SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 1914
HOW “LINCOLN WAY” PROJECT NOW STANDS
A. R. Pardington Tells Pittsburghers of Present Accomplishment on Road.
FROM COAST TO COAST.
States and Their Component Communities Have Done Much Work on the Memorial.
Just what has been and is being accomplished by the
Lincoln Highway Association in the development of its transcontinental
road from New York to San Francisco was told recently to members of the
Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, Penn. by A. R. Pardington, Vice
President of the association. Mr. Pardington described the growth of
the Lincoln Highway Association, the plan to make permanent this road,
gave a brief résumé of the amounts subscribed and the
immense amount of work now going forward in every State on this
memorial to Abraham Lincoln.
“It is my purpose,” he said, “to
tell you the story of the Lincoln Highway in the most direct and simple
manner possible, leaving to the short-story writers and orators those
word pictures which they are best able to paint. The Lincoln Highway
to-day is the longest road in the world; It is the most traveled road
in the world; it is the one road on which more has already been spent,
on which more is now being spent, and on which, during the years to
come, more money and effort will be expended, than on any other single
road known. In passing from New York on the east to San Francisco on
the west but four large cities are interconnected, these in turn being
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Omaha, and Salt Lake City.
“Despite the fact that this great touring road
does not reach many of the large commercial, industrial or residential
cities of the country, it still serves over 60 per cent. of our entire
population. It serves about 67 per cent. of all of the registered
automobile owners of the United States.
“The association was organized in the late
Spring of 1913. The Directors chosen represented many lines of
activity, particularly those interested in the manufacture and sale of
automobiles and allied industries. The offices for the association were
opened in Detroit in June. The route of the Lincoln Highway was
announced simultaneously all over the country on the 14th of September.
The selection of the route seemed to appeal to everybody.
“The State of New Jersey is now considering a
concurrent resolution for taking over the Lincoln Highway from Jersey
City to Camden, with the idea of establishing it as a State highway,
and with the further idea of having every foot of the highway and the
streets between the two points in New Jersey renamed Lincoln Way. The
Jersey City Plank Road, for over 100 years known by that popular name,
on Dec. 13 was rededicated Lincoln Way. After having been reconstructed
at a cost of $1,250,000, it is now a magnificent boulevard 100 feet
wide, about eighteen feet above high-water line, is bordered by
boulevard lights and broad walks and traffic surfaces are of brick and
concrete. The automobile clubs of Newark and Jersey City are now
planning to beautify that boulevard by the planting of suitable trees.
All of the public service corporations of the State of New Jersey have
consented to the placing of red, white and blue Lincoln Highway markers
on the poles which they own.
“Between New Jersey and Pennsylvania the Penn
Memorial Bridge, a project which for years has lain dormant, has been
revived with the idea of having that bridge established as a connecting
highway between New Jersey and the Keystone State. Through and crossing
the city of Philadelphia, the Department of Public Streets is now
marking at city expense, the route of the Lincoln Highway, beginning at
the ferry and extending well out the Lancaster Pike. In numerous towns
and villages across this State agitation is already under way. These
towns include York, Bedford, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, Wilkinsburg,
etc. The route has already been marked across some of the counties to
the east of Pittsburgh.
“The Highway leaves Pennsylvania on the Ohio
River at East Liverpool, and across the State of Ohio traverses what is
known as Market Route No. 3, selected by the Lincoln Highway
Association because it had already been designated by the State Highway
Department and the State Legislature for construction and for
maintenance by the State. In every one of the twelve counties across
the State active co-operation has been undertaken, organizations have
been formed and as a result of this activity during the season of 1914
many hundreds of thousands of dollars will be spent jointly by the
State, the counties, and the towns, in having a permanent road.
“Across the State of Indiana a remarkable
condition of affairs results, in view of the fact that the State has no
organized Highway Department. In that State the work of the Lincoln
Highway Association has for the past four months been concentrated on a
co-ordination of effort between the counties traversed by this highway.
