The Lincoln Highway in Nebraska: the Pioneer Trail of the Automotive Age

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Article Title: The Lincoln Highway in Nebraska: The Pioneer Trail of the Automotive Age

Full Citation: Carol Ahlgren and David Anthone, "The Lincoln Highway in Nebraska: The Pioneer Trail of the Automotive Age," Nebraska History 73 (1992): 173-179.

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1992Linc_Hwy.pdf

Date: 4/15/2013

Article Summary: The Lincoln Highway, officially dedicated in October of 1913, traversed 13 states and was promoted by a network of state and local boosters. The 450 miles of the road in Nebraska followed the Platte River Valley.

Cataloging Information:

Names: A C Pardington, H E Frederickson, William Whitmore, Effie Gladding, Claire Boltwood [fictional Sinclair Lewis character], John Romsdal, George Wolz, Anton Kracl, Warren Belasco, Norman Fuessle, Ed Launer, Walt Meier, Florene Betts, Hilda Vasey, Rome Miller,

Keywords: "seedling mile"; Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel; Travel [Magazine]; Enterprise [Blair]; Lincoln Highway; Platte Valley Transcontinental Route Association; Symphony Club [Ogallala];

Photographs / Images: red, white, and blue markings on a telephone pole in Gothenburg; Grand Island meeting of Lincoln Highway Association members, 1913; the Lodgepole building with Lincoln Highway marker in front, 1911, Lodgepole's Stone Hotel; paved "seedling mile" near Kearney, October 1915; Part of the Lincoln Highway, 1917; Map by Dell Darling showing the Lincoln Highway; from The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway 1916: The Midway Hotel and J L Chapman's Garage ads; Lincoln Highway route from east to west through Sidney THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY IN NEBRASKA: THE PIONEER TRAIL OF THE AUTOMOTIVE AGE

By Carol Ahlgren and David Anthone

The idea ofthe Lincoln Highway was Valley, a major transportation route. mayor and others for short speeches. Most of our retail stores will be decorated in red, white, conceived when a group of automobile The valley, which has been called the and blue.2 manufacturers and businessmen met "Great Platte River Road," forms a At eight o'clock that evening, Fredrick­ in 1912 and formed an association to relatively narrow corridor through the son lit the oil-soaked wood before a establish the nation's first transcon­ state where nineteenth-century routes crowd of 10,000 people; simultaneous­ tinental highway. The goal of this Lin­ were located: the Mormon and Oregon­ ly, whistles were blown throughout the coln Highway Association was to California trails; the Pony Express city. The mostimpassioned speech was develop a paved, marked, toll-free route; and the Union Pacific mainline, by Omaha businessman Rome Miller: highway that would provide the most the nation's first transcontinental The Lincoln Highway is nearer the Lincoln idea direct route between New York and railroad. The Lincoln Highway in Ne­ than anything ever suggested. Lincoln came from San Francisco. braska represents a twentieth-century the people. He belonged to the people. The Lin­ coln Highway will be a memorial which can be When the Lincoln Highway was addition to the Platte River Road; as seen, employed, and enjoyed by all the people.' officially dedicated in October of 1913, the nation's first transcontinental From the Missouri River to the Wyom­ it was only a red line on paper highway it too was apioneer trail. ing border, Nebraska towns - Valley, delineated along existing roads On October 8, 1913, over 200 Fremont, Kearney, North Platte, and through thirteen states. For over a delegates of the Platte Valley Ogallala - had fireworks, parades decade until it became part of the Transcontinental Route Association and bonfires. federal numbered highway system, the met at the Merrick County courthouse Near Kearney, farmers placed torch Lincoln Highway was promoted by a in Central City. A month earlier the lights along a twenty-mile stretch into network of state and local boosters proposed route of the highway had the city. In Valley Counsel William called counsels. Headquartered in De­ been determined. Representatives at Whitmore, owner of the local stock­ troit, the association solicited the meeting included local good roads yards, backdated his diary to include donations, sold $5 memberships, and boosters, state and local counsels, and mention of the celebration. Between encouraged the construction of con­ the vice-president of the Lincoln brief entries concerning weather and crete sections called seedling miles. Highway Association, A. C. Pardington. crops, Whitmore noted, "We had a big Cities and towns on the route were The delegates unanimously endorsed celebration, bonfire, speeches, lunch encouraged to rename streets and the highway, and Central City became and parade."4 In western Nebraska boulevards "Lincoln Way." Guide­ the first city in the country to ratify the Ogallala's Symphony Club performed, books were published which described Lincoln Highway Proclamation. I and speeches were given about the road conditions, highway markings, A few weeks later the association highway's namesake. Fredrickson sent towns, garages, and hotels. launched its first major promotional a telegram which advised area The 450 miles of the road in Ne­ event: the official dedication of the residents to watch the sky for a reflec­ braska followed the Platte River route. On October 31, 1913, cele­ tion of Omaha's bonfire.5 brations occurred from New York to After the 1913 celebrations, San Francisco. H. E. Fredrickson, Ne­ automobile enthusiasts continued to Carol Ahlgren is an architectural historian at braska's counsel, described the prep­ boost the road for almost fifteen years. the Nebraska State Historical Society. David arations in Omaha: Through its national publicity cam­ Anthone, a former contractor in Historic Pre­ I have eight large loads of old Iwoodenl street car servation, is a graduate student at tires and three barrels of good burning oil for our paign, the association tried to keep the Columbia University. bonfire, 100 dollars worth of fireworks and the highway in the front page news. Press 173 Nebraska History - Winter 1992

