Next Up, the Lincoln Highway in Illinois-- Part 1

The December 9th Chicago Tribune "Murals to tell Lincoln Highway history" by Patrick Ferrell.

This article is primarily about the two 200-foot long murals in Joliet and Aurora, Illinois. Aurora downtown was a scary place in the early 1900s until the city spent lots of money for streetlights. Travelers camped in Joliet's Pilcher Park in the days before motels.

Both cities were connected by America's first transcontinental road, the Lincoln Highway which ran 179 miles across Illinois from Lynwood on the east by Indiana to Fulton on the Mississippi.

Both Indiana and Illinois were the first states to have what were called
Seedling Miles" which were paved mile stretches to show the possibilities of a national series of "hard" roads (meaning those that were paved).

The very first "seedling mile" was by Malta (west of Dekalb and home of Northern Illinois University as I sit here typing in my Huskies tee shirt). It is located in front of Kishwaukee College.

Back to Lincoln. --RoadDog