(Long!) Lincoln Highway Assoc. Meet (Ohio/Ind roadtrips)
Magyar
from alt.usenet.kooks and the various Bullis usenet groups.
While all of you were fending off "alleged pedophiles," I was up in Ft.
Wayne for the 11th annual Lincoln Highway Assoc. National Convention (and
couldn't read MTR, boo hoo :-).
I now know more about the Lincoln Highway in Indiana than I ever wanted to
know. :-)
I'll break this report into 5 sections:
Roadtrip 1 - C-bus to Ft. Wayne
Roadtrip 2 - Lincoln Highway, Ft. Wayne to Illinois border and back
Roadtrip 3 - Lincoln Highway, Ft. Wayne to Van Wert, Oh and back
Roadtrip 4 - Ft. Wayne to C-bus via Bowling Green
LHA presentations and other non roadtrip items.
Roadtrip 1 - Columbus to Ft. Wayne:
Northridge Rd W to Granden Rd S to Torrance Rd W to High St S to West North
Broadway W to Oh 315 S to Olentangy River Rd S to 5th Ave. W (30 minute stop
at Columbus Blues Alliance HQ) to US 33 N (or is it W) to US 68 S into
Bellefontaine then back N to US 33 N (or is it W) to I-75 N to Old US
30/Lincoln Hwy W to US 30 W to I-469 CCW to I-69 S to Ind 3 N to Washington
Cen. Rd E to Don Hall's Guesthouse.
Notes: Not only is ODOT placing 2 tenth markers on the interstates, but also
on "other" freeways. US 33 between I-270 and the Union/Franklin Co. Line
had these in it's median.
The control city for US 33 north/west, between US 36/Oh 4 (Marysville) and
US 68 (Bellefontaine) is Ft. Wayne. No mention of Ft. Wayne along US 33
between US 68 and I-75 however.
No mention of Campbell Hill (or directions to it) from US 33.
Stopped in Bellefontaine for gas and several pictures of Court St, which is
promoted as the "first concrete street in the US."
Also saw an Historical marker that was historic in it's own right, from
1930! (Which begs the question, when and who established the first
historical marker in our nation?)
While I'm at it, Downtown Bellefontaine does look very nice.
Found it interesting that Oh 47 WB is multiplexed with US 68, while EB Oh 47
has it's own street (or at least that's what it looked like to me from their
signage).
US 33 freeway ends just north of US 68. US 33 drops to 2 lanes past
Huntsville. However, grading and ROW for a divided highway continues till
just
short of Russells Point. (nothing of the sort between Indian Lake and I-75
however).
Someone please explain the purpose of Oh 366 around Indian Lake.
Heavy traffic along I-75 NB between US 33 and Oh 309. Seemed to settle down
between Lima and Beaverdam.
I know one of the reasons stated for the "Breezewood" type connection
between I-75 and US 30 is the RR tracks paralleling I-75 by there. However,
ODOT built part of an diamond interchange over those said tracks between
Lima and Beaverdam. If they could do that for some non-descript country
road, why not for a major(!) arterial for the state of Ohio?
Saw a roadsign for Old St. Rt 12 along the Lincoln (Old US 30) west of
Gomer.
"Found" an old roadside rest stop along the Lincoln (Old US 30) west of
Gomer (and west of the Old Oh 12 roadsign).
From the "We don't like our neighbors" file, Control city for US 30 west (on
those mileage BGSes) after Ft. Wayne is Chicago.
For those keeping score on the I-69/US 27/127 shuffle, Indiana has decided
to end US 27 on the northside of Ft. Wayne at I-69/US 30/Ind 3. There is an
End US 27 assembly there. However, unlike at the Toll Road interchange, the
BGSes at the north end of I-469 still have US 27 shields along with the I-69
shields.
---
Roadtrip 2 (LHA tour of the Lincoln Highways between Ft. Wayne and the
Illinois border)
US 33 N to Ind 5 N to County Rd W to Ind 13 S to US 33 N to US 20 W to Ind 2
W (actual E to Bendix Woods for a picnic lunch, then back W) to Ind 130 to
Joliet Rd W to US 30 W to Joliet Rd W to US 30 W to Dyer, then we turned
around and went back east following as much of the 1928 LH as possible, but
using US 30 when we had to.
