Greetings from the Lincoln Highway: America's First Coast-to-Coast Road

Description

The Lincoln Highway predates Route 66 by a dozen years, runs a third longer than that famed highway, and crosses the country from Atlantic to Pacific. Now, the story of the first coast-to-coast route is told in this grand, eclectic history of the road. Traversing fourteen states from Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in California, Butko follows the highway in both space and time, mingling excerpts from the memoirs of cross-country travellers in the early days of the road with perspectives from today's voyagers and his own astute observations. Along the way the story of the highway unfolds, from the spark of an idea in the mind of Prest-O-Lite headlight manufacturing giant Carl Fisher to the formation of an association in 1913 for getting the arduous task of road building afoot, including the resulting disputes over which cities and states the route would pass through. Stories of early adventurers - men and women who travelled the Lincoln in the 1910s and '20s - reveal what early motoring was really like: the good, the bad, and the muddy. In each state you will visit historic buildings, bridges, taverns, diners, neon movie palaces, Art Deco gas stations, ice cream stands, tourist cabins, and colourful roadside attractions. You will also meet people from all walks of life, from every era, who have been on the road as travellers, workers, planners, commuters, tourists, and just plain Sunday drivers enjoying the scenery. Not merely a geographical link, the Lincoln Highway connects us to the past and that part of ourselves that is always seeking the quest. This is the trip you have been waiting for.

Brian Butko lives in the Pittsburgh metro area and is the nation's leading authority on the Lincoln Highway. He is a founding director of the new Lincoln Highway Association.

"...as good of a historical overview of the Lincoln Highway as I've read. Butko obviously scoured libraries, universities and private collections across the country to track down information. Future road historians owe him a debt of gratitude... Highly recommended." -- Route 66 News, November 2007.