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The Lincoln Highway was the first road across the United States of Americamarker. Actively promoted by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, the Lincoln Highway originally spanned coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York Citymarker to Lincoln Parkmarker in San Franciscomarker through 13 states: New Yorkmarker, New Jerseymarker, Pennsylvaniamarker, Ohiomarker, Indianamarker, Illinoismarker, Iowamarker, Nebraskamarker, Coloradomarker, Wyomingmarker, Utahmarker, Nevadamarker, and Californiamarker. In 1915, the "Colorado Loop" was removed, and in 1928, a realignment relocated the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginiamarker. Thus, there are a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and over 700 cities, towns and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history.

The first officially recorded mileage for the entire Lincoln Highway was 3389 miles (5454 km) in 1913. Over the years, the road was improved and numerous realignments were made. By 1924, the Lincoln Highway had been shortened to 3142 miles (5056 km). Counting the original route and all of the subsequent realignments, there is a grand total of 5869 miles (9445 km).

Conceived in 1912 and formally dedicated October 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway was America's first national memorial to President Abraham Lincoln, predating the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorialmarker in Washington D.C.marker by 9 years. As the first automobile road across America, the Lincoln Highway brought great prosperity to the hundreds of cities, towns and villages along the way. Affectionately, the Lincoln Highway became known as "The Main Street Across America".

The Lincoln Highway was inspired by the Good Roads Movement. In turn, the Lincoln Highway inspired the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which was championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, influenced by his experiences as a young soldier crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway.

The Lincoln Highway Association (LHA), originally established in 1913 to plan, promote, and sign the highway, was re-formed in 1992 and is now dedicated to promoting and preserving the road. The LHA has over 1100 members located in 40 states and Washington D.C.marker, and in Canadamarker, Englandmarker, Germanymarker, Luxembourgmarker, and Scotlandmarker. The association has active state chapters in 12 Lincoln Highway states and maintains a national tourist center in Franklin Grove, Illinoismarker, in a historic building built by Harry Isaac Lincoln, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln. The LHA holds yearly national conferences, and is governed by a board of directors with representatives from each Lincoln Highway state.

Routing

September 1920 photograph near the intersection of Broad Street and Northeast Boulevard in Philadelphia
(The following information is courtesy of the Lincoln Highway Association National Mapping Committee. The exact alignments can be obtained with the Lincoln Highway Driving Map CDs available through the Lincoln Highway Trading Post.):



Most of U.S. Route 30 from Philadelphia to western Wyoming, portions of Interstate 80 in the western United States, most of U.S. Route 50 in Nevada and California, and most of old decommissioned U.S. Route 40 in California are alignments of the Lincoln Highway. The final (1928-1930) route of the Lincoln Highway corresponds roughly to the following roads:

History

Concept and promotion

In 1912, railroads dominated interstate transportation in America, and roadways were primarily of local interest. Outside cities, "market roads" were sometimes maintained by counties or townships, but maintenance of rural roads fell to those who lived along them. Many states had constitutional prohibitions against funding "internal improvements" such as road projects, and federal highway programs were not to become effective until 1921.

At the time, the country had about 2.2 million miles (3.5 million km) of rural roads, of which a mere 8.66 percent (190,476 miles or 306,541 km) had "improved" surfaces: gravel, stone, sand-clay, brick, shells, oiled earth, etc. Interstate roads were considered a luxury, something only for wealthy travelers who could spend weeks riding around in their automobiles.

Support for a system of improved interstate highways had been growing. For example, The New York Times in an article on August 27, 1911, gave quotes from several prominent men. "Of the Nation's leaders," it said, "none is more emphatic than Speaker Champ Clark." Furthermore, from a communication to President Robert P. Hooper of the American Automobile Association, the article quoted Clark's opinion that, "I believe the time has come for the general Government to actively and powerfully co-operate with the States in building a great system of public highways...that would bring its benefits to every citizen in the country." However, Congress as a whole was not yet ready to commit funding to such projects.