releases were sent to newspapers in Red, white, and blue markings on a towns along the route. To encourage telephone pole guided the traveler donations, newspapers were provided along the Lincoln Highway in Gothen­ with reproductions of the Lincoln burg. (NSHS-D272-01E3) Highway membership certificates sold to Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Edison.6 family's 1916 Buick, looked for the red, The certificates were one way to pro­ white, and blue markings. They spot­ mote the highway and meet the goal of ted them on telephone poles, fence ten million dollars set by the associa­ posts, and even rocks, and called out to tion. Pennants, cigars, paperweights, let their parents know thatthey were on and radiator emblems depicting the the right road." route from coast to coast were also While the route was easy to follow available. In Central City local boosters through rural areas, in larger towns and claimed that they wanted to place a cities it could be more difficult. radiator emblem on every car in Automobile bluebooks provided assis­ Merrick County, and paperweights on tance with directions based on local the desks of people who did not own landmarks and buildings. To take the cars. The Central City Nonpareil Lincoln Highway through Schuyler, claimed: Nebraska, in 1923, motorists were Whether you are an auto owner or not, you are instructed: entitled to have a certificate and the road means At banks. Right 1 blk., then left at city hall 2 blks. as much to you as it does to the man with the big 4-cor.; right. End of road at barn; left. Right·hand touring car.? road; right.12 The route was quickly marked from Travellers during the early years also coast to coast by red, white, and blue passed existing landmarks that would bands painted on telephone poles and become even more well-known on the metal signs with Lincoln's profile or the transcontinental route. One of these, a letter "L."8 After a transcontinental large sign near Kearney, was located at journey in 1915, Effie Gladding de­ the Watson Ranch, nicknamed the scribed the experience in Across the "1733 Ranch" because of its equidis­ Continent by the Lincoln Highway. She tant location from Boston and San and her traveling companions were Francisco. The sign was featured on the guided by the markers: cover of an early Lincoln Highway sometimes painted on telephone poles, some· times put up over garage doors or swinging on guide book and in 1915, Effie Gladding hotel signboards . . .. We learned to love the red, stopped to take a picture. A woman liv­ white and blue and the familiar big L which told ing across the highway informed her us we were on the right road." that "almost every motor party . . . A character in Sinclair Lewis's 1924 stopped to photograph the sign."13 novel Free Air was also guided by the The enormous barn, orchards, and road markings. Claire Boltwood, a fields of the 1733 Ranch are gone, as is wealthy young woman from New York the later 1733 dance pavilion. However, City, makes a transcontinentaljourney. the sign remains, and the name con­ As she crossed the GreatPlains she was tinues with the new housing develop­ exhilarated by the motion and space: ment named "1733 Estates." One mile Nothing, it seemed, could halt her level flight west, the Covered Wagon tourist across the giant land ... guided by the friendly trail signs ... L's on fence post and telephone attraction, built in the mid -1930s, Ipoles/, magically telling the way from the Mis­ features its own "1733" sign. sissippi to the Pacific. It, • Additional landmarks were created by John Romsdal of Lincoln, Nebraska, local businesses and towns that vividly remembers traveling on the realized the potential financial benefit highway in 1917; he was eleven years of the route. Hotel owners incor­ old, and it was his first automobile trip. porated the name into their advertising He and his brother, in the back of the or even the building itself, like Kear­ 174 Lincoln Highway in Nebraska

