Brick Road

Bricks, bricks and more bricks! Exploring Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska

June 27, 2013 by Cece

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” –Jack Kerouac

With the nearing centennial celebration coming up this weekend in central Nebraska, the highway came to life on a whole other level as soon as I crossed the border. From billboard signs to little Lincoln highway signs taped to telephone poles, the whole state is “Thinkin’ Lincoln” and rightfully so. This past weekend, hundreds of cars of varying ages, makes, and models left both San Francisco and New York City and are heading this way right now. While I’ve certainly longed for this weekend and to see my fellow LHA Members for the conference next week (it will be amazing on so many levels), I have to admit it’s been a little weird to see the metaphorical “wrinkles smoothed over” of the towns I’ve been going through in the last couple days. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see all of the changes and celebrate the highway, but I also wonder what the towns look like when there are no celebrations going on. Are there many Lincoln Highway signs up, or would one get lost trying to find everything? It’s something to think about.

The photos in today’s post are from Scranton, Iowa all the way to Central City, Nebraska. Landscapes start to change from corn fields to rolling hills. The city of Omaha breaks up the highway’s routine of being sleepy and quaint. You drive parallel to a major train route, and you see trains coming and going constantly. Traffic is busier than you would think as it’s still a major thoroughfare for the area. Roads are narrower (with minimal to no shoulder) to keep their historic integrity in some parts, which makes it tricky to drive when it’s super windy as I experienced. You’ll see a TON of brick roads that have been preserved by various communities that I passed through, and it’s interesting to see how different the bricks look in each place. My favorite finds below are the following (and you’ll see pictures of all of this below):

1) The Village of Boys Town – This place is a must stop for you if you take the original route. They do amazing work, and there are several places that visitors can tour. It’s an important part of the highway’s history (as well as US history) that I fear may be overlooked at times.

2) Elkhorn Brick Road Stretch: You’ll find this west of Boys Town. 3.5 miles of a perfectly preserved brick road including signs, markers, and bridges.

3) The “Avenus of Trees” in Duncan: In the heart of Duncan you’ll see two rows of trees which used to flank the original route.

4) Gardiner Station Section: This can be found in between Duncan and Silver Creek, and here you’ll see an iron truss bridge with a wooden plank floor in amazing condition.

New GPS using world, meet the Old Brick stretch of the highway.

These two Lincoln Busts (fully restored) now look over the corner of the LH in Scranton.

I was struck by this part of the road, and had to pull over to photograph it.

My pictures from Woodbine somehow all ended up being taken in Black and White. Here’s one of them.

This stretch of the Lincoln in downtown Woodbine is fully bricked, and it’s about a mile and a half in total.

Detail of Woodbine bricks. This photo I changed from B&W picture to a more Sepia/Antique finish.

At the intersection of Dodge and Saddle Creek Roads in Omaha, you can see this billboard. Sutter’s Creek Mill is right there, and is one of the oldest buildings on the route.

Here’s a picture of Saddle Creek Bridge, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Located right off the original route, Boys Town has been changing the lives of children for almost 100 years. This original sign now hangs in the Visitors Center.

This is the biggest ball of stamps, which is also in the Boys Town Visitors Center. Read the next Photo to get the details.

This Sign was used in the movie “Boys Town”, which starred Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy.

Spencer Tracy won the Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan in the movie Boys Town, and he gave it to Father Flanagan. There are two inscriptions on the base showing both Tracy’s official inscription, and the one he added for Fr. Flanagan. It’s my first time I’ve ever seen an Oscar in person, and it was truly a sight to behold.

From 1928-1938, Fr. Flanagan and some talented boys toured around in the area giving performances. As time went on their popularity grew, so much so they started to tour nationally, and then were given a weekly radio show.

Here’s a detail of this reproduced trailer. Again, I love taking pictures of the old sheet music!

Just outside of Elkhorn, NE is one of the longest (if not the longest) preserved brick stretch of the highway. It’s about 3.5 miles in total and has several LH markers along the route. There’s A huge plaque in the middle of the stretch, but it was covered in a tarp. I’m guessing it will be unveiled when the car tour comes through. Can someone please send me a photo of this plaque?

Old LH Pole marker that has been repainted along the route.

Detail of this brick again, but this time showing what the curb looked like.

Here’s what the Lincoln Highway signs look like in Nebraska. They do continue on the route from what I’ve seen so far, but are not seem as regularly as in other states.

This Truss Bridge has been reconstructed as well along the route.

Again, more picturesque brick sections that I had to photograph. So beautiful.

Found this folk art right after I was finished driving the brick section in Elkhorn. Everyone’s thinkin’ Lincoln!

Here’s a brick stretch in Fremont, NE, the next town after Elkhorn. Note it’s a little different than the Elkhorn stretch.

This 1921 Statue of Lincoln was made and placed by the Mullins company, and was made by the same people who made the statue in Wilkinsburg, PA (see my Pittsburgh post for that picture).