Carl G. Fisher was an early automobile entrepreneur who was the manufacturer of Prest-O-Lite compressed carbide-gas headlights used on most early cars, and was also one of the principal investors who built the Indianapolis Speedwaymarker. He believed that the popularity of automobiles was dependent on good roads. In 1912 he began promoting his dream of a transcontinental highway, and at a September 10 dinner meeting with industry friends in Indianapolismarker, he called for a coast-to-coast rock highway to be completed by May 1, 1915, in time for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. He estimated the cost at about $10 million and told the group, "Let's build it before we're too old to enjoy it!" Within a month Fisher's friends had pledged $1 million. Henry Ford, the biggest automaker of his day, refused to contribute because he believed the government should build America's roads.However, contributors included former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas A. Edison, both friends of Fisher, as well as then-current President Woodrow Wilson, the first U.S. President to make frequent use of an automobile for relaxation.

Fisher and his associates chose a name for the road, naming it after one of Fisher's heroes, Abraham Lincoln. At first they had to consider other names, such as "The Coast-to-Coast Rock Highway" or "The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway," because the Lincoln Highway name had been reserved earlier by a group of Easterners who were seeking support to build their Lincoln Highway from Washington to Gettysburg on federal funds. When Congress turned down their proposed appropriation, the project collapsed, and Fisher's preferred name became readily available.

On July 1, 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) was established "to procure the establishment of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all description without toll charges." The first goal of the LHA was to build the rock highway from Times Square in New York Citymarker to Lincoln Parkmarker in San Franciscomarker. The second goal was to promote the Lincoln Highway as an example to, in Fisher's words, "stimulate as nothing else could the building of enduring highways everywhere that will not only be a credit to the American people but that will also mean much to American agriculture and American commerce." Henry Joy was named as the LHA president, so that although Carl Fisher remained a driving force in furthering the goals of the association, it would not appear as his one-man crusade.

The first section of the Lincoln Highway to be completed and dedicated was the Essexmarker and Hudsonmarker Lincoln Highway, running along the former Newark Plank Road from Newark, New Jerseymarker to Jersey City, New Jerseymarker. It was dedicated on December 13, 1913 at the request of the Associated Automobile Clubs of New Jersey and the Newark Motor Club, and was named after the two counties it passed through.

Route selection and dedication

The LHA needed to determine the best and most direct route from New York City to San Francisco. East of the Mississippi River, route selection was eased by the relatively dense road network. To scout a western route, the LHA's "Trail-Blazer" tour set out from Indianapolismarker in 17 cars and 2 trucks on July 1, 1913, the same day LHA headquarters were established in Detroitmarker. After 34 days of Iowamarker mud pits, sand drifts in Nevadamarker and Utahmarker, overheated radiators, flooded roads, cracked axles, and enthusiastic greetings in every town that thought it had a chance of being on the new highway, the tour arrived for a parade down San Francisco's Market Streetmarker before thousands of cheering residents.

The Trail-Blazers returned to Indianapolis by train, and a few weeks later on September 14, 1913 the route was announced. LHA leaders, particularly Packard president Henry Joy, wanted as straight a route as possible and the 3389 mile (5454 km) route announced did not necessarily follow the course of the Trail-Blazers. There were many disappointed town officials, particularly in Coloradomarker and Kansasmarker, who had greeted the Trail-Blazers and thought the tour's passage had meant their towns would be on the Highway.

Less than half the selected route was improved roadway. As segments were improved over time, the route length was reduced by about 250 miles (400 km). Several segments of the Lincoln Highway route followed historic roads:

The LHA dedicated the route on October 31, 1913. Bonfires, fireworks, concerts, parades, and street dances were held in hundreds of cities in the 13 states along the route. During a dedication ceremony in Iowa, State Engineer Thomas H. MacDonald said he felt it was "…the first outlet for the road building energies of this community." He went on to advocate the creation of a system of transcontinental highways with radial routes. In 1919, MacDonald became Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), a post he held until 1953, when he oversaw the early stages of the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

Publicity

In September 1912, in a letter to a friend, Fisher wrote that "…the highways of America are built chiefly of politics, whereas the proper material is crushed rock, or concrete." The leaders of the LHA were masters of the public relations, and used publicity and propaganda as even more important materials.

