Gangsters on the Lincoln! - Goshen, IN - Lincoln Highway on Waymarking.com

John Dillinger, the "Gentleman Bandit" as he was known, and his gang were known to travel the Lincoln Highway. It was one of the few paved roads of his era. Dillinger was a native, born in Indianapolis 1903, and credited his early capers to the small towns of Indiana.

Well Residents of Goshen, on the northern alignment of the Lincoln Highway, soon realized their town was a bank robbers dream. The highway crossed a four way intersection in the heart of town with banks on three of the four corners! The highway would play a big role in aiding robbers in a escape far beyond the reach of local authorities. To the folks of the time it appeared it was not a matter of if, but of when they would get hit and how many would be hit at once. Goshen wanted no part of a new triple bank robbery record. Something had to be done.

Moving the banks or the highway wasn't an option. The highway brought prosperity to the community. The banks provided a place for that prosperity to be kept. What had to be done was make it safe. A bullet proof guard shack with machine gun turret on top would do just the trick!

The tower has a steel top with slots cut into the steel to allow machine guns to be fired from it. The bullet proof glass of the booth has holes in it for guns to be fired from inside towards the bandits as they try to escape. It even had a sink and running water. This thing was made to beat the worst a gang like Dillinger's could throw at it.

As it turns out it has been able to take a lot more. More than 70 years later it still stands as strong as the day it was erected. When you visit turn back the hands of time and imagine the putter of Model A's whizzing around the corner. People coming and going about their business, the courthouse standing behind the booth as the hub of justice and community. Imagine the blue clad uniforms of the "coppers" inside the booth and their ever vigilant guard to keep all safe.

And safe it was. A a heist was never puled off in Goshen. By all means one should have, there was so much there awaiting a robber in an otherwise isolated place. But this little booth's haven of safety for the policemen serving in it ended up providing the same safety to the citizens who founded its very creation. It is only fitting that the favor has been returned as the community it once served now serves in preserving this slice of Americana and history of the Lincoln Highway in the time of "Gangsters".

As a side note, its highly likely that Capone and his gang passed by here often as well. Capone regularly vacationed on nearby Lake Webster to the south of Goshen. Since he was known to travel on unpredictable schedules with quite an entourage, train travel was not his choice method of getting around. The Lincoln Highway, both north and south alignments, were about equal distance from Lake Webster and Capone's favorite hotel. There wasn't much of a way to get there from Chicago without passing by this way. Perhaps his presence influenced the building of the booth.

Local lore has it that Dillinger was the reason for the booth but it's not that simple. Dillinger was reportedly killed in 1934 at the Biograph Theater long before the booth was erected. But was he???

The autopsy report of the "John Dillinger" killed that evening has some glaring problems. For instance, the corpse didn't have the the same eye color, height, weight, scars, or general health as Dillinger. It did however have just the same eye color, weight, and scars as a known local hoodlum, Jimmy Lawrence, who lived nearby and to frequented the Biograph. Jimmy was known to have an uncanny resemblance to Dillinger. Jimmy turned up missing the day after "Dillinger's" shooting. The plan to capture Dillinger was contrived by a detective of the notoriously corrupt East Chicago Police Department. A friend of Dillinger's claimed to have been with him the night of the "killing" not in Indiana but in Illinois and knew of his subsequent escape to Wisconsin. (he also claimed to have had several meetings with him, as late as 1974). The family of Dillinger claims to have received a letter from Dillinger with details that only John himself could have known. To keep his body from being exhumed and reexamined his father had Dillinger's burial plot filled with cement and scrap metal... all of this must have painted a very uncertain "death" and left much fear to linger.

In any case, Dillinger's presence, be it real or ghostly, certainly had an effect on the citizens of this Lincoln Highway town and the creation of this icon of the highway's history.

Americana: Other Icon Significant Interest: Other Icon Address of Icon: Noth West Corner of Lincoln & Main Street Goshen, IN United States 46526 Web Site Address: Not listed

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