One hundred and fifty years ago this month, in June 1845, some of our ancestors first met to establish the Illinois Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association. Those forefathers (and a couple of foremothers) had great vision, and quickly realized that neither the automobile nor the Lincoln Highway would be created for decades. Time and events have finally caught up. We can now proudly celebrate the first issue of what a few people will call "The Re-occurring Deadline", but most will call "The Land of Lincolnway - The Newsletter of the Illinois Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association".

This newsletter should arrive in your homes in time (just) to provide a final reminder of the Lincoln Highway Association's 1995 Annual Convention, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, 14-18 June. (For those loyal Illinois citizens who wonder, we will have our chance to host a national convention in a few short years.)

The National Conference will take place at the historic Hitching Post Inn & Lincoln Court, on Cheyenne's stretch of the Lincoln Highway. In addition to a full complement of receptions, gala dinners and papers/presentations, the National Conference features two separate bus tours, exploring the Lincoln Highway east and west of Cheyenne. Would you like to attend the Conference but you haven't yet made reservations? Yours Truly suggests that you do three things: first, promise yourself to make a better effort in the future to organize your life and priorities; second, call the Hitching Post for a room reservation (1-800-221-0125); and third, show up begging to register at the door of the conference. If the place is filled, you can sit on the lap of ... Yours Truly.

Ruth Frantz (or, as she is known in some circles, "Ruth and Clare Frantz") kindly agreed to share some of her thoughts for this inaugural newsletter. Most pollsters predict that Ruth will be elected the Illinois director on LHA's national board of directors (she is running unopposed), and she has been serving as president pro tem of the steering committee for the Illinois chapter. Ruth had this to say:

In the (admittedly biased) opinion of Yours Truly, we owe a hearty round of applause to Ruth (and Clare) Frantz, together with Sue (and Carl) Jacobson, and other members of the Sugar Grove/Aurora cabal, for the absolutely outstanding job they have done in organizing our Chapter.

Lincoln Highway-Illinois began to take form during last year's National Conference in Ames, Iowa. One evening, an informal "friends of Lincoln Highway-Illinois" sat together over dinner, to share our interest in an Illinois chapter. That group included Clare and Ruth Frantz (Sugar Grove), Carl and Sue Jacobson (Aurora), Marvin Wolfe (Downers Grove), Bob Lumsden (Champaign), David and Jean Babb (Belvidere), Joann and Leroy Jackson (Waukegan), Tom Conway (Iowa City, IA), Everett and Elsie Kraft (Dixon), Robert Haggenjos (West Chicago), Carl and Connie Hilchen (Crete), Harold and Helen Smith (Fulton), Edwin and Bernice Briggs (Moline), Robert McGonigal (Milwaukee, WI), Drake Hokanson (Sheboygan, WI), and Yours Truly. (Notice my pathetic efforts to rub shoulders with the Great One?)

Approximately 50 people met in DeKalb on 5 November 1994, to travel by bus from the DeKalb Post Office 6.2 miles west. At that spot, the first Lincoln Highway seedling mile was completed in November 1914. Ruth Frantz narrated the trip and pointed out places of interest along the drive. Kishwaukee College is on the seedling mile, hence their interest and involvement in marking the historical area. Due to the inclement weather [I think that means it was raining -- Yours Truly], the ground breaking ceremonies were held indoors, with the placement of a marker to be erected at a future date designating the area of the seedling mile. There was a reception provided by the president of Kishwaukee College (Norman Jenkins) and Leon Williams of Phi Theta Kappa (a national honorary society from Kishwaukee College). Leon and members of PTK provided research on this segment of the Lincoln Highway. The historical marker is to be located on the southwest corner of Kishwaukee's property. Malta historians Phylis Kyler and Ivan Prall also helped with the project.

On the return trip to DeKalb, the group had the privilege of being driven to the Elwood House Museum, to observe an original cement Lincoln Highway marker. The group also passed by three historical buildings which were saved from strip mall development by Jim and Cathy Hovis, who plan to develop the buildings into shops and businesses.