About 100 Lincoln Highway Associa­ tion members met in Grand Island in November 1913. (NSHS-C663-430x) .... (right) The Lodgepole building with Lincoln Highway marker in front was constructed in 1911 as a garage, with an opera house on the upper floor. Lodgepole's Stone Hotel is at right. (NSHS-C531-01K2)

175 Nebraska History - Winter 1992

A "seedling mile" was paved in Way"). One of the most remarkable Nebraskan who had traveled from October of 1915 on the Lincoln seedling miles was near Fremontwhere Grand Island to Omaha in his Cadillac Highway near Kearney. (NSHS-LC­ not one but six miles of concrete sedan, found the road so bad that he Otto Klima) highway were built as a result of a wrote to the governor: $5,000 contribution by George Wolz, Although I have travelled from here to California the city's Lincoln Highway counseL twice and all over the Middle West by ney's Midway Hotel, which soon had an automobile, I have never in my seventeen years The six-mile stretch was not only the experience with automobiles tackled such electric "L" on its tower. Others such as longest seedling "mile" in Nebraska, it impassible road conditions as we have in the the Lincoln Courts and several Lincoln state of Nebraska on the Lincoln Highway. This was the longest in the country. IS road ought to be named the Lincoln No-way. 19 Highway garages, were renamed or new The seedling miles were only a small businesses. portion of the route; in Nebraska hun­ Early motorists also had to find a place Seedling miles proved to be one of dreds of miles were surfaced only with to spend the night; often they pitched the association's most successful pro­ tents and cooked outdoors. For some, dirt or graveL By 1929 only ~ixty out of motional devices. With cement 450 miles were .hard-surfaced.16 John this was an economical way to travel; donated by the Portland Cement Com­ Romsdal recalled his auto travels for many, however, it was part of the pany and funds raised by local spon­ through western Nebraska in 1917: adventure. Warren Belasco in Ameri­ sors, one-mile concrete sections were The road eventually got to be no more than a cans on the Road: From Autocamp to constructed in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, track. You wouldn't have considered it a highway Motel, referred to the early decade of and Nebraska. 14 On November 3, 1915, ... you just had to do like the pioneers - follow automobile travel- 1910 to 1920 - as Grand Island became the first Ne­ a trail." the "gypsy years," when motorists braska city to complete a seedling mile. Following the trail was not difficult pitched tents, carried camping equip­ As the association had hoped, other once the highway had been marked and ment, and slept outdoors.2o In 1915 cities soon followed. Kearney's seed­ guidebooks were available. But as Travel magazine ran a series which de­ ling mile was finished two weeks later. Anton Kracl, a ninety-nine-year-old scribed the Lincoln Highway from Instead of the recommended ten-foot man who owned a garage on the coast to coast. Writer Norman Fuessle width, it boasted pavement fifteen feet highway near Rogers, Nebraska, said, promised that travelers would find "a wide, located on Kearney's main the problem for early travelers was the superb, swift trail, gleaming before boulevard (renamed the "Lincoln road itself.18 In the spring of 1919 a them, the world's greatest open road." 176 Lincoln Highway in Nebraska

Part of the Lincoln Highway in Ne­ braska, 191 7. (NSHS-A939-5 7) .... (below) The Lincoln Highway in Ne­ braska. Map by Dell Darling.

He also claimed that camping could prove to be one of the "chief attrac­ tions" for travelers on the Lincoln Highway, then modified his statement. Camping equipment, cooking utensils, and water become necessary factors, once the touristleaves Omaha, for the remainder of the journey west. 21 However, travelers like Effie Gladding did not find that sleeping or even cook­ ing outdoors was required. But she seemed to have regretted that she had not "gypsied" across the country when she recommended: If I were crossing the Lincoln Highway again I should take with me a spirit lamp, a little sauce pan, some boxes of biscuits, some excellent tea, some cocoa and other supplies. Not that this is a necessity. But it would be very pleasant to have a luncheon or a cup of afternoon tea al fresco, now and then.» For those who chose not to camp, existing hotels in cities and larger towns along the route were the only accommodations. However, new ones soon developed, such as the "tourist home," a private residence in which rooms were rented to travelers. Other accommodations included the auto­ camp or tourist camp which soon developed into the cabin camp. In Ne­ braska alone, by about 1930 almost them because he and his parents lived able. The most direct route was parallel every town on a numbered highway in one from 1928 to 1929. "We were to the Union Pacific mainline, along the advertised at least one tourist or Depression people," he said, "[and] Platte River. Because of railroad cabin camp. that was the only place we could afford ownership of the corridor, in many Initially an area for pitching tents, to live ... we had no place else to go." places the original highway jogged these camps soon included a group or The Launers' temporary home along section lines, sometimes five or row of simple frame, one-room cabins. included a space for the car, some fur­ six miles north or south of the tracks, A tourist who stayed at one in the mid­ niture, and a stove. 24 then turned at right angles to continue 1920s at Lexington, described it by Although it had been an original goal along section lines. postcard: of the Lincoln Highway Association to The association's official history Dear Mother: This is a sample of the camping provide the most direct route across claimed that Nebraska had obtained grounds we find .... Only some places charge 50 the country, the road varied from state the longest realignment in the nation cents. We have traveled close to 150 miles so far today ... We are so dirty. It has been so warm and to state. In Nebraska, the original through an agreement with the Union dusty. The tiny black flies are as bad as the highway changed several times par­ Pacific in 1922. Credit was given to mosquitoes.2) ticularly in the western part of the Counsel William Whitmore of Valley In Ogallala there were at least four state, as railroad rights-of-way were who had influence with the Union cabin camps by the late 1920s. Ed leased or purchased, and as state and Pacific due to his stockyard opera­ Launer of North Platte remembers federal highway funds became avail­ tion.25 However, complete realignment 177 Nebraska History - Winter 1992

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From The Complete Official Road along the new route. An article in the buildings. Despite being anchored in Guide of the Lincoln Highway Blair Enterprise claimed that Omaha concrete, markers were often removed (1916) could no longer "hog" the Lincoln through road widening or theft. In N e­ Highway. "Come on, Omaha," another braska many were thrown in ditches article gloated, "ifyou are going to be a and buried, given away, relocated in was a gradual process that occurred suburb of Blair, do it gracefully."27 city parks, or used by farmers as extra county by county and required the con­ The Lincoln Highway was called the weight for disking fields. struction of completely new sections "Main Street ofthe Nation" by its early Central City, Nebraska, had been the of highway. promoters, butto farmers and ranchers first city to ratify the Lincoln Highway Walt Meier, former Nebraska along the route, it was simply the road Proclamation. Ironically, because of a Department of Roads engineer, stated to town. The highway was literally in constitution that prohibits excessive that the most significant road their front yard; farm families watched debt, construction of the highway had improvements in the state's history the traffic and had memorable encount­ been gradual and Nebraska had the occurred between 1932 and 1940. In ers with motorists. A farmer near distinction of being the state where the 1930 Meier drove across Nebraska on Cozad who lived near a mud hole was final section was paved. In early the Lincoln Highway, by then renamed suspected of "watering it" if it got too November 1935 over 3,000 people Route 30. He recalled that there were dry.28 gathered on Route 30 a few miles west still Lincoln Highway signs and Florene Betts, who was raised on a of North Platte. In reference to the markers in towns and in rural areas. In ranch in western Nebraska, recalled transcontinental railroad's Golden western Nebraska the road still meeting tourists while she herded cat­ Spike, a golden ribbon was cut, signify­ followed section lines and crossed and tle across the road: ing the completion of paving on U.S. recrossed the Union Pacific Railroad Many times as a child I moved 20 to 30 registered Route 30. A caravan along the highway tracks. 2o Herford !sic! cattle from one pasture to another included automobiles, covered wagons across the highway. My, that was a daring thing to The changes in the route with the do! ... Many times an eastern tourist would stop pulled by oxen, horse-drawn buggies, a greatest impact occurred when towns me to take a picture of the "first Indian" then go stagecoach, and a "plainsman" on happily off not realizing that they had made my were bypassed. Sometime in the mid­ day as I only wished I was an Indian. 29 horseback. President Franklin 1920s the route south of Big Springs, Roosevelt sent a telegram: Nebraska, and Julesburg, Colorado, Hilda Vasey, ninety years old, Completion of the last link of pavement on was abandoned. The greatest change remembers the concrete marker that United States Route 30 is an event ofsuch impor­ tance that I am happy to send my con­ occurred in 1930, when Omaha, Ne­ was placed at the edge of their farm on gratulations. The perilous trail of the pioneers is braska's largest city, was bypassed. At the highway near Cozad in the late at last transfonned ... into a coast-to-coast Blair, a small town on the Missouri 1920s. 30 As one of the last publicity highway.J2 River, the Abraham Lincoln Memorial efforts ofthe Lincoln Highway Associa­ The highway that began as a red line Bridge was completed in the summer of tion, Boy Scouts throughout the coun­ on paper was finished. An original goal 1930; unlike the Omaha bridge, it was try dug holes and placed the markers of the Lincoln Highway Association toll-free. on September I, 1928. 31 Although it was to provide the most direct route Omaha residents were outraged by had been renamed Route 30 two years across the country. In Nebraska, this the rerouting, or at least by the way it earlier in 1926, the concrete markers occurred in the 1970s when Interstate was conducted. In July 1930 during the were intended to be a permanent 80 was completed. 1-80 is a new route middle of the night, several crews of memorial to the highway. As guide that did not obliterate its predecessors; workers removed the Lincoln Highway posts, they were less visible than through most of the state it parallels signs from Omaha and placed them stripes painted on telephone poles or the Union Pacific mainline, Route 30, 178 Lincoln Highway in Nebraska

and the old Lincoln Highway. Today 'Keith County News·Ogallala Nov. 6, 1913. I7Romsdal interview. 6Lincoln Highway Association, The Lincoln 18Anton Kracl, interview by authors, Rogers, the adventurous and determined Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Nebr., Oct, 1, 1989. traveller can still find the old road; a Transportation History (New York: Dodd, Mead, 19Letter to Nebraska Governor Charles Bryan, few markers and other clues remain. A and Company), 92. July 21 , 1924. Files of Nebraska Department of 7Central City Nonpareil, Dec. 4, 1913. Roads, Lincoln. one-mile, brick-paved section near 8Nebraska had about twenty· five "name" 20Warren James Belasco, Americans on the Elkhorn was listed on the National highways in the early automobile age. For a par­ Road: From Autocamp to Motel, 1910-1945 tial list, with major towns along routes and dis­ (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979), 3-5. Register and protected by resolution of tinctive highway signs and markings, see "Newton A. Fuessle, "The Lincoln Highway­ the Douglas County Board.33 And on "Marking State Highways for Motorists," the A National Road," Travel 24 (Mar. 1915):30-32. October 31, 1992, the seventy-ninth May 26, 1982, "Out of Old Nebraska" newspaper 22 Gladding, Across the Continent, 260. column distributed to state newspapers by the 2JPostcard, ca. 1925, in David Anthone anniversary of the route's dedication, a Nebraska State Historical Society. collection. new Lincoln Highway Association was 9Effie Price Gladding, Across the Continent by 24Ed Launer, interview by authors, North formed to promote the highway the Lincoln Highway (New York: Bretanos, 1915), Platte, Nebr., Nov. 12, 1989. 11I. 2'Association, Story of a Crusade, 240. through a network of state and local IOSinclair Lewis, Free Air (London: Jonathan 26Walter Meier, interview by authors, Lincoln, representatives. Cape, 1924), 50. Nebr., Sept. 29, 1989. I'John Romsdal, interview by Carol Ahlgren, 27 The Enterprise (Blair), July 3, 24, 1930. Lincoln, Nebr., Sept. 24, 1989. 28 Roger Menke, interview by authors, Cozad, '20fficial Automobile Blue Book: Standard Nebr., Nov. 11, 1989. Touring Guide of America, vol. 4(Chicago: 29Florene Betts to authors, Hershey, Nebr., NOTES Automobile Blue Book Company, 1923), 236. Oct. 1, 1989. ICentral City Nonpareil, Oct. 9, 1913. IJGladding, Across the Continent, 195-96. JOHiida Vasey, interview by authors, Cozad, 2Ibid., Nov. 3, 1913. 14Lincoln Highway Association, The Co mplete Nebr., Nov. 10, 1989; Apr. 6, 1990. JIbid. Official Road Guide ofthe Lincoln Highway (Det­ JIAssociation, Story of a Crusade, 220-2I. 4William Gunn Whitmore, "Journals 1876­ roit: Lincoln Highway Association, 1916),39. J2North Platte Daily Telegram, Nov. 6, 1935. 1914," unpublished, William Gunn Whitmore I' Association, Story of a Crusade, 132-35. JJHistoric Places, The National Register for Papers, MS3742, State Archives, Nebraska State 16"Miscellaneous Data, Highway 30" (Lincoln: Nebraska," Nebraska History 70 (Spring Historical Society, Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska Department of Roads, 1935). 1989):37.

Lincoln Highway route from east to west through Sidney. (NSHS­ W724.1:2)

179