Mike Weigler pointed out every old concrete, brick, and wood bridges that
he, Russell Rein, and Mike Buettner had found along the various routes of
the Lincoln Highway. Saw an old bridge north of Ft. Wayne (that I had
gotten pictures of twice in previous years), a Hitler St(!) in Kimmel, an
old brick
segment south of Ligonier, the historic(?) Radio Museum in Ligonier(yes
named
after same town in Pennsylvania, also along the LH), and the Goshen Police
Fort.
Our guides decided to skip the South Bend/Mishawaka/Elkhart
portion (lack of time was the cry).
Bendix Woods was originally the Studebaker Testing grounds, and on the east
edge, the trees are planted as to spell out Studebaker (check Terra Server
to see).
Had to give up traveling the original Lincoln Highway between Valparaiso and
Merrillville due to weight restriction on the road (our buses weighed 18
tons each, and the road limit was 7 tons)
Before we left the old road however, we saw some bridge abutments crossing
Deep River (there's a mill nearby) from an earlier version of the LH near
the Porter Co line.
Stopped (traffic) on the "Ideal Section" in Dyer at the Ostermann Bench.
Going back east, most of the named (Lincoln Highway) sections follow US 30.
Found out that the Yellowstone Trail didn't follow US 20 to an tee. Back
when the Lincoln took the northern route (US 33, 20, Ind 2), the Yellowstone
Trail folks routed their road near present day US 30 (one will still see an
occasional roadsign reading Yellowstone Trail near US 30 today).
The only 1928 LHA cement post in Indiana is in Warsaw.
Does Roger Clemens have any ties to Columbia City, Indiana? There is a
small placard mentioning him (or Sr.) there in the downtown.
Also for Indiana highway numerologists, Ind 2 used to go all the way to Ft.
Wayne (following the LH). But got truncated in South Bend after US 33 was
established in the late 30s
Trip from Ft Wayne to Dyer and back took 11 hrs!
---
Roadtrip 3 (LHA tour of Lincoln Hwy through Ft. Wayne to Van Wert, Ohio)
Goshen Rd S to Wells St S to Ewing St S to Jefferson Blvd E to Washington
Blvd E to Ind 930 E to Maumee Rd E back to Ind 930 E to Lincolnway E to
Green St S to Ind 930 E to US 30 E to Old Lincoln Highway E to US 30 E to
Lincoln Highway E into Van Wert. N on US 127 to US 30 W to I-469 CCW to I-69
N to Ind 8 E into Auburn, then S on Old US 27(?) to Washington Center Rd W.
Traveled the 1913 route of the Lincoln Highway through Ft. Wayne (where
possible. It followed Washington Blvd, but it's one way WB). Saw the
rebuilt 1913 (Wells St) and 1915 (Jefferson St) crossings over the St. Marys
River.
For those keeping score of Indiana Highways, Coliseum Blvd (former US 30 &
24, now Ind 930) was completed in 1946.
The Lincoln Highway doesn't follow Ind 930 perfectly through New Haven. It
makes a jog through there. Thus causing an erroneous sign along I-469.
Along I-469, an underpass (between US 30 & 24) is signed as Lincoln Way E.
While the sign and name is correct, the Lincoln Highway did not follow this
road east of New Haven (see directions above for proper coordinates).
We had a bus breakdown in from of New Haven's City Hall so we lost an hour
to travel about (so I ended up tailing Kevin Patrick and Brian Butko around
"downtown" New Haven).
Once east of I-469, we followed another old routing past Besancon (named
after a French town, I think I have a photo of that town on the website
already), Zulu, and Townley.
Once (back) into Ohio, we drove to Van Wert. We had pointed out to us where
the November tornado came across the western side of Van Wert (still plenty
of trees and buildings yet to be replaced), and saw some LH signage, the
"oldest county library (Brumback)" in the US, and a very magnificent
courthouse.