In the early days of the effort, each contribution from a famous supporter was publicized. Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison, both friends of Fisher, sent checks. A friendly Member of Congress arranged for a dedicated motor enthusiast, President Woodrow Wilson, to contribute US$5 whereupon he was issued Highway Certificate #1. Copies of the certificate were promptly distributed to the press.

One of the best known contributions came from a small group of Esquimaux children in Anvik, Alaskamarker. Their American teacher told them about Abraham Lincoln and the highway to be built in his honor, and they took up a collection and sent it to the LHA with the note, "Fourteen pennies from Anvik Esquimaux children for the Lincoln Highway." The LHA distributed pictures of the coins and the accompanying letter, and both were widely reprinted.

One of Fisher's first acts after opening LHA headquarters was to hire F. T. Grenell, city editor of the Detroit Free Press, as a part-time publicity man. The Trail-Blazer tour included representatives of the Hearst newspaper syndicate, the Indianapolis Star and News, the Chicago Tribune, and telegraph companies to help transmit their dispatches.

In preparation for the October 31 dedication ceremonies, the LHA asked clergy across the United States to discuss Abraham Lincoln in their sermons on November 2, the Sunday nearest the dedication. The LHA then distributed copies of many of the sermons, such as one by Cardinal Gibbons who, with the dedication fresh in mind, had written that "such a highway will be a most fitting and useful monument to the memory of Lincoln."

One of the greater contributions to highway development was a well-publicized and promoted U.S. Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy in 1919. The convoy left the White Housemarker in Washington, D.C.marker on July 7, 1919, and met the Lincoln Highway route at Gettysburg, Pennsylvaniamarker. After two months of travel, the convoy reached San Francisco on September 6, 1919. Though bridges failed, vehicles broke and were sometimes stuck in mud, the convoy was greeted in communities across the country. The LHA used the convoy's difficulties to show the need for better main highways, building popular support for both local and federal funding. The convoy led to the passage of many county bond issues supporting highway construction.

One of the participants in the convoy was a young Lt.Col. Eisenhower, and it was so memorable that he devoted a chapter to it ("Through Darkest America With Truck and Tank") in his 1967 book At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends. That 1919 experience, and his exposure to the autobahn network in Germanymarker in the 1940s, found expression in 1954 when he announced his "Grand Plan" for highways. The resulting 1956 legislation created the Highway Trust Fund that accelerated construction of the Interstate Highway System.

Fisher's idea that the auto industry and private contributions could pay for the highway was abandoned early, and while the LHA did help finance a few short sections or roadway, the contributions of LHA founders and members were used primarily for publicity and promotion to encourage travel on the Highway, and for lobbying of officials at all levels for support construction by governments.

Early travel

According to the Association's 1916 Official Road Guide a trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific on the Lincoln Highway was "something of a sporting proposition" and might take 20 to 30 days. To make it in 30 days the motorist would need to average 18 miles (29 km) an hour for 6 hours per day, and driving was only done during daylight hours. The trip was thought to cost no more than $5 a day per person, including food, gas, oil, and even "five or six meals in hotels." Car repairs would, of course, increase the cost.

Since gasoline stations were still rare in many parts of the country, motorists were urged to top off their gasoline at every opportunity, even if they had done so recently. Motorists should wade through water before driving through to verify the depth. The list of recommended equipment included chains, a shovel, axe, jacks, tire casings and inner tubes, tools, and (of course) a pair of Lincoln Highway pennants. And, the guide offered this sage advice: "Don't wear new shoes."

Firearms were not necessary, but west of Omaha full camping equipment was recommended, and the guide warned against drinking alkali water that could cause serious cramps. In certain areas, advice was offered on getting help, for example near Fish Springs, Utahmarker, "If trouble is experienced, build a sagebrush fire. Mr. Thomas will come with a team. He can see you 20 miles off." Later editions omitted Mr. Thomas, but westbound travelers were advised to stop at the Orr's Ranch for advice, and eastbound motorists were to check with Mr. K.C. Davis of Gold Hill, Nevada.

