause massive traffic problems in some suburban communities, including many on the Lincoln Highway. CNR says the deal will boost the Chicago-area economy by $60 million a year, … Continue reading »
2009 Iowa Lincoln Highway tour set for August
The 2nd Annual Iowa Lincoln Highway Motor Tour has been set for August 28-30, 2009. Featured stops along the west-to-east tour will include Desoto Bend, Carroll, Jefferson, Boone, Nevada, Marshalltown, Tama, Youngville, Cedar Rapids, Mechanicsville, Lowden, and Clinton. ABOVE: George Preston’s station, Belle Plaine. Photo from the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association site, by Bryan Osberg, … Continue reading »
Christmas lights extravaganza in Marshalltown
This Christmas display, in Marshalltown, Iowa (along the Lincoln Highway) is built annually by Eric Rodemeyer at his home (611 South 7th Avenue) using 14,500 lights, controlled by 96 computer channels, 7 songs in a loop. He also builds a display on the courthouse grounds for the Noon Optimist Club that will play through December … Continue reading »
Christmas with Buffallo Bill Cody in North Platte
The 1886 home of Col. and Mrs. Cody, a long-time Lincoln Highway stop in North Platte, Nebraska, is decorated for an 1880s Christmas. Nightly events include period reenactors, caroling, roasting chestnuts, horse-drawn carriage rides, hot cider, holiday music, the armed services honor tree, and Santa Claus. The 1887 horse barn, log cabin, and other outbuildings … Continue reading »
Turtle Town Indiana gets a Lincoln Highway sign
Jan Shupert-Arick sent a photo from Lincoln Highway members in Churubusco, Indiana, that shows one of their new Historic LH signs. This one is placed on an entrance sign to “Turtle Town.” Why “Turtle Town”? The Chamber of Commerce has the story here.
More map mysteries – Lincoln Hwy curves in PA
Ken Ruffner wrote me with a question regarding an image in my book The Lincoln Highway: Pennsylvania Travelers Guide. It’s the historic photo on page 153 (1st ed., 1996) of the Horseshoe Curve above McConnellsburg, Pa. I had said the view is looking west to McConnellsburg, with the new road on the right. Ken wrote, … Continue reading »
Fallon Nevada celebrates centennial today
Fallon, along the Lincolon Highway in western Nevada, is today celebrating its centennial of becoming an incorporated city. According to the Lahontan Valley News, there was no town at the turn of the century until rancher Mike Fallon sold his land to Warren Williams in 1903, who then began selling lots on what is now … Continue reading »
Lost Landmarks along the Lincoln Highway in PA
I’m still reviewing my Lincoln Highway Companion book maps and so was using Google Maps to check out aerial views of the old stone bridge over Poquessing Creek. If you’re ever northeast of Philadelphia, you must go check it out – a turnpike-era bridge in the woods but within sound of wide boulevards and suburban … Continue reading »
Book review: Lincoln Highway around Chicago
More than a half-year after moving and losing track of just about everything, I’m down to the last few boxes to open, and there in one of them was The Lincoln Highway around Chicago by Cynthia Ogorek. The 128-page book was published by Arcadia earlier this year — my review was to be a preview … Continue reading »
Postcard: Greensburg motel on Lincoln Highway
Looking through my computer files today I found this postcard scan of Weaver’s Motel along the Lincoln Highway on the east side of Greensburg, Pa. When I began researching the highway in Pennsylvania two decades ago a few remnants of this motel remained. Judging by Google Street View, what looks like the main building of … Continue reading »
Lincoln Hwy map tweak at Grand Junction Iowa
Reviewing the Iowa chapter in my forthcoming Lincoln Highway Companion, I often compare my maps to extreme close-ups of the LHA’s excellent CD-based maps based on the DeLorme system. My book has a photo from just east of Grand Junction, Iowa, where 4 bridges cross Beaver Creek. However, I noticed the LHA maps only show … Continue reading »
Lincoln Hwy author reads for WWII Radio Heroes
The author is me, and my part is probably less than a minute long, but if that justifies a Lincoln Highway connection to mention this book, that’s OK. World War II Radio Heroes is the fascinating story of dozens of 60-year-old letters discovered by author Lisa Spahr. They were sent to her family by total … Continue reading »
Deco station a twin to Dunkle’s Gulf in Bedford
Postcard expert Russell Rein picked up a 1930s postcard that shows a station near Asbury Park, New Jersey, that’s very similar to the well-known Dunkle’s Gulf along the Lincoln Highway in Bedford, Pennsylvania. Dunkle’s is a popular stop and an extremely rare survivor from that era — and they still pump gas! Though it’s known … Continue reading »
New site explores Indiana’s Lincoln Highway
Dave Zollinger, aka Spiny Norman, has been expanding his Goshen Lincoln Highway blog so much that it’s already spawned a sequel at http://www.indianaslincolnhighway.blogspot.com called “Indiana’s Lincoln Highway.” It’s already got some great stories, like a visit to the well-known Magic Wand drive-in restaurant in Churubusco, and the start of a cross-state tour at the Ohio … Continue reading »
Wind farm could impact Lincoln Highway in Wyo
The Rawlins Daily Times reported on a controversial wind farm planned near Hanna, a small town along the beautifully rural Medicine Bow loop of the Lincoln Highway in east-central, Wyoming. The story was then examined by CBS-4 in Denver: The Medicine Bow Conservation District and the Hanna Historical Society asked Horizon Wind Energy not to … Continue reading »
Newsreel: 1952 Donner Pass blizzard strands train
With Wintry weather hitting much of the country, here’s a newsreel from more than a half-century ago reminding us of the dangers atop infamous Donner Pass. The Lincoln Highway crossed the Sierra Nevadas here starting in 1913. The 222 passengers aboard the “City of San Francisco” were stranded for days in up to 20 feet … Continue reading »
Changes along the Lincoln Highway in Austin NV
Jan Morrison writes from Austin, Nevada, that she closed her Main Street Shops that sold coffee, ice cream, and gifts, “another victim of the recession. Traffic on our stretch of US 50/the Lincoln Highway is down 40-50%. There is a possibility someone may lease it, but I won’t know until the spring.” There is at … Continue reading »
Gettysburg and Lancaster tourism along US 30
Jennifer Vogelsong wrote an interesting piece for the York Daily Record/Sunday News about the search for authentic experiences in Gettysburg and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Much of the public face is found along the Lincoln Highway/US 30 but she finds that the best places are a block or two away or along the back roads. She was … Continue reading »
Goshen motel sign another Lincoln Highway loss
Fans of the Goshen Motor Lodge’s vintage sign knew it was a matter of time before the classic 1950s shape would be replaced, The once-exuberant sign along the Lincoln Highwy in northern Indiana declined in recent years, and friends on Flickr reported that new owners planned a purely plastic replacement. Sure enough, as seen below … Continue reading »