Traveled back to I-469 then went north to Auburn to visit the
Cord-Duesenburg and National Automobile and Truck Museums.
Coming back south we paralleled I-69, so it must of been the former routing
for US 27, but I saw no streetsigns to help verify this.
----
Roadtrip 4 - Ft. Wayne to Columbus:
Washington Center Rd W to Ind 3 S to I-69 S to Ind 930 E to I-469 N to US 24
E to US 6 E to Oh 25 S to I-75 S to Oh 15 E to US 23 S to I-270 CW to I-71 S
to Cooke Rd W to Indianola Ave (US 23) S to Northridge Rd W.
Purpose for this routing, pick up a couple more counties in Ohio.
There is enough industries and enough truck traffic to warrant a freeway, or
at least a divided highway for US 24 between Ft. Wayne and Toledo.
From the "We don't like our neighbors" file, part 2. Control City for US 6
west from Napoleon (Ohio): Chicago.
Noticed bridge work on Oh 25 between Portage and I-75. Is ODOT replacing,
rebuilding, reestablishing, or destroying two concrete arch bridges along
the way? These two bridges have concrete arches only on their eastside at
this time.
I find it funny that ODOT places the end sign for Oh 25 on the SB ramp to
I-75 (though not quite as bad as the end Oh 199 sign at the END of it's ramp
to SB US 23).
Are cities (in this case Findley) or the state (ODOT) responsible for the
correct signage of business loops (both interstate and federal)? (I won't
giveaway more at the risk of the eroded sign being replaced before someone
gets a photo of it)
ODOT maps have the US 30 Bucyrus-Upper Sandusky Connector being completed
before the end of this year. From what I saw at the west end (with US 23),
they will be hard pressed to complete that interchange before the end of the
year.
Speaking of those new roadmaps of Ohio. What is up with showing all these
proposed freeways (I-670, US 30, US 33 - Lancaster & Ravenwood come to mind)
as completed when they MIGHT be done by the end of the year? What ever
happened to the under construction or proposed designation? I don't think
I've seen that on an Ohio map in over 30 years.
I-270 has the blue two-tenth markers along it's median now (actually from
I-70 west to I-71 north from what I've seen).
---
Other Lincoln Highway Association Business:
Boy this is an old crowd! Seriously, who's all going to be left in the LHA
in 10-15 years beside Kitsko, Lin, and myself?
Carol Algred (of the National Park Service) and Kevin Patrick (Geography
prof. at IUP) gave a progress report on the
National Park Study of the Lincoln Highway. Kevin has a large database of
1,400 points of interest along the LH and was kind enough to give all of us
who attended his presentation a list of all the concrete posts still up
along the LH, and a spreadsheet showing a breakdown of "points of interests"
by means of type (highway, buildings, vistas) and by state. The park
service received over 900 comments concerning their alternatives about the
LH. The Park service is still on pace to release their report in October.
The Lincoln Highway Association has come to an agreement with the University
of Michigan for the U of M Libraries to be the "official archive" home for
the LHA (and no, I did not have a chance to veto this as an Ohio State
alumni :-). Actually the U of M already had a bunch of documents and photos
from the original LHA offices (which were in Detroit), in their possession,
so this made much sense. Furthermore, the folks at the U of M Libraries
have started much of their LHA material online!
Go to www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll, click on the LHA shield, and follow the
instructions from there.
The folks at Stackpole books like Brian Butko's work so much, they've now
asked him to do a Lincoln Highway book covering the entire route! If I
heard
him right, he has to send them a manuscript by Spring (2004).
Next year's LHA national meet will be in some casino in Chester W. Va (June
16-19) and will be Co-chaired by the Ohio and Pennsylvania LH groups.
Preliminary plans include going west to Canton and to have dinner at Stan
Hewitt Hall in Akron (Frank Seiberling's home), and to follow the 1913 LH
routing east to the Golden Triangle (and maybe all the way to the
Westinghouse Bridge).
