Lincoln Memorial Highway - Grand Island, Nebraska
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 40° 55.338 W 098° 20.735
14T E 555102 N 4530337
Historical marker located in Pioneer Park, Grand Island, Nebraska.
Waymark Code: WMP3N
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 09/01/2006
Views: 32
"The Lincoln Highway Association, formed in 1913 to build a New York-to-San
Francisco highway, sold "highway memberships" to raise funds for the project. In
Nebraska the road, which traversed twelve states, extended westward from Iowa
along the Platte Valley route earlier used by emigrants, and followed the
mainline Union Pacific Railroad into