Seedling Miles and the Ideal Section

While the Lincoln Highway Association did not have sufficient funds to sponsor large sections of the road, starting in 1914 it did sponsor "Seedling Mile" projects. According to the 1924 LHA Guide the Seedling Miles were intended "to demonstrate the desirability of this permanent type of road construction" to rally public support for government-backed construction. The LHA convinced industry of their self-interest and was able to arrange donations of materials from the Portland Cement Association [12281].

The first Seedling Mile was built in 1914 west of Maltamarker, Illinois, but after years of experience the LHA began a design effort for a road section that could handle traffic 20 years into the future. Seventeen highway experts met between December 1920 and February 1921, and specified:
*a right-of-way 110 feet (33.5 m) in width
*a concrete road bed 40 feet (12.2 m) wide and 10 inches (254 mm) thick to support loads of 8,000 pounds (3,639 kg) per wheel
*curves with a minimum radius of 1,000 feet (305 m), banked for 35 mph (56 km/h), with guard rails at embankments
*no grade crossings or advertising signs
*a footpath for pedestrians


The most famous Seedling Mile built to these specifications was the 1.3-mile (2 km) "Ideal Section" between Dyermarker and Scherervillemarker in Lake Countymarker, Indiana. With federal, state, and county funds, and a US$130,000 contribution by United States Rubber Company president and LHA founder C.B. Seger, the Ideal Section was built during 1922 and 1923. Magazines and newspapers called the Ideal Section a vision of the future, and highway officials from across the country visited and wrote technical papers that circulated both in the United States and overseas. The Ideal Section is still in use to this day, and has worn so well that a driver would not notice it unless the marker near the road brought it to their attention.

Federal highways

By the mid-1920s there were about 250 National auto trails. Some were major routes, such as the Lincoln Highway, the Jefferson Highway, the National Old Trails Road, the Old Spanish Trail, and the Yellowstone Trail, but most were shorter. Some of the shorter routes were formed more to generate revenues for a trail association rather than for their value as a route between significant locations.

By 1925 governments had joined the roadbuilding movement, and began to assert control. Federal and state officials established the Joint Board on Interstate Highways, which proposed a numbered U.S. Highway system which would make the Trail designations obsolete, though technically the Joint Board had no authority over highway names. Increasing government support for roadbuilding was making the old road associations less important, but the LHA still had significant influence. The Secretary of the Joint Board, BPR official E. W. James, went to Detroit to gain LHA support for the numbering scheme, knowing it would be hard for smaller road associations to object if the LHA publicly supported the new plan.

The LHA preferred numbering the existing named routes, but in the end the LHA was more interested in the larger plan for roadbuilding than they were in officially retaining the name. They knew the Lincoln Highway name was fixed in the mind of the public, and James promised them that, so far as possible, the Lincoln Highway would have the number 30 for its entire route. An editorial in the February 1926 issue of The Lincoln Forum reflected the outcome:

The states approved the new federal numbering system in November 1926 and began putting up new signs. The Lincoln Highway was not alone in being split among several numbers, but the entire routing between Philadelphia and Granger, Wyoming, was assigned "U.S. 30" per the agreement. East of Philadelphia the Lincoln Highway was part of U.S. 1, and west of Salt Lake City the route became U.S. 40 across Donner Pass. Only the segment between Granger and Salt Lake City was not part of the new numbering plan; U.S. 30 was assigned to a more northerly route toward Pocatello, Idaho. When U.S. 50 was extended to California it followed the Lincoln Highway's alternate route south of Lake Tahoe.

The last major promotional activity of the LHA took place on September 1, 1928, when at 1:00 p.m. groups of Boy Scouts placed approximately 2,400 concrete markers at sites along the route to officially mark and dedicate it to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. Less commonly known is that 4,000 metal signs for urban areas were also erected then. The markers were placed on the outer edge of the right of way at major and minor crossroads, and at reassuring intervals along uninterrupted segments. Each concrete post carried the Lincoln Highway insignia and directional arrow, and a bronze medallion with Lincoln's bust and stating "This Highway Dedicated to Abraham Lincoln".

The Lincoln Highway was not yet the imagined "rock highway" from coast to coast when the LHA ceased operating, as there were many segments that had still not been paved. Some parts were because of reroutings, such as a dispute in the early 1920s with Utah officials that forced the LHA to change routes in western Utah and eastern Nevada. Construction was underway on the final unpaved segment by the 25th anniversary of the Lincoln Highway in 1938.

