Route 66 ranks high in American lore, known as the Mother Road. Yet, there are other roads, just as scenic that can provide a similar, almost incomparable experience. One of them is the Lincoln Highway (part of today’s US Route 30), the first paved intercontinental road in the U.S.
Author Michael Wallis, in his book, The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Time Square to the Golden Gate calls it, "The Father Road,” adding, "That's exactly what it is...it’s the first road to stretch literally from sea to sea - the Father Road."
Started in 1913, the Lincoln Highway eventually spanned over 3,000 miles from Times Square in New York to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The road originally traversed 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. Early on, a section through Colorado was removed and realignment took the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia still traveling 13 states but with an altered path.
The road was the brainchild of Carl Fisher, an early maker of automobile headlamps and one of the principal investors in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fisher believed the success of the automobile depended on a network of good roads. At the time, because there was little to no federal funding for road projects, the highway was initially financed by private contributions and state government funds. Fisher rallied the day’s movers and shakers to help finance the project. Contributors included Thomas Edison, former president Theodore Roosevelt and then-president Woodrow Wilson. Ironically, Henry Ford declined to assist.
In the era where roads were given names, many monikers for the Route were considered. The president of Packard Motor Company, Henry B. Joy championed the idea of naming the road as a memorial to former President Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln Highway Association was formed in 1913 for the purposes of publicizing the project, raising funds, and determining the route. In July of that year, a “Trail-Blazer” tour set with a convoy of 19 vehicles to help lay out the route.
3,000 mile markers like this one in Nevada were originally laid by the Boy Scouts in the 1920s. Many survive and can be seen along the route. [Photo/Wikimedia Commons
Those with a bit of familiarity with the Lincoln Highway often associate it with U.S. Route 30. Yet, if you want to travel original segments of the Route, be aware that the actual path of the Lincoln Highway is found on old alignments such as old U.S. 30 and can include other state or county roads. Some segments of U.S. 30 still carry the Lincoln Highway name; in other locations, you might find "Lincoln Way" marking the route.
I spoke with Olga A. Herbert, Executive Director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in Central Pennsylvania, on the original portions in her area. The 200-mile stretch of the historic Lincoln Highway that was designated a PA Heritage Area is the part that is more reminiscent of what the original Lincoln Highway was probably like – two-lane road with many ups, downs, and gentle to sharp curves.
In order to help visitors follow the actual route in her area, she explained, “We began with having 150 very distinctive Lincoln Highway signs designed, fabricated and installed along the route.” They then built the Lincoln Highway Roadside Museum that spans the length of that corridor. “It’s a combination of 12 murals, 65 interpretive exhibits, 22 replica 1940s gas pumps and 4 'Picture Yourself' exhibits,” according to Herbert.
The best source for following the actual path of the Road is the Lincoln Highway Association website, which has interactive maps and information regarding which roads to follow.
In the east, the journey begins in Times Square at 42nd Street. Traveling westward, the trip is rather web-like out of New York and through New Jersey until the route starts following portions of U.S. Route 1 (another historic highway). It eventually joins up with U.S. Route 30 in Philadelphia. The route roughly follows U.S. 30 through Pennsylvania, crossing a corner of West Virginia, and continues into Ohio.
In Ohio and more so in eastern Indiana, U.S. Route 30 has evolved into virtually an interstate that has bypassed many of the small towns through which the Lincoln Highway originally ran. Pay attention to the map and follow the old alignments for the real experience. Near the small town of Beaverdam in western Ohio, the Lincoln Highway crosses another historic route, the Dixie Highway, as it continues its path towards Indiana. The path continues to follow route 30 through Indiana and Illinois. In Joliet, the Lincoln Highway crosses famed Route 66. The Route 30 trajectory continues through Iowa and Nebraska.
At the northeast corner of Colorado, you can experience the “Colorado Divide”, following either the northern route that continues along Route 30 or the southern loop that follows a series of roads roughly paralleling I-76. Both routes re-converge near Laramie, Wyoming where the route resumes following Route 30 and then departs to follow I-80. Follow I-80 until just east of Salt Lake City where alignments divide again, and you can either travel a northern route paralleling I-84 or a southern loop still following I-80.
A tangled set of alignments takes you westward out of Utah and into Nevada where you eventually pick up US-Route 50 (known as the Loneliest Road). In California, the northern route follows I-80 while a southern route running south of Lake Tahoe continues to follow U.S. 50. Both alignments converge in Sacramento and continue to roughly follow the path of I-80 into San Francisco.
What to See Along the Lincoln Highway
From coast to coast you’ll find old motels, huge roadside advertising “giants” (statues that once promoted everything from muffler shops to carpet stores), diners, and drive-ins of both the food and movie variety.
While every state has photograph-worthy roadside artifacts, Pennsylvania has an overabundance. Ms. Herbert notes that her corridor includes, “The 1927 Coffee Pot structure in Bedford.” That structure has graced several road trip-themed book covers. There was also the S. S. Grandview Ship Hotel.” That was, perhaps, one of the most famous roadside icons of all time; sadly, it was lost to a fire in 2001.
Along the way, you can spot a few of the 3,000 mile markers laid by Boy Scout troops across all 13 states in 1928. There are original brick-paved stretches in Ohio and Nebraska and near the entrance of the Malta Cemetery on Illinois 38, you’ll find a remaining concrete section of “Seedling Mile” laid by Fisher and other backers of the Lincoln Highway to promote the project. There are other seedling segments in Iowa and Nebraska.
If you are a western history lover, Nebraska, offers a stop at the Pony Express station in Gothenburg. Western history calls again in Utah where portions of the Lincoln Highway follow the path of the Mormon Trail.
If you follow the northern route in Nevada through West Wendover, take a photo opp with Wendover Will, a 63-foot cowboy sign that still lights the night sky. In California, the northern route near Truckee traverses the infamous Donner Pass, named for the ill-fated Donner Party that attempted to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the winter of 1846 and nearly died of starvation.
My last suggestion is a 250-mile yard sale, known as the Lincoln Buyway, that runs through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa during the first weekend in August. You will never find a yard sale like this one.