History | An American Songline

There’s a bunch of pictures in this post, so I won’t write much here. What I will say was I had a wonderful time a being a part of Jefferson’s Bell Tower Festival. I performed both at the opening ceremony on Friday night, as well as a regular performance on Saturday afternoon. Another first for this tour was that I performed as part of a church service on Sunday in Grand Junction, Iowa. The minister said a few words, and then let me perform!

I also got a chance to hang out with a lot of great Iowa Lincoln Highway Association folks during this time, including Bob and Joyce Ausberger, Bob and Janet Owens, Dean and Jeannie Parr, John Fitzsimmons and many more! One beautiful day after the festival was done, the two Bob’s and Joyce took me on a driving tour of Greene and Boone Counties, and I learned more about bridges in one day than I had in my lifetime.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but if anyone has any questions about the pictures feel free to ask in the comments below. Thanks!

This statue of Lincoln is right next to the courthouse in Jefferson and he faces the highway. An excerpt from his 2nd inaugural address is inscribed below.

The Jefferson Bell Tower is a Carillon Tower that has an observation deck in which you can view the whole city and a couple nearby towns.

The Jefferson County courthouse is truly one of the most beautiful courthouses I’ve ever been in. What a lovely ceiling!

I was honored to be a part of the Jefferson Bell Tower Opening Ceremonies. Thanks again to Bob and Joyce Ausberger for setting everything up!

Hanging out with some LHA folks after performing for the Opening Ceremonies of the Bell Tower Festival.

I was so happy to have my Mom drive down from Minnesota for the Bell Tower Festival, it was great to have her there. Thanks also to our family friend Leann for coming down and taking this picture as well!

Here’s me in the parade! The car is a 1929 Model A.

Here’s a picture of me and Marty, my accompanist for the Jefferson and Grand Junction performances.

Here’s what the museum looks like from the outside.

Here’s another view of the Grand Junction museum.

A great banner done by local artist John Fitzsimmons. You’ll read more about him later.

This Haynes-Apperson car was built in 1902, and is the 1st car ever owned in Boone county, and the 10th car ever owned in the state of Iowa.

Here’s the back of the Haynes-Apperson Car.

It really is the 10th car owned in the state, and here’s the plate to prove it!

Me with Terry, the Mayor of Grand Junction.

This 1914 newspaper was found when they were renovating the museum in Grand Junction. Definitely click on this photo so you can see all of the detail in the paper.

These recreated Burma Shave ads from the heydays of the highway can bee see randomly all over the state. They all are pretty funny too!

This table at the Lincoln Highway museum in Grand Junction has a table that has been covered and lacquered in old matchbook covers. Pretty neat!

Here’s a detail picture of that cool table.

The Eureka arch bridge was built in 1912 and has five large arches spanning the Raccoon River just west of Jefferson Iowa.

The Hillcrest Motel was opened just outside of Jefferson in the in 50’s. When the route was re-routed a few years later, it fell into ruin quickly. There is discussion to restore it back to its original glory and make it a historic site.

The Lincoln Highway has several incarnations as you all know. There were several places in Greene County like this where it went through a person’s property long ago, and then was re-routed. This farm outside of Jefferson has the original route running on their property, and you can see it here between the trees.

Old motel sign just outside of Grand Junction.

Want to know how the Lincoln Highway is spelled in Chinese Characters? This gas station in Grand Junction has it listed on their station.

This Lion’s Club Tree Park and Lincoln Highway Interpretive site is right outside of Grand Junction. It is is located at the point where the Lincoln Highway splits from the newer US 30 and where four bridges cross West Beaver Creek.

The Lincoln Highway wasn’t the only auto trail that was created in the early 20th century, and you can see what their logos/signs looked like here.

The Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge is located just outside of Beaver, Iowa on the original Lincoln Highway Route. This bridge was one of the earliest bridges of this type, and it was built in the 1910s.

Bob and Joyce posing with two of the bridges that started it all. In the background you have the 1915 bridge, and in the left foreground you can see the 1920s bridge.

Before signs, the routes were painted on telephone poles. This is a faded Lincoln Highway post from that time.