Inspiration

The success of the Lincoln Highway as a road, as an inspiration to travel, and as an economic boost to the towns and states along its route, inspired other named long-distance highways, such as the Yellowstone Trail and the National Old Trails Road. Most of these highways were not as successful as the Lincoln, and all have, to some degree, been supplanted by numbered routes or abandoned.

25th Anniversary

On June 8, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1938, which called for a BPR report on the feasibility of a system of transcontinental toll roads. The "Toll Roads and Free Roads" report was the first official step toward creation of the Interstate Highway System in the United States.

The 25th Anniversary of the Lincoln Highway was noted a month later in a July 3, 1938, nationwide radio broadcast on NBC. The program featured interviews with a number of LHA officials, and a message from Carl Fisher read by an announcer in Detroit. Fisher's statement included:

Since 1940

Fisher died about a year after the 25th Anniversary in 1940, having lost most of his fortune. In the many years since, the Lincoln Highway has remained a persistent memory:
  • In New Jersey, parts of U.S. Route 1/9 and New Jersey Route 27 still carry the name.
  • Some segments of U.S. 30 still carry the name.
  • Some city streets on which the Lincoln Highway was routed still carry the street name "Lincoln Way" or "Lincolnway", including: Mishawaka, Indianamarker; Valparaiso, Indianamarker; Aurora, Illinoismarker; Ames, Iowamarker; Cheyenne, Wyomingmarker; Auburn, Californiamarker; and Galt, Californiamarker. (Note: President Lincoln was popular, and many cities named streets after him, so not every "Lincoln Way" is in fact the Lincoln Highway. Two examples in San Franciscomarker are Lincoln Way along the south side of Golden Gate Parkmarker, and Lincoln Boulevard in the Presidiomarker, neither of which were ever the Lincoln Highway.)
  • Old Lincoln Highway is a secondary street in Trevose, Pennsylvaniamarker, using the old highway alignment.
  • A few of the 3,000 Boy Scout markers can be found along the old route. In some communities, these are being re-established in cooperation with the LHA, such as West Sacramento and Davis, California.
  • A stretch near Omaha, Nebraska paved with original brick has been preserved by the city government.
  • A bridge with railings spelling out "LINCOLN HIGHWAY" remains in use as part of Route E-66 in Tama County, Iowamarker.
  • Restaurants, motels, and gas stations in many locations still carry Lincoln-related names.
  • Near Wamsutter, Wyomingmarker, on the Continental Divide along old U.S. 30, a monument was erected in 1938 to Henry B. Joy, an early president of the LHA, with an inscription describing Joy as one "who saw realized the dream of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific." Not far from the memorial along I-80 a motorist could see an abandoned stretch of the Lincoln Highway with weeds growing through cracks in the pavement. In 2001, this monument was relocated to a place on I-80 midway between Cheyennemarker and Laramiemarker.
  • At the rest area of exit 323 on I-80 east of Laramiemarker, is the highest point on I-80. Located there is a thirteen and a half foot bronze bust of Lincoln. It is mounted on a massive, thirty-five foot granite base. The monument was created in 1959 to mark the high point of the Lincoln Highway and it originally stood about half a mile west and higher along U.S RT. 30 which closely followed the path of the Lincoln Highway across this summit. It was moved to the present location in 1969 after I-80 was opened. Robert Russin, an art professor at the University of Wyomingmarker created this stern, brooding sculpture. It was cast in 30 pieces in the favorable climate of Mexico City and assembled in Wyomingmarker. The base is hollow and has ladders and lightning rods inside.
  • On December 25, 2005, two Jersey City, New Jerseymarker police officers were killed when they inadvertently drove off of the Lincoln Highway Bridge. The old Lincoln Highway drawbridge, spanning the Hackensack River between Jersey Citymarker and Kearnymarker, was open at the time. The bridge's warning signals were not functioning and the police officers were at the scene placing flares to warn motorists of the malfunction. The bridge is part of modern-day U.S. Route 1-9 Truck.
  • Will County, Illinoismarker has four schools named after the highway: Lincoln-Way Central High Schoolmarker in New Lenoxmarker, Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfortmarker, Lincoln-Way West High School in New Lenoxmarker, and Lincoln-Way North in Frankfort. All schools are members of Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210.