The group then convened at Matthew Boones' Restaurant for an organizational meeting. Ruth Frantz acted as president pro tem until a formal election could be conducted. She introduced Ivan Prall, a historian from Malta, who was involved in the research of the seedling mile. He showed the group slides of work on the seedling mile and provided an historical narrative of the area.

Ruth then introduced Bob and Joyce Ausberger, the National LHA president and secretary, respectively. Bob spoke about the importance of historic preservation; his own personal efforts to save portions of the Lincoln Highway in Green County, Iowa; and the establishment of the National Lincoln Highway Association, during a meeting in Ogden, Iowa. Bob brought the group up-to-date on the LHA, with over 700 members in 38 states (including Alaska and Hawaii) and a place called Canada. Bob also emphasized the varied interests which bring members together, including preservation, roadside architecture, mapping and "discovery", road engineering, post card collecting and, of course, love for antique automobiles.

Ruth then introduced the two state directors in attendance: Marvin Wolfe from Illinois and Esther Oyster of Ohio, who is also the national vice president. Esther gave a few personal remarks of her work organizing local Lincoln Highway groups in Ohio. The local groups have been meeting monthly since the Spring of 1993, and the state group meets quarterly. Each local group is headed by a person termed a consul, who are each asked to find Lincoln Highway history in their county and report at the meetings. Esther also supervises a quarterly newsletter which keeps the Ohio membership updated on important issues. (Esther's newsletter, along with her energy and smarts, is the envy of Yours Truly.)

The group expressed interest in forming an Illinois chapter of the LHA, but deemed it necessary to have a set of by-laws drawn. Denny Ryan of Elburn, Howard Stovall of Chicago, Paul Weimer of Sugar Grove, Ray Smolich of Plainfield, and Sue Jacobson of Aurora volunteered to help Ruth. The next meeting was set for March/April 1995. The group wanted to hold its next meeting at Mooseheart, Illinois, if Sue Jacobson could obtain a meeting time and a tour of the campus, plus facilities for dinner. The road in front of Mooseheart was the site of the first paving on the Lincoln Highway in Illinois, which was supported by the Moose organization.

As mentioned above, the Chapter's DeKalb meeting was held across the street from the (formerly beautiful/existent) DeKalb Post Office. Completed in 1907, by architect John Knox Taylor, the Beaux-Arts style limestone building had a spectacular copper dome, and sat on DeKalb's most prominent corner. Local preservationists had previously thwarted a move to demolish it to make way for a retailer, and Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois ("LPCI") placed the DeKalb Post Office on its 10 Most Endangered Properties for 1995. "When a historic property is lost, the damage is permanent," said Brad White, LPCI president. "Although many historic properties in Illinois are in danger, these [properties] are the 10 we believe are most threatened. We hope by announcing this `Top 10' list, preservation solutions can be found for these sites."

Unfortunately, the Post Office recently succumbed to the wrecking ball. Militsa Samardzija, of DeKalb's Citizens Downtown Improvement Council, says that the well-constructed building put up a fight, but now lays down-cast as rubble on the once-proud site. Lincoln Highway-Illinois mourns this tragic loss, which Yours Truly hopes might serve as a catalyst for more active preservation efforts by our state and national organizations.

Esther Oyster is a careful and thorough researcher, in addition to being a creative organizer and leader for Lincoln Highway activities in Ohio and nation-wide. Esther kindly shared some research with Yours Truly which she uncovered on an interesting aspect of the Highway in Illinois.