This Mural of Columbus commemorates the town’s Sesquicentennial (1856 – 2006). It notes pivotal historic points for the town, including Buffalo Bill’s debut in the Wild West Show here, as well the Columbus arch which welcomed Lincoln Highway travelers in the 1940s and 1950s.

I don’t know much about the Columbus theatre, but I do know it was built in 1926 in the art deco style and is on the historic register. If anyone else has any other stories about this theatre let me know!

Built in 1920, the Gottberg building used to assemble and sell Fords. Today it is a restaurant and brewpub, which makes great batches of homemade root beer.

This Lincoln Highway Garage in Columbus was built in 1915, and is part of the Lincoln Highway Garage Associations (along with many others).

Built in 1876, Glur’s Tavern is supposedly the oldest continuously operated tavern west of the Missouri River.

This is the first time I’ve seen this sign on this tour. I know it’s meant for the car tour that’s coming up behind me, but it’s still nice to feel a part of it.

The “Avenue of Trees” is located in midtown Duncan, NE just east of Columbus. These rows of trees show where the original highway used to go.

While walking the Avenue of Trees, I cam upon these flowers growing where the road used to be.

Just outside of Duncan look for the “Historical Landmark” sign and follow it. There you’ll find the 2 mile Gardiner Station section of the original highway as well as this iron truss bridge with a wooden plank floor. This bridge is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

View of the bridge from the road. This bridge can hold a maximum weight of 8 tons, but I still felt nervous driving it as you can imagine.

Next down the road from Duncan is Clarks, and this is the first of two murals in the town.

There were more bricks in Clarks! As you can see, they were laid in a different pattern at this intersection. The bricks were laid this way to prevent them from “stacking” as iron wagon wheels would turn corners in the early 1900s.

Here’s the 2nd Mural you can find in Clarks.

I thought this sign was an interesting commentary.

A toad hopped out to say hello while I was photographing in Clarks. My first toad I met on this tour was named “Frank” in Hanna’s town in Pennsylvania, maybe this is Frank’s western cousin?

Biggest welcome sign ever. Central City has an interesting past when it comes to the highway. In the 1916 guidebook (as well as one of the songs I perform on tour) there’s a special warning in the margins noting that Lincoln Highway markers were removed by the “Local antagonistic influence”.

The next week will be crazy for me blogging-wise as I have performances in several places over the next 8 days including: Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte, and Sutherland Nebraska. I will post in real time when I can on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, so if you want to check in to see how things are going until the next blog post you can visit me there. Until then everyone, safe travels wherever you may and have a Happy 4th of July weekend!

Summary of Eastern Iowa Highlights (Including a Special Trip to Belle Plaine)

June 19, 2013 by Cece

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!

Here’s what both the modern and old Iowa Lincoln Highway Signs looks like.

I’m guessing Lincoln Highway travelers encountered high water like this along the road 100 years ago, but unlike me they didn’t have another route to follow!

Located in Mt Vernon, this is an abandoned stretch of brick road.

Here’s a section of the Mt. Vernon Brick section that has some special details about it.

This abandoned stretch of the Lincoln has a beautiful example of what early an concrete road looks like.

Here’s some detail of the concrete in the abandoned stretch.

Here’s the sign for the Seedling Mile in this part of Iowa which is East of Cedar Rapids.

You can see the change in the pavement in this photo from the original seedling mile pavement to the regular road asphalt that we use today.

This banner on Dick’s barn will greet all of the drivers from a few car tours this summer.

Dick showed me this old picture of what the tourist camp would have looked like along the original route back in the 1920s.

The Lincoln Cafe is another great old stop along the Lincoln, and they’ve got great food.

The Henry Tippie Annex is a great new exhibit in the museum. A prominent businessman, you can see his top ten rules for life.

Some great old sheet music on a piano in the music room of the museum.

Belle Plaine’s piano player reel collection is huge. They have about 200 rolls of music that can still be heard on their player pianos.

This is one of the most beautiful chandeliers I’ve ever seen. On display at the Belle Plaine Museum, this Egerman glass chandelier is a wonderful example of what was the Czech people created with glass in the 1920s. My blue necklace is also made of Czech glass from this period.

Here’s some cool old hotel signs from the Herring Hotel. We’ll see some of the building in later shots.

The Sankot Garage has been a fixture of the Lincoln Highway and Belle Plaine since the 1920s.

Here’s the Neon Sign outside the garage.

Interior shot of the Sankot Garage. Had my father been alive to see this place, I’m guessing he never would have left there! I’ve never seen so many different car parts.

Here’s another view of the front room in the Sankot Garage.

Detail of the Sankot front room’s floor.

Old Clock in the Sankot Garage, which Bill roughly dated to the 40s.

This is an old Edison Trickle Charger. This was used to charge old car batteries.

Here’s a picture of the Model A that Bill is currently restoring. They fired it up, and it runs great!

From Left to Right: Bill Sankot, Me, and John “Dick” Schild

Dick drove me in/around Belle Plaine so I could see some of the original gravel roads of the LH. Here’s the view from the car.

The Herring Hotel was an operating hotel in the heydays of the highway in Belle Plaine. It’s currently under renovation, and hopefully will be restored to its glory.