Revitalized Lincoln Highway Association

The Lincoln Highway Association was re-formed in 1992 with the mission, "…to identify, preserve, and improve access to the remaining portions of the Lincoln Highway and its associated historic sites." The new LHA publishes a quarterly magazine, The Lincoln Highway Forum, and holds conferences each year in cities along the route.

90th Anniversary Lincoln Highway Cross Country Tour

In 2003 the Lincoln Highway Association sponsored the 90th Anniversary Tour of the entire road, from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The tour group, led by Bob Lichty and Rosemary Rubin of LHA and sponsored by Lincoln-Mercury, set out from Times Square on August 17, 2003. Approximately 35 vintage and modern vehicles, including several new Lincolns from Lincoln-Mercury, traveled about 225 miles per day and attempted to cover as much of the original Lincoln Highway alignments as possible. The group was met by LHA chapters, car clubs, local tourism groups and community leaders throughout the route. Several Boy Scout troops along the way held ceremonies to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the nationwide LH route marker post erection of September 1, 1928. When the tour concluded at Lincoln Park, in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honormarker in San Francisco, another ceremony was held to honor both the 90th Anniversary of the road and the75th anniversary of the post erections.

Mapping

Lincoln Highway Driving Map CDs

In 2007, the 18 member Lincoln Highway Association National Mapping Committee, chaired by Paul Gilger, completed the research and cartography of the entire Lincoln Highway and all its subsequent realignments (totaling 5869 miles), a five-year long project. The resulting Lincoln Highway Driving Map CDs are available for purchase through the association's Lincoln Highway Trading Post.

Literature

Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway

In 1914, Effie Gladding wrote Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway about her travel adventures on the road with her husband Thomas. Subsequently, Gladding wrote the foreword to the Lincoln Highway Association's first road guide, directing it to women motorists. Her 1914 book was the first full-size hardback book to discuss transcontinental travel, as well as the first to mention the Lincoln Highway:

By Motor to the Golden Gate

"Mistress of Etiquette" Emily Post was commissioned by Collier's magazine to cross the United States on the Lincoln Highway and write about it. Her son Edwin drove, and an unnamed family member joined them. Her story was published in 1916, as a book, By Motor to the Golden Gate. Her fame came later in 1922, with the publication of her first etiquette book.

It Might Have Been Worse

Author Beatrice Massey, who was a passenger as her husband drove, travelled across the country on the Lincoln Highway in 1919. When they reached Salt Lake City, Utah, instead of taking the rough and desolate Lincoln Highway around the south end of the Salt Lake Desert, they took the even more rough and more desolate "non-Lincoln" route around the north end of the Great Salt Lake. The arduousness of that section of the trip was instrumental in the Masseys deciding to ditch their road trip in Montello, Nevada (northeast of Wells, Nevada) where they paid $196.69 to board their automobile and themselves on a train to travel the rest of the way to California. Nevertheless, an enthusiastic Beatrice Massey wrote in her 1919 travelogue It Might Have Been Worse:

The Family Flivvers to Frisco

In 1927, humorist Frederic Van de Water wrote The Family Flivvers to Frisco, an autobiographical account of him and his wife, a young couple from New York City, piling their belongings and their six-year-old son (dubbed the “Supercargo”) into their Model T Ford and camping their way to San Francisco on the Lincoln Highway, traveling over through twelve states in thirty-seven days. In his book, not much is made of the burden of traveling with a child who has a mind of his own. When they were forced by passing cars into a ditch near DeKalb, Illinois, Van de Water writes that his son, the Supercargo (a small irate figure in yellow oilskins), “scrambled over the door and started to walk in the general direction of New York.” The Van de Waters travel expenses for their entire trip amounted to 247 dollars and 83 cents.