The results are that before the touring season of 1915, practically
every foot of mileage across the Hoosier State will be paved with a
permanent highway, using either concrete or brick and concretes. A
notable example of patriotic co-operation is that of the citizens of
Elkhart County. John C. Boss, a brick manufacturer of Elkhart, has
headed a subscription list which will be signed by a sufficiently large
number of citizens to insure the construction of twenty-five miles of
brick surfaced concrete road, each mile of which will be dedicated as a
memorial by the contributor to some deceased member of his family,
these miles as an individual unit becoming memorials to Abraham Lincoln.
“Across Illinois the State Highway Commission
organized last year has selected the Lincoln Highway as State Aid Road
1, and has already authorized the construction of some miles of
concrete road on that highway during the present season. In this State
convict labor will be made use of in large measure in the work of
construction. Carl Parker, a resident of Los Angeles, has contributed
one drinking fountain for each village along the route of the highway
across the state. This means the establishment of twenty-one of these
fountains.
“Iowa state highway engineers have
concentrated effort on the highway with the result that there remains
but one bridge or culvert to be replaced by concrete each one of which
is not less than 20 feet in width. The highway is also being
resurveyed, straightened, and broadened, and reports are being received
almost daily of appropriations being made by the counties.
“In Nebraska the population is more or less
sparse and much aid will have to be afforded the citizens through the
association. The Union Pacific Railroad parallels the Lincoln Highway
from Omaha through to the Wyoming line, both following the Platte
Valley. In the establishment of the road, hundreds of crossings of the
railroad were necessary. The result has been agitation on the part of
the railroad company to the segregation of these crossings. This work
is now going on. In this State many of the towns and villages have
re-designated the streets and highways, so that much of the mileage
across Nebraska is known as Lincoln Way.
“Across the State of Wyoming the same
conditions prevail. The population is sparse, realty values are low,
and in the years to come the work of the association will in large
measure be directed toward co-operating with the citizens in the way of
financial aid. What has been said of Nebraska, and Wyoming is in a
larger measure true of Utah, and Nevada. Nevada, for instance, has but
81,000 population. Already the highway has been marked through many
long arid stretches by the local inhabitants.
“In California about 85 per cent of the road
between San Francisco and beautiful Lake Tahoe, on the State line
between Nevada and California is now improved. The state Highway
Department of California is putting down experimental stretches of road
surface of varying lengths. Over 60 per cent. of the entire road is now
marked with the Lincoln Highway marker. In innumerable instances the
Commercial Clubs or Chambers of Commerce are erecting at the east and
west boundaries of the towns large roadside signs, giving the name of
the community, together with the distances to New York and San
Francisco, and calling particular attention to some feature of the
town, as, for instance, in Canton, Ohio, mention is made of the fact
that Canton is the final resting-place of William McKinley.”
“Tree-planting
organizations have been formed in the public schools and by
Women’s Auxiliaries. The Federated Women’s Clubs of America
are now starting a prolonged campaign for the raising of funds to be
expended in beautifying this great artery of transcontinental travel.
Agitation has already been started toward the construction of laterals
leading into the highway from industrial centres like Detroit,
Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and toward
points of scenic and
historic interest like the Lincoln farm at Lexington, Ky., Yellowstone Park, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
“Every commercial organization of Baltimore
has united petitioning the Directors of this association to re-route
the Lincoln Highway in order that it may pass through Baltimore. The
Commissioners of the District of California have already petitioned
that the highway be re-routed to, after passing through Baltimore,
include Washington, and we are advised that a resolution is soon to be
introduced, in the House of Representatives at Washington, urging the
demands and claims of Baltimore and Washington. The Mayors of numerous
cities in New England have united in a petition to permit placing of
the Lincoln Highway markers from New York through to Boston. Not a
Director of the association lives in a city on the route which has been
named. None of those from whom we have received large contributions, in
certain instances as high as $300,000, is on the route as it has been
named.
“Two thousand miles of the Lincoln Highway
must be improved at an estimated cost per mile for permanent surfacing,
supplementing the work of the local communities, of $5,000. The
individual mile sections will be suitably marked as memorials by those
who have contributed toward their improvement.”
From: The
New York Times, Sunday, 5 April 1914.