Dick can around the corner to talk to the owner to see if we could get in so I could take some photos of the area. While I was waiting I took this detail of the original floor.

A few pieces of the hotels’ original ceiling still appear.

Preston’s Garage in Belle Plaine is an important fixture of the highway. It originally was a working gas station on the original route, but when the route was moved in the 20s, the building was pulled by a horse team to the location where it is today.

Anyone who loves old signs will love stopping to view this place.

The Youngville Cafe is one of those place that you wish was open all of time. Open for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoons, as well as on Fridays for pie and the Farmer’s Market. This early 1930s cafe has been restored beautifully from top to bottom, and is run only by volunteers.

View of the Lincoln Highway from inside the Youngville Cafe.

LOVE this sign, and want it in my kitchen!

Listed on the National Historic Register, Tama’s Lincoln Highway Bridge was built in 1915.

There’s more posts about Iowa after this one, so subscribe to read more!

Sightseeing in Eastern Ohio with My Lincoln Highway

May 25, 2013 by Cece

I have to admit, while it’s fun to explore these places by myself it’s good to have company with you from time to time. And that’s where Jamie from My Lincoln Highway comes in. She walks and photographs sections of the highway in detail, and I’m happy to say I parked the car and walked with her through some beautiful sections of the highway in Eastern Ohio.

Jamie and I spent a Saturday following the Lincoln from Hanoverton to Massillon Ohio, and then also the following Tuesday going from Massillon to Wooster. Again, I won’t duplicate what Jamie wrote in this post, this other post, as well as anything I wrote about when I visited Canton last year for the 2012 LHA conference (to read that post click here).

Here’s my top 5 highlights of the area in words (you can read more in detail in the photo gallery below):

1) First off, I loved walking around Hanoverton. I’ve never been to colonial Williamsburg, but I can imagine Hanoverton being very similar. The Spread Eagle Tavern is definitely a neat place to walk around itself, every room has its own history. If you are watching your budget while traveling, I recommend going for lunch in lieu of dinner. The food is just as good, and you’ll save a few pennies.

2) The McKinley Memorial is a lovely tribute to our 25th president. He wasn’t discussed much during my history classes growing up, so I learned a lot about his life and presidency. Plus, you can get your exercise in running up and down all those stairs!

3) The Massillon Museum has some great collections in it, plus there’s another Lincoln Highway marker right out of front of it. There will be a Lincoln Highway exhibit coming soon, plus you should go try to find both “Oscar” and “Harvey”. Free admission.

4) Downtown Wooster is slowly being revitalized, and there’s some great shops and antique stores that are fun to browse in. The Wayne County Courthouse is neat architectural find along the route; I’ve not seen a building of its type and condition yet.

5) Last but not least, any roads made out of brick. I know it may seem funny to you, but sometimes we have to look at what’s underneath our feet to appreciate our history. There’s some beautiful old red brick stretches of the highway along the route, and nothing transport you back in time faster than hearing your tires rumble as you drive slowly along the road. There are a few stretches of brick road along this route, and you can find where they are on Lincoln Highway Association’s Map: http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/map/ (make sure the “Points of Interest” box is clicked on the right hand side, and zoom in).

FYI – I’m finding it easier as time goes on to upload photo galleries with all of my images below; it not only means those photos will be easier for you to see, but it’s a quicker turnaround (internet access/time permitting) for me to get updates to you as well. Comment away if you think this format is not working for you all, and I’ll adjust.

Beautiful stretch of red brick road just outside of Minvera, Ohio.

This the sign that hangs outside of the Spread Eagle Tavern, waiting to greet you.

When we were in town for lunch, there were also dozens of Mennonites there eating lunch and touring the city on a separate tour.

View of the Chandelier in the Rathskellar of the tavern

Several rooms that we toured all had fireplaces, and each fireplace had its own mosaic of tiles around it. I think this one is my favorite.

Brick sidewalk in Hanoverton, which has warped and changed over the years due to the tree roots growing under it.

An old building in downtown Canton on the highway.

I was not able to go to the McKinley Memorial when I was in Canton last year, so I had to go this year. It was absolutely stunning. Definitely worth a stop – it’s not that far from the Lincoln Highway at all.

View from the top of the stairs of the Memorial.

Jamie from My Lincoln Highway says “Hi”!

This memorial done by the Lincoln Highway Association in 1949 can be found at the base of the McKinley Memorial.

This 1907-1908 Jewel Automobile in its day would have cost you around $800. This is on display at the Massillon museum which is located right on the highway.

This mural can be found in Massillon right off the highway as well. It depicts the Ohio and Erie Canals.

This stretch of Red Brick is right outside of Wooster, and was originally part of the highway.

I’ve never seen edging of brick like this before, plus it’s interesting to note the two brick patterns.

The beautiful Faber building, which is in downtown Wooster.

The Wayne County Courthouse is also another great example of what you’ll see when you walk in downtown Wooster.

Up next, I’ll be dedicating a post to my performance in the Hayesville Opera house. Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend everyone!