How old is the lincoln highway

Like the Lincoln, it claimed New York and San Francisco as its endpoints, but it claimed the Wendover road and the route along the Humboldt River in Nevada, which pitted it directly against the Lincoln.

It was virtually unknown in the east but was favored in Utah, Nevada, and northern California. Like their fellow Utah citizens, northern Californians favored the Victory for economic reasons: travelers along the Victory would almost certainly go to San Francisco. If travelers took the Lincoln through western Utah, they could easily go drive southwest towards Los Angeles via the Midland Trail, as it was about as far away as San Francisco.

Despite numerous reports and heavy lobbying by the Lincoln Highway Association, the federal government selected the Wendover route as the federal road. Consequently, the Victory was also declared the federal road in Nevada. In ten years, between and , the United States went from having one named highway to having an unorganized and confusing system of named highways. They were primarily marked by painted colored bands on telephone poles.

Sometimes, where several named highways shared a route, almost an entire pole would be striped in various colors. It was time for an organized national system of highways to be formed. A system of numbered highways. The Lincoln Highway Association was all for a numbered highway system, as long as one number corresponded to the Lincoln Highway and the names stayed with the roads.

All named roads were ignored in their planning. Major east-west routes would be numbered in multiples of ten, from U. Major north-south routes would end in 1 or 5, from U. The Lincoln Highway was broken up into U. The AASHO also adopted a standard set of road signs and markers, and to avoid confusion, all markers of all named roads would have to be taken down.

Interest in the Lincoln Highway dropped considerably. The association ceased activity at the end of Its last major activity was to mark the highway not as a route from one destination to another, but as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln. On September 1, , thousands of Boy Scouts fanned out along the highway. While the other named highways were quickly forgotten, the Lincoln Highway was not.

A whole generation of Americans, exposed to the well-organized publicity of the Lincoln Highway Association, kept the Lincoln Highway alive long after its official significance was gone. It was the backdrop for an NBC radio show on Saturday mornings. Airing for two seasons in the s, it had an audience of 8 million listeners. By the late s, the Lincoln Highway started to fade away.

A new generation of Americans were born, one which had grown up with paved roads and a numbered highway system. Most Baby Boomers, and even more of their children, have never heard of the Lincoln Highway. However, not everyone has forgotten. The Lincoln Highway Association was reactivated in , dedicated to preserving the highway.

Less than half of it, 1, miles, was improved. Eventually, as segments of the route were improved, the length shrunk to about 3, miles. Bonfires and fireworks marked ceremonies in hundreds of cities in the 13 States along the line.

Concerts and parades took place. In at least two locations, the streets were swept and washed so dances could be held on the highway. MacDonald summarized what many people felt. The enthusiasm for the Lincoln Highway would become, he said, "the first outlet for the road building energies of this community. That such a radial system of roads should be built is of very much more importance than that one great continuous road across the state shall be built. At a time when a service infrastructure to support the automobile did not exist, the guide urged motorists to buy gasoline at every opportunity, no matter how little had been used since the last purchase.

Motorists were advised to wade through water before fording it with their vehicle and to avoid drinking alkali water "Serious cramps result". Firearms weren't needed, but full camping equipment was, especially west of Omaha, Nebraska. The guide advised motorists to select camp sites early "If you wait until dark you may be unable to find a spot free from rocks".

Equipment needed included chains, a shovel medium size , axe, jacks, tire casings and inner tubes, a set of tools, and, of course, 1 pair of Lincoln Highway Penants. In view of the mud the motorist could expect to travel through, the guide offered one bit of practical advice without further comment: "Don't wear new shoes. Thomas and his sorrel team were bypassed in time for the guide's fourth edition, published in However, that guide advised motorists heading west to stop at Orr's Ranch before deciding which route to follow.

Motorists heading east from Nevada were to ask Mr. Davis of Gold Hill for advice. He, too, could be relied upon.

That included everything food, gas, oil , "even allowing for five or six meals in hotels. In September , Fisher had described his plan in a letter to a friend. He pointed out 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 what today would be called media events.

Bement, "Publicity in our lexicon. Aside from sponsoring the October 31 ceremonies, the LHA asked clergy across the Nation 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 said that "such a highway will be a most fitting and useful monument to the memory of Lincoln. The publicity had begun virtually from the start of the LHA. After the headquarters opened in Detroit, one of Fisher's first acts was to hire F.

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 transmit their dispatches.

In those early days, each contribution from a famous supporter was publicized. Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas B. Edison, both friends of Fisher, sent checks.

