1913 Alignment through Indiana
Over the years, the Lincoln Highway became little more than a memory, with relics and reminders along the way
- Some segments of the 1913 alignment in Indiana still carry the name.
- Roads in some cities, such as Valparaiso, LaPorte and South Bend, are still known as "Lincoln Way."
- A few of the 3,000 Boy Scout markers can still be found along the old route.
- Near Elkhorn, Nebraska, a stretch of Lincoln Highway paved with brick has been preserved by a local historical group.
- A bridge with railings spelling out "LINCOLN HIGHWAY" remained in use as part of Route E-66 in Tama County, Iowa.
- Restaurants, motels, and gas stations in many locations still carry a Lincoln-related name.
- In Wamsutter, Wyoming, on the Continental Divide along old U.S. 30, a monument was erected in 1938 to Henry B. Joy, President of the LHA during its early years. The inscription describes Joy as one "who saw realized the dream of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific." Not far from the memorial, a motorist could see an abandoned stretch of the Lincoln Highway, weeds growing through the cracks in the pavement, along its modern reincarnation, I-80.
In April 1988, the University of Iowa Press published The Lincoln Highway, a text-and-photo essay by Drake Hokanson. Hokanson had been intrigued by the mystery of this once-famous highway. In an August 1985 article in Smithsonian, he tried to explain the fascination with the route.
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If it was restlessness and the desire for a better way to get across the continent that brought the Lincoln Highway into existence, it was curiosity that kept it alive--the notion that the point of traveling was not just to cover the distance but to savor the texture of life along the way. Maybe we've lost that, but the opportunity to rediscover it is still out there waiting for us anytime we feel like turning off an exit ramp.
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This sentiment prompted creation of a new Lincoln Highway Association in 1992. Its mission:
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Our present-day association has the responsibility to protect the heritage left to us by those courageous transportation pioneers of nearly ninety years ago. Today our mission is to identify, preserve, and improve access to the remaining portions of the Lincoln Highway and its associated historic sites.
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The new LHA publishes an excellent quarterly magazine, The Lincoln Highway Forum, and holds conventions in a Lincoln Highway city each year.
In its heyday, the Lincoln Highway was the Nation's premier highway. If it never quite measured up to the dreams of its founders, if it was never quite finished, nevertheless it was a marvel in itself and an object lesson that helped spur highway development around the country. That success, combined with the efforts of other Good Roads advocates and government officials such as the BPR's MacDonald, helped bring an end to the Lincoln Highway. But that success also helped the country achieve the LHA's goal of enduring highways everywhere.