The Lincoln Log: John Stewart's $50,000 Markers

Brian Butko, in his Nov. 9th Lincoln Highway News blog had an interesting entry about an article in a December 1913 New York Times that he had found.

It stated that John Stewart of Elburn, Illinois, had given $50,000 to improve the Lincoln Highway around Elburn and that markers with his name were to be placed at each end of the section his money was used on. That $50,000 back in 1913 would be quite a bit in today's dollars.

The headline read:

Makes $50,000 Road Gift
Stewart Wants Strip of Lincoln
Highway to be His Memorial

Butko contacted people in Elburn, and no one ever heard of the markers, but they knew of him. There is a local elementary school named after him and his mansion still stands on his estate, now home of the Great Lakes Leadership Campus on Il-47. His home is a 15-room Victorian mansion built in 1897. I'll have to look for it the next time through Elburn, and I go through there often as I take Il-47 from Woodstock, Il, to Dwight on Route 66.

John Stewart served three terms in the Illinois legislature and he funded the main street of Elburn, which at one time also served as Lincoln Highway. Perhaps this is where the $50,000 was used.

Brian Butko contacted the Lincoln Highway Association archives at the University of Michigan but they were unable to find any mention of Stewart.

Another Great Lincoln Highway Story or Is It a Mystery? --RoadDog