The LHA, which arranged the President's donation through a friendly Member of Congress, distributed copies of his certificate to the press. However, one of the best known contributions came from a small group of "Esquimaux" children in Anvik, Alaska. When their American teacher told them about Abraham Lincoln and the highway to be built in his honor, they took up a collection among themselves and sent it to the LHA with the note, "Fourteen pennies from Anvik Esquimaux children for the Lincoln Highway.

One reason the LHA concentrated on publicity was that it could not afford to build the highway. In short, Henry Ford had been right. Fisher's idea that the auto industry and private contributions could pay for the highway was abandoned early.

For the most part, the LHA used contributions for publicity and promotion to encourage travel over the Lincoln Highway, as well as to encourage State, county, and municipal officials to improve the road. The LHA did, however, help finance construction of short sections of the route.

Thomas and his horses of their role of helping stranded motorists near Fish Springs. Goodyear President Frank A. Seiberling was President of the LHA for many years. The LHA also sponsored short concrete "Seedling Mile" object lesson roads in many locations the first, built in the fall of , was just west of Malta, Illinois.

The "Seedling Miles," according to the LHA's guide, were intended "to demonstrate the desirability of this permanent type of road construction" and "crystallize public sentiment" for "further construction of the same character.

The most famous "seedling" and one of the most talked about portions of the Lincoln Highway was the 1. In , the LHA decided to develop a model section of road that would be adequate not only for current traffic but for highway transportation over the following 2 decades.

The LHA assembled 17 of the country's foremost highway experts for meetings in December and February to decide design details of the Ideal Section. They agreed on such features as:. Seger was one of the founders of the LHA. In magazines and newspapers, the Ideal Section was hailed as a vision of the future. Highway officials from around the country visited the Ideal Section, and they discussed it in papers read before technical societies in this country and abroad.

Today, the Ideal Section is still in use. However, a motorist between Dyer and Schererville would not know he was on an historic section of highway unless he stopped to see the "Ideal Section" marker placed off the road.

Still, the Ideal Section stands as an early attempt to envision the type of highway that would evolve into today's Interstate superhighways. Actually, one of the Lincoln Highway's greatest contributions to future highway development occurred in , when the U.

Army undertook its first transcontinental motor convoy. The highly publicized convoy, promoted by the LHA, was intended, in part, to dramatize the need for better main highways and continued Federal-aid.

From there, it followed the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco. Bridges cracked and were rebuilt, vehicles became stuck in mud, and equipment broke, but the convoy was greeted warmly by communities across the country. The convoy reached San Francisco on September 5. The LHA considered the convoy a great success. Extensive publicity promoted the Lincoln Highway and good roads everywhere.

It makes you realize we're much more than bicoastal. Every place across the country has beauty, and first and foremost, it's in the people. This is what these people are doing. This is why America is so wealthy. Don't have time to drive the entire Lincoln Highway? Brian Butko, author of Greetings from the Lincoln Highway and Lincoln Highway Companion outlines four routes ranging from to miles with plenty of eye-catching sights along the way.

Driving the Lincoln Highway westbound is to watch the geography of America unfold. Here are four drives that capture the essence of the changing land:. Central Pennsylvania offers a great mix of roadside attractions and rural pleasures. Starting in York, you pass an original s diner and old motels on the way to Gettysburg, site of the best-known Civil War battlefield.

To the west is Mister Ed's Elephant Museum in the middle of a state forest, then it's up, down, and over the Allegheny Mountains through Breezewood to Bedford. Look for an ice cream-shaped dairy stand, a restored coffee-pot cafe, and Dunkle's Gulf, an art deco station where the same family has pumped your gas since the s. Stay at the Lincoln Motor Court's tourist cabins, then stop for pictures at wonderful murals painted on barns. The artwork is sponsored by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.

You'll find their little museum farther west in Ligonier near the town square. West of Chicago, towns and farms spread out across the prairies. End at Preston's Station, a shrine to early gasoline and oil advertising. Start at the Terry Bison Ranch south of Cheyenne, where you can camp or stay in a cabin, ride horses, and ride on a mini-train amid a bison herd, camels, llamas and emus.

In Cheyenne, outfit yourself in cowboy gear, then head west to the highest point on the Lincoln Highway at Sherman Summit, where a pyramid towers nearby and a rest area on I has monuments to Lincoln and a founder of the Lincoln Highway.

At Laramie, visit an s prison, then leave I behind and enter the real West as you head north to Rock River and Como Bluff, where lots of dinosaur skeletons have been unearthed. You're only halfway back to the Interstate so enjoy the high lonely plains and occasional cloudbursts through Hanna, Coyote Springs, and Fort Steele on the way to Rawlins, where you can tour another ancient prison or wait for the Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering each July.

The longest drive with the least services and attractions, offers the best chance to return to for a day.