Esther located a photograph among the Special Collections at the University of Michigan library (3-5-44), showing a Lincoln Highway drinking fountain in Creston, proudly standing between two men described as Consul Martin Kennedy and J.W. Comings. The water fountain stands almost waist-high to the gentlemen (both of whom have fairly prominent waists); and except for the (undersized) Lincoln Highway insignia which appears to be imbedded in the side, the fountain otherwise looks like the ones currently found in parks and playgrounds -- with a spigot on one side and a handle for the fountain on the other side. Esther may have known that these fountains were donated by Carl Parker to Illinois cities along the Lincoln Highway. In any event, in September 1993, Esther wrote to the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce about its own Parker fountain. Esther received a response from Steve Bigelin, a barbed wire collector and historian living in DeKalb, who sent along a copy of a front page article from the 11 August 1914 DeKalb Daily Chronicle and Daily Advertiser, "New Fountain Soon to Come". The article bubbled about Mr. Parker's forthcoming gift to DeKalb and its proposed location in front of the DeKalb Post Office:

Steve also sent Esther some old post cards of the DeKalb Post Office, showing the location of the Parker fountain -- just south of the building's main entrance, which itself faced northeast. Steve says that the fountain was removed in the early 1980s, when that intersection was widened.

LHA member Larry McClellan is not only senior pastor at St. Paul Community Church in Homewood, he is also a regional historian and author of a regular newspaper column in the Chicago Heights The Star, entitled "TimeFrame". Late last year, Larry's column featured a three-part series on the Lincoln Highway, including the following excerpts. (Yours Truly apologizes for the heavy-handed editing.)

After the grand announcements about the building of the Lincoln Highway in late summer of 1913, everyone was anxious to see this first transcontinental roadway under construction. ... There was great pressure to move quickly on identifying the exact route planned for the project.

In the original plan, the Lincoln Highway would cross Indiana and use the path of the Old Sauk Trail from Valparaiso to Joliet. Thus, it would enter the South Suburbs just west of Dyer and go through South Chicago Heights, Richton Park, Frankfort and on to Joliet. At the time (believe it or not) this was the only through road of any substance going across our region. Of course it was not paved, but it was maintained.

In Chicago Heights, city officials, newspaper people, and automobile enthusiasts immediately came up with an alternative plan to bring the Highway directly through Chicago Heights. They proposed that the Highway follow the Sauk Trail to Chicago Road, then go north on Chicago Road to Fourteenth Street and then head west.

Their argument made sense. First, Chicago Heights had already paved part of Chicago Road and, in 1910 paved Fourteenth Street for about one mile going west. So, Lincoln Highway would already have over one mile of pavement in Illinois if they changed to this route. Second, by shifting north from Sauk Trail to Fourteenth Street, it would bring the Lincoln Highway almost two miles closer to Chicago for the feeder roads that would go into the city. This part of the argument was actively supported by automobile enthusiasts in Blue Island, since one feeder road would go through Homewood and Blue Island to Chicago. Third, some farmers and others in the vicinity of the Village of Matteson agreed to help improve the farm road that extended Fourteenth Street west to the Cook County line.

By the end of November 1913, these advocates won and the Sauk Trail route was used only to Chicago Road. On a 1920 Cook County highway map, it is clear that the Sauk Trail, Chicago Road, and Fourteenth Street sections were all paved by that year.

... It was not until 1931, that the Lincoln Highway was redesignated east of Chicago Road to go straight east from St. James Hospital, through what is now Ford Heights, and on to Dyer. Although the road has been repaved many times, you can still get a feel for the original Lincoln Highway in two places on the old route. The Sauk Trail is still two lanes, narrow, hilly, and winding from South Chicago Heights east to Cottage Grove Avenue, and east from Sauk Village until almost the state line.

It is hard to imagine the Lincoln Highway as a modest two-lane road in contrast to the multi-lane street that cuts across the South Suburbs as Route 30.

From the state line through Matteson, there are some old remaining place names reflecting the Highway. Long-time residents will remember the Lincoln-Dixie Theater on Chicago Road. (This road, of course, was also the Dixie Highway, and until 1931, the Lincoln Highway.) They may also remember that the area at Kline's Department Store was once called the Lincoln Hills Shopping Center. Still current as place names are the Lincolnwood residential area of Park Forest, bordering the Highway, and, of course, the Lincoln Mall.

* * * *

In 1913, local leaders in Matteson joined forces with people in Chicago Heights and Blue Island to realign the route through Chicago Heights and westward on 14th Street. The Matteson people, led by Moses B. Elliot, promised the improvement of the route west to the Cook County line. They pulled together local, county and state resources to see that the highway crossed Rich Township in good shape. (By 1920, this section had been redone in concrete.)

The consequences of these early commitments is very obvious today. Following Route 30/Lincoln Highway west from Matteson, it crosses Interstate 57 and continues as a four-lane highway to Harlem Avenue, the county line. As it enters Will County, it becomes a two-lane, winding road. Travelling this section of Route 30 in Will County gives one a sense of the original Lincoln Highway as it follows the contours of the land and crosses small streams.

West of Frankfort, the highway rejoins the original path of the Old Sauk Trail and follows that through New Lenox and into Joliet. Driving along this section, one will pass several old houses, the Schmuhl School, and other structures that owe their location to the path of the Old Sauk Trail.

The most significant and exciting part of a Lincoln Highway exploration is found on the western edge of Frankfort. Just west of the intersection of Route 30 with Route 45 (LaGrange Road or 96th Avenue), Route 30 shifts over 30 feet to the south. For about one-half mile, this parallels the original road bed of the Lincoln Highway. At one spot, on the western edge of Frankfort, there is more than 100 yards of what may be the original concrete road from the 1920s. At the national level, efforts are underway to establish sections of the original road as national historic sites. This little chunk of highway outside Frankfort should be preserved and recognized for its historic significance.

Along with this stretch of the original highway, there are many other reminders of Lincoln Highway as one travels west on Route 30 from Lincoln Mall. These include the area known as Lincolnway Estates, the Abe Lincoln Motel, the Lincolnway Christian Church, and Lincoln-Way Community High School. In the New Lenox stretch, one finds signs including Lincoln Way Chiropractic, Lincoln Way Agency Insurance, and the Lincoln Way Launderette.

Sue Jacobson, Chapter treasurer pro tem, agreed to share some of her personal investment strategies with us:

A big "thank you" is in order for Carmen Freda (superintendent of Mooseheart) and Robert Zaininger (Curator of the Museum of Moose History). These gentlemen arranged for our Chapter to tour the facilities at Mooseheart, the "Child City", on 1 April 1995. Our next Chapter newsletter will contain more information on the tour (particularly the Lincoln Highway memorabilia at the Mooseheart museum) and our subsequent business meeting that same day in North Aurora.

According to the by-laws of the Illinois Chapter, Yours Truly (as secretary pro tem) is to send out an announcement on 1 June (close enough?), asking for nominations of members to serve on the Chapter's board of directors. Although board membership need not involve an inordinate commitment of time or energy, the board does have an important role to play, being responsible for policy and general supervision of the Chapter.

Nominations should be signed by two members, and include the following information: a statement as to why the nominee would make a good director; a biographical sketch of the nominee; and a statement from the candidate indicating a willingness to serve.

Yours Truly has prepared, and enclosed with this newsletter, a sample nomination form, for you to use, photocopy and/or frame. Nominations may be accepted until 1 August 1995. The current Chapter steering committee strongly encourages nominations from every part of Illinois, to ensure that our Chapter board reflects a good geographical cross-section of the state.

Our next newsletter will contain news of, among other things, the recent Illinois Chapter meeting in Mooseheart, and the LHA National Conference in Cheyenne. We welcome written contributions (especially from you, Marv Wolfe, Ralph Pierson, Ellen Hill and Steve Bingham!). Please send your thoughts, news, comments and questions -- along with your nominations for our Chapter's board of directors -- to Howard Stovall, Chapter secretary pro tem, 2131 North Racine, Chicago, 60614.

* * * *

Preamble from Lincoln Highway-Illinois by-laws