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 Building the Lincoln Highway - Joliet, IL Posted by:  cldisme
N 41° 33.122 W 088° 07.299
16T E 406458 N 4600648
Commemorating the Lincoln Highway and the laborers who built it.
Waymark Code: WM4GAW
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/21/2008
Views: 41
Aptly located along the historic Lincoln Highway, the statue represents a road builder from 1915.
The accompanying plaque states:
Building the Lincoln Highway
Building the Lincoln Highway, a life-size cold cast bronze sculpture of a 1915 Joliet road worker, seated on a hand-cut ceramic mosaic column, represents the historic Lincoln Highway and the birth of our modern day highway system. Also, included in the mosaic is an image of Abraham Lincoln medallion. The sculpture is dedicated to the men and women of the Will-Grundy Counties Building Trades Council and the construction companies of the Contractors Association of Will & Grundy Counties who make our roads possible.
On July 1, 1913, a group of automobile enthusiasts and industry officials led by Carl Fisher, create the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA), “to procure the establishment of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to the lawful traffic of all description without toll charges” and to be a lasting memorial to our 16 th president, Abraham Lincoln. Prior to the Lincoln Highway, the existing roads were nothing more than dirt paths, which became impossible to traverse even after the lightest rain. There were very few filling stations along the proposed route, few places to eat, and even fewer places to find lodging.
Since highway maps and signage did not exist, a uniform way of marking the highway became a necessity. A design was created that consisted of a concrete post, a blue arrow, and Lincoln’s image on a medallion. On July 8, 1928, the Boy Scouts of America installed the concrete sign posts next to 3,100 miles of roadway at all important turns and junction points from New York to San Francisco.
Sector of the workforce: Road builders
Created or Donated by which group: Sculptor: Kathleen Farrell
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