Just be forewarned, this year's meet cost $550 per person (310 for hotel/240
for conference), and I've already heard Bob Lichty (Ohio LHA Director) state
that the Chester casino is going to cost more than here in Ft. Wayne (so
maybe $600 per person!).
And these guys (and gals) wonder why they always need money and young folk
don't come out.
P.S. If anyone in NW Indiana can find Peter Youngman, tell him the LHA
thanks him for nothing! Thanks for going AWOL with less than a year left
before your big show (the Indiana meet). You could of had the decency to
tell everyone you were stepping down and leave the pieces out for someone
else to put together. But we got along without you. </rant>
I think that covers everything. Otherwise shoot away with your questions
and comments.
Sandor G
Magyar
James Lin
so distracted by the trolls?
"Magyar" <roa...@copper.net> wrote in message news:3eec9e75_1@newsfeed...
> Other Lincoln Highway Association Business:
> Boy this is an old crowd! Seriously, who's all going to be left in
> the LHA in 10-15 years beside Kitsko, Lin, and myself?
Do tell. I think that's the biggest challenge the LHA will have in the next
10 years: keeping membership levels steady, let along rising.
> The Lincoln Highway Association has come to an agreement with the
> University of Michigan for the U of M Libraries to be the "official
> archive" home for the LHA (and no, I did not have a chance to veto
> this as an Ohio State alumni :-). Actually the U of M already had a
> bunch of documents and photos from the original LHA offices (which
> were in Detroit), in their possession, so this made much sense.
That's good. I'm glad the LHA will be reunited with its predecessor (in
paperwork, at least :) ).
> The folks at Stackpole books like Brian Butko's work so much, they've now
> asked him to do a Lincoln Highway book covering the entire route! If I
> heard him right, he has to send them a manuscript by Spring (2004).
Yup, he talks a little about it here:
http://www.brianbutko.com/lh.gr.html
He hopes to get it published in 2005.
BTW, did you hear anything about LHA maps? The California chapter has put
out some driving maps, and my personal goal is to get them up on the web for
free (we're selling the paper versions at cost anyway).
> Just be forewarned, this year's meet cost $550 per person (310 for
> hotel/240 for conference), and I've already heard Bob Lichty (Ohio LHA
> Director) state that the Chester casino is going to cost more than
> here in Ft. Wayne (so maybe $600 per person!).
>
> And these guys (and gals) wonder why they always need money and young folk
> don't come out.
Sigh. I could go to last year's only because it was in Sacramento (and I
found a much cheaper hotel just down the street, thanks to AAA :) ).
- Jim
--
James Lin
jl...@ugcs.caltech.edu
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~jlin/
Magyar
"James Lin" <jl...@ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote in message
news:bd3c8r$17ve$1...@agate.berkeley.edu...
> Geez, no one else in mtr is interested in the Lincoln Highway? Or are they
> so distracted by the trolls?
And here I thought it was just because of me. :-)
> "Magyar" <roa...@copper.net> wrote in message news:3eec9e75_1@newsfeed...
> BTW, did you hear anything about LHA maps? The California chapter has put
> out some driving maps, and my personal goal is to get them up on the web
for
> free (we're selling the paper versions at cost anyway).
The only mention of maps this year were by Kevin Patrick, in reference to
his LH database in conjunction with the NPS study, and the minutes of last
year's meeting. I didn't think about attending any of the director meetings
(don't know if I even could), so I don't know if they talked about your
cartography project or not.
> > Just be forewarned, this year's meet cost $550 per person (310 for
> > hotel/240 for conference), and I've already heard Bob Lichty (Ohio LHA
> > Director) state that the Chester casino is going to cost more than
> > here in Ft. Wayne (so maybe $600 per person!).
> >
> > And these guys (and gals) wonder why they always need money and young
folk
> > don't come out.
>
> Sigh. I could go to last year's only because it was in Sacramento (and I
> found a much cheaper hotel just down the street, thanks to AAA :) ).
Well, I'm glad someone else shares some of my concerns about the LHA. :-)
> - Jim
> --
> James Lin
> jl...@ugcs.caltech.edu
>
> http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~jlin/
Sandor G