The Long, Long Trailer

In 1951, Clinton Twiss authored the famous and funny memoir The Long, Long Trailer, about his adventures living in a trailer and traveling across America with his wife Merle. Many of their episodes occurred on the Lincoln Highway, including almost losing their brakes coming down off Donner Passmarker, barely squeezing across the narrow Fulton Lyons Bridge over the Mississippi River, and getting stopped at the Holland Tunnelmarker because trailers weren't allowed through. Twiss' book became the basis for the popular 1954 MGM film of the same name, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and starring Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Although no filming occurred on the Lincoln Highway, early in the movie, Desi, who finds Lucy's suggestion of living in a trailer ridiculous, jokes: "The Collinis at home! Please drop in for cocktails! You'll find us someplace along the Lincoln Highway!"

Lincoln Highway, the Main Street Across America

In April 1988, the University of Iowamarker Press published Lincoln Highway, the Main Street Across America, a text-and-photo essay and history by Drake Hokanson. Hokanson had been intrigued by the mystery of this once-famous highway, and tried to explain the fascination with the route in an August 1985 article in Smithsonian magazine:

The Lincoln Highway (state-by-state series)

Author and historian Gregory Franzwa (1926-2009) wrote a state-by-state series of books about the Lincoln Highway. From 1995 through 2009, Franzwa completed seven books: The Lincoln Highway: Iowa (1995), The Lincoln Highway: Nebraska (1996), The Lincoln Highway: Wyoming (1999), The Lincoln Highway: Utah (with Jesse G. Petersen, 2003), The Lincoln Highway: Nevada (with Jesse G. Petersen, 2004), The Lincoln Highway: California (2006), and The Lincoln Highway: Illinois (2009). The series is published by the Patrice Press. Each state book contains both detailed history and USGS level maps showing the various Lincoln Highway alignments. Franzwa served as the first president of the revitalized Lincoln Highway Association, in 1992.

American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age

In 2002, British author Pete Davies wrote American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age, about the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway. About the book, Publishers Weekly said: In his newest book, Davies (Inside the Hurricane; The Devil's Flu) offers a play-by-play account of the 1919 cross-country military caravan that doubled as a campaign for the Lincoln Highway. The potential here is extraordinary. Using the progress of the caravan and the metaphor of paving toward the future versus stagnating in the mud, Davies touches on the industrial and social factors that developed the small and mid-sized towns that line the highways and byways of the nation.

Greetings from the Lincoln Highway: America’s First Coast-to-Coast Road

In 2005, Greetings from the Lincoln Highway: America’s First Coast-to-Coast Road, a comprehensive coffee table book by Brian Butko, became the first complete guide to the road, with maps, directions, photos, postcards, memorabilia, and histories of towns, people, and places. A mix of research and on-the-road fun, the book placed the LHA's early history in the context of roadbuilding, politics, and geography, explaining why the Lincoln followed the path it did across the US, including the oft-forgotten Colorado Loop through Denver. Butko's book also incorporated quotes from early motoring memoirs and postcard messages — sometimes funny, sometimes painfully descriptive of early motoring woes — hence the Greetings title. Butko had previously written an exhaustive guide to the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania in 1996, which was revised and republished in 2002 with different photos and postcard images.

Lincoln Highway, Coast-to-Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate: The Great American Road Trip

In July 2007, the W.W. Norton Company published The Lincoln Highway, Coast-to-Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate: The Great American Road Trip by Michael Wallis, best-selling author of Route 66, and voice in the movie Cars, and Michael Williamson, twice a Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer with The Washington Post.

Lincoln Highway Companion: A Guide to America's First Coast-to-Coast Road

Completed in 2009, Stackpole Books published Lincoln Highway Companion: A Guide to America's First Coast-to-Coast Road, authored by Brian Butko. This handy glove-compartment guide is comprised of carefully charted maps, must-see attractions, and places to eat and sleep that are slices of pure Americana. The book covers the major thirteen states the Lincoln Highway passes through, from New York to San Francisco, as well as the little-known Colorado loop and the Washington DC feeder loop.

Music

Lincoln Highway March (Band Score)

In 1914, the Lincoln Highway March, a band score, was written by Lylord J. St. Claire.

