Lincoln Logs--The Archway, the Bank, and "Give Me the Money,"

Some Lincoln Highway items.

1. The Lazy Blogger posted on 12-7 about a trip to the Great Platte River Archway Monument by KEARNEY, NEBRASKA which opened in 2000. Evidently, it was made off-site and they had to close I-80 for 8 hours while they put it in place. And I had always thought they built it on an overpass that was no longer used.

It was the dream of former Nebraska governor Frank B. Morison and was designed by a Walt Disney team in Orlando, Fl.

It traces movement through this part of Nebraska from the earliest white exploration all the way through the Lincoln Highway.

The Miami Herald has recently listed the arch as being one of the top ten kid museums in the nation. I'm not surprised by that since it was designed by the good folks from Walt Disney.

They recently were able to acquire bricks from an old section of the Lincoln Highway in Canton, Ohio, which they will display.

We did not stop at it on our way back from California last fall as we were tired of being on the road. We tuned in to their radio station and when we heard it cost about $10 to visit, decided we didn't want to give the time to get our money's worth. Definitely next time.

To view the whole entry: http://lzblogger.blogspot.com/

2. Plans are afoot to tear down the old and vacant National City Bank at the corner of 4th and Lincoln Highway in DEKALB, ILLINOIS. I talked with some of my fellow Illinois L-Hers and found out that the building is not archetecturally significant, having been built around the 1950s and that it is at a very dangerous intersection, where railroad tracks are also located.

It sounds like the city plans to build a park at the site, which would be acceptable. They did a great job with the one at 1st and LH.

3. Senator Dick Durbin of ILLINOIS announced that there will be $2,023,372 in grants given out to the seven Illinois National Scenic Highways.

Happy to report that the Lincoln received the largest single amount, $353,4000 for implementation of Phase II of the interpretive plan for 40 murals in 40 communities.

Also of interest, the Ohio River Scenic Byway and Great River Road Byway in Cairo is getting $275,000 to reconstruct Fort Defiance at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. This is going to be part of the $2.6 million that Cairo is putting up to make things better. We visited this community a few years ago and it was sad to see what has happened to this once-great city. Let's hope things get better.

Well, At Least One of Our Illinois Senators is Doing Something for the State. --RoadDog