Lincoln Highway in Greene County, Iowa
|
The Lincoln Highway in
Greene County, Iowa |
|
 |
|
 
|
|
| Location | Greene County, Iowa |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°0′55″N 94°22′29″W / 42.01528°N 94.37472°WCoordinates: 42°0′55″N 94°22′29″W / 42.01528°N 94.37472°W |
| MPS | The Lincoln Highway in Greene County, Iowa MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 64500168 |
| Added to NRHP | March 29, 1993 |
The Lincoln Highway in Greene County, Iowa is a multiple property submission to the National Register of Historic Places, which was approved on March 29, 1993. It includes five individual listings and five historic districts located in Greene County, Iowa, United States. They encompass abandoned sections of dirt roads, paved sections that are now part of other highways, and various sites, objects, structures and pieces of infrastructure that were a part of the Lincoln Highway. The years of historical significance are 1912 to 1928.
Carl Fisher was an American automotive and real estate entrepreneur who conceived the Lincoln Highway in 1912, and helped to develop it. Connecting New York City to San Francisco, it was the first highway to cross the United States. The intention to develop the highway was announced in 1913, and Iowans raised over $5 million for the construction of the road. There were no particularly good options to cross Iowa, but the Lincoln Highway Association wanted a direct route between Chicago and Omaha. The route through Iowa was announced on September 14, 1913. They chose what was known as the "Iowa Official Trans-Continental Route," which was already being used by transcontinental motorists through the state. It covered 358 miles (576 km) of dirt and gravel roads that began in Clinton and traveled west to Council Bluffs. Rural roads in Iowa were notorious for their poor condition, and when it rained the mud made them even worse. The chosen route paralleled the Chicago Northwestern Railroad tracks as they followed the driest and least hilly terrain in the state.
In Iowa the Lincoln Highway was also known as State Primary Road No. 6 from 1920 to 1926. Its designation changed when the federal highway system was created and it became known as U.S. 30 in 1926. The Lincoln Highway Association operated until 1927, however, the following year it put up memorial markers along the route. The old Lincoln Highway remained a major transportation artery in Iowa into the 1950s when the state constructed a new US Highway 30.
...
Wikipedia