Lincoln Highway (Two Step March)

In 1921, the popular two step march Lincoln Highway was composed by Harry J. Lincoln. The sheet music featuring an uncredited drawing of the road on the cover. Lincoln was also the publisher, and was based in Philadelphiamarker, Pennsylvaniamarker very near to where the highway passed through the city.

Lincoln Highway (March)

In 1922, another march titled Lincoln Highway was composed by George B. Lutz, and published by Kramer's Music House of Allentown, Pennsylvaniamarker.

God's Country

In 1938, composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E. Y. Harburg (composers of Over the Rainbow and many other hits) wrote the song God's Country, for the finale of the MGM musical Babes in Arms, starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. The song starts with the famous lyric: "Hey there, neighbor, goin' my way? East or west on the Lincoln Highway? Hey there Yankee, give out with a great big thank-ee; You're in God's Country!"

When You Travel the Great Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway Radio Show on NBC in the 1940s featured the theme song When You Travel the Great Lincoln Highway. A rare surviving recording of the song can be listened to here.

Old Thirty

In 1974, the song Old Thirty was composed by Bill Fries (A.K.A. C.W. McCall) and Chip Davis for the album Wolf Creek Pass. An early verse contains the lyric: "She was known to all the truckers, As the Mighty Lincoln Highway, But to me She's still Old Thirty all the way."

Lincoln Highway Dub

In 1994, the song Lincoln Highway Dub is an all instrumental song created by the band Sublime in their album Robbin' the Hood. It features elements later used in the well-known song Santeria, also by Sublime.

Rollin' Down That Lincoln Highway

In 1996, Shadric Smith composed the country-western swing Rollin' Down That Lincoln Highway, which was recorded in 2003 by Smith and Denny Osburn. In 2008, Smith revised some of the lyrics. The original 2003 recording of the song and the revised 2008 version can be listened to and downloaded here.

Goin' All the Way (on the Lincoln Highway)

For the 2008 PBS documentary, A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway, Buddy McNutt composed the song Goin' All the Way (on the Lincoln Highway). Listen to the song here.

Radio

Lincoln Highway Radio Show on NBC

On March 23, 1940, NBC Radio introduced a Saturday morning dramatic show called Lincoln Highway sponsored by Shinola Polish, which featured stories of life along the route. The show's introduction contained an error in noting the Lincoln Highway was identical to U.S. 30 and ended in Portland. Many of the era's stars including Ethel Barrymore, Joe E. Brown, Claude Rains, Burgess Meredith, and Joan Bennett made appearances on the show, which had an audience of more than 8 million before it left the air in 1942. A rare surviving recording of the show's theme song, When You Travel the Great Lincoln Highway, can be listened to here

Television

A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway on PBS

On October 29, 2008, PBS premiered the new documentary film A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway, produced by Rick Sebak with WQEDmarker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniamarker. The Lincoln Highway Association awarded Sebak its first "Gregory M. Franzwa Award" at the 2009 LHA conference. The Franzwa Award is given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the promotion of the Lincoln Highway, and is named in honor of Franzwa who was a founding member and the first president of the revitalized Lincoln Highway Association, in 1992.

Film

Fording the Lincoln Highway

In 1924, the Ford Motor Company produced and released Fording the Lincoln Highway. The 30 minute silent film documented the 10-millionth Model T Ford and its promotional tour on the Lincoln Highway. The car came off the assembly line of Ford's Highland Park Assembly Plant on June 15th, 1924, which was the 16th year of Model T production. The milestone flivver led parades through most of the towns and cities along the Lincoln Highway. It was driven by Ford racer Frank Kulick. Several million people are estimated to have seen the vehicle, which was greeted by governors and mayors at each stop along the route. A video clip of the film can be viewed here.

The 10-millionth Model T is now owned by a member of the Lincoln Highway Association, Dr. Alan Hathaway of Davenport, Iowamarker. Hathaway brought the car to the LHA conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowamarker in 2006.

See also



References

Sources



Further reading

  • Butko, Brian. Greetings from the Lincoln Highway: America's First Coast-to-Coast Road. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005.
  • Kutz, Kevin. Kevin Kutz's Lincoln Highway: Paintings and Drawings. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006.


External links




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