This is the Little Beaver Creek Lincoln Highway Bridge. Note the “L” on the sides of the bridge.

Here’s a full view of the Lincoln Highway Bridge

I saw the leaning shed with the prairie, and thought this image had to be immortalized.

Another Bridge built over the railroad tracks near the Dragoon Trail. Look at that blue sky!

We got lucky when a train passed by I was photographing the bridge!

The Kate Shelley High Bridge (built 1889-1901) is among the highest double-track railroad bridges in the United States. This is the first bridge to be named after a woman in the US, and rightfully so – she risked her life by crossing a railroad bridge to save passengers from a train that had been derailed by flood waters.

View of the original bridge from under the tracks.

You can see the old and new bridge together in this shot.

The Wagon Wheel Bridge was built in 1909, and is one of the few remaining large-scale wagon trusses in Iowa.

John Fitzsimmons is an artist who lives just outside of Boone, IA. He not only does some great artwork about the highway, he also is trying to recreate an old ghost town on his property. Here’s the Miner’s Inn.

This is a picture of John’s barn on the property.

Here’s the happy couple celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary.

Here’s Bob and Janet Owens, some other great members of the Iowa Chapter. They have been married for 63 years.

This is an excerpt from a 1953 A&W menu. Even back then they had veggie burgers!

Me posing with Bob Owen’s LH Marker in his front yard.

The modern Lincoln Highway Association had its rebirth in Iowa, and for good reason – many of the historic roads and places on the route are still unchanged and/or in use today. Agriculture is still the prominent industry along the route as it would haven been across the nation a century ago. The road has been categorized as a “Heritage Byway” by the state, and the signage here is excellent. You even have the options to take special loop sections along the original gravel routes to really get the old experience of what the route would have been like long ago.

My travels in Iowa thus far on the original route have been tricky. Due to the excessive rain in the state, many low-lying areas and rivers have flooded, and this includes some of the original gravel stretches in Eastern Iowa. Now normally I wouldn’t balk at a little water on the road, but when it has a current running through it, I didn’t want to take the chance. Between the Iowa mud (known as “gumbo”) and the rain travelers faced on the Lincoln Highway 100 years ago, I can see why many travelers turned back at this point.

Before I left Illinois, I received an unexpected but very cool phone call. A 94 year old man by the name of John Schild (known as “Dick” by most), heard of what I was doing. He then asked if we were related, as he had a cousin with the last name of “Otto”. I told him I wasn’t sure, but between us being possibly related, what I was doing for my project, and just exchanging general pleasantries, I had an invitation to visit and tour Belle Plaine, Iowa with John who had spent his whole life in town watching the Lincoln Highway grow and change before his eyes.

I spent about whole day touring the whole city with him, plus I had the pleasure of also having lunch at the Lincoln Cafe and afternoon conversation with him and Bill Sankot, the owner of the Sankot Garage, a place that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The intermittent rain that day facilitated some of the deepest conversations I’ve had on this tour thus far. Back in the heydays of the highway, men would gather at the garage to talk about the news of the day. This particular gloomy Wednesday in June, a 94 year old (Dick), a 60 something year old (Bill), and a 30 something year old (me) sat in the same garage and talked for hours about any and every topic you can think of in society. What did I (Cece) think of the country’s future? Are computers really the downfall of human society? If you could have one modern thing to take back with you a 100 years ago, what would it be? Take these questions and sprinkle in fun stories and anecdotes from our lives (including a few famous people), and you have an amazing, living aural history right in front of you. By the time my day had come to a close my brain was swimming with so much information, I was relieved I had recorded about 80% of our conversations that day.

Before you check out all of the cool photos in the picture gallery below, here’s a couple websites that give more information about the pictures below.

1) Belle Plaine Museum: This museum is quite a find for the area, and has several wonderful collections. A must stop for any Lincoln Highway buff.

2) Youngville Café: Built in 1931, this was a fully functioning gas station, café, and small cabin court along the highway until the late 1960’s. It too is also on the National Register of Historic Places, and now is open a couple days a week for lunch.

And now onto the gallery!