Poster Commemorates Lincoln Hwy Centennial

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO A new poster commemoratees the forthcoming centennial of the Lincoln Highway in 2013. The Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society Museum of Merrilville, Indiana, commissioned Mitch Markovitz to create the evocative image. An article at nwitimes.com explains: “We started this project more than a year ago,” said Dan Kleine, the … Continue reading →

Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale this weekend

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO The 8th Annual Buy-Way Yard Sale along the Lincoln Highway starts this Thursday and runs through Saturday, Aug. 11. Started in Ohio, it has grown to include West Virginia and parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa’s Lincoln Highway communities. “If you are looking for it, it’s out … Continue reading →

Petroliana auction of Preston’s gas station in Iowa

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO An auction is set for Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 9 am for highway memorabilia from the famous gas station once run by George Preston in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Not to worry — the signs on the station and adjacent garage are not being sold. The station … Continue reading →

Lincoln Highway Adventure and Moveable Feast

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO Explore the 1913 Lincoln Highway through Indiana on July 21, 2012, as part of the Lincoln Highway Adventure and Moveable Feast, a partnership of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association and Indiana Landmarks. Follow the highway east from South Bend past scenic landscapes, historic sites, and good food in Mishawaka, Elkhart, … Continue reading →

PA Lincoln Highway corridor open house today

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor has a new home along the Lincoln Highway between Greensburg and Ligonier. LHHC has purchased the 1815 stone Johnston House across from the Kingston Dam. The site will eventually be home to the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum, which will include the … Continue reading →

Indiana to debut “Lincoln Highway Adventure”

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO Join the first annual Lincoln Highway Adventure along Indiana’s historic Lincoln Highway, August 5 and 6, 2011. The fun event will coincide with the Buy-Way Yard Sale stretching across several states. Kick off the Adventure at Downtown South Bend’s First Friday Cruise-In, then the next day … Continue reading →

Lincoln Highway Buy-Way coming your way!

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO It’s once again time for the annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale running August 4, 5 and 6, 2011. The miles-long event began in Ohio seven years ago and has since expanded to all of Iowa and parts of Illinois and Indiana. Ohio publishes an official … Continue reading →

Lincoln Highway March piano roll played online

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO A newly posted video uses a vintage player piano to play “Lincoln Highway,” a 1922 march by George B. Lutz. Click below to hear it. I ran a photo of the sheet music in my book The Lincoln Highway: Pennsylvania Traveler’s Guide (music at right). Other … Continue reading →

York PA Lincoln Highway Restaurant sign for sale

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO A constant stream of Lincoln Highway memorabilia shows up on eBay, less so on craigslist. But here’s a sign from the Lincoln Highway Garage that was on Rt. 462 in York that advertised the LH Restaurant inside. The station is long gone, replaced by a Turkey … Continue reading →

Lincoln Highway mural notes paving in Ashton, IL

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition unveiled its newest mural on April, 13, 2011, at 810 Main Street in Ashton, Illinois. The Coalition’s murals will soon be found in more than two dozen communities along the 179-mile National Scenic Byway corridor across the northern tier of the … Continue reading →

Offbeat 1917 LH brochure touts water fountain

LINCOLN HIGHWAY NEWS IS A BLOG BY BRIAN BUTKO A brochure scanned and online for free download touts a Lincoln Highway water fountain design that was to be placed from coast to coast. Also proposed were cement tourist cabins to be built resembling Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. Both ideas intended to honor the slain President. … Continue reading →

Rock Springs Park explores old WV attraction

West Virginia joined the Lincoln Highway in 1928 when the road between Pittsburgh and Ohio was rerouted through the the town of Chester in the state’s panhandle. Today, the big teapot is the best-known attraction, but back then by far is was Rock Spring Park. Now the amusement park has been given star treatment by … Continue reading →

Van Wert has Lincoln Highway sidewalk plaques

Kirk Dougal, Editor-in-Chief of the Times Bulletin in Van Wert, Ohio, sent photos of one of the 12 Lincoln Highway plaques that were placed at every corner of the downtown Streetscape project. Below, from left: Van Wert Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming; Connie Swander of Swan Memorials, makers of the plaques; and Van Wert Mayor Louis … Continue reading →

Lincoln Highway Days in central Iowa next month

The Town of Nevada, Iowa, will celebrate its 27th annual Lincoln Highway Days August 27–29, 2010. The theme this year is “Sharing and Caring on the Lincoln Highway!” but the event always includes standard amusements from carnival rides to rodeo tricks, a parade to baby contest. Learn more at http://www.lincolnhighwaydays.com/.

Travel Guys show follows the Lincoln Highway

The Travel Guys radio show out of Sacramento featured a special Fourth of July episode along the Lincoln Highway. One of the guys is radio personality Tom Romano, while Mark Hoffmann operates Sports Leisure Vacations, which offers tours of 2-lane roads like Route 66 and now the Lincoln Highway. Your blog host, me, Brian Butko … Continue reading →

Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum destroyed by fire

Olga A. Herbert, Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, just alerted me that Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum in central Pennsylvania has been destroyed by fire. Owner Ed Gotwalt has spent decades amassing his collection of elephant-themed objects joined to a candy and gift store; he also serves on the Corridor board of directors. … Continue reading →

Looking for pottery place near Ship Hotel

David Schwartz writes from California with a question: Forty years ago, I rode Route 30 on my Honda Superhawk 305 from Pittsburgh to New Jersey to visit my girlfriend. Somewhere east of the Ship Hotel, I stopped for gas and a snack at a roadside establishment that had a large yard full of pottery figurines … Continue reading →

Rare coins found in “Lincoln Highway hoard”

New Jersey LHA director Al Pfingstl wrote to say that “Collectible Coins from New York” is advertising Lincoln Highway Hoard Morgan silver dollars. The coins, like the Lady Liberty here priced at $89, aren’t a LH relic but rather the collection was found along the Lincoln. (Note this coin is dated and labeled 1888 but … Continue reading →

2010 Buy-Way yard sale set for August

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 … Continue reading →

1928 Lincoln Highway concrete post for sale

Anyone hoping to own – or donate – a 1928 Lincoln Highway marker has another one to choose from, oddly the second rare LH artifact offered for sale this week. Such concrete directional posts once lined the highway but have mostly disappeared. The national Lincoln Highway Association urges that any found or for sale are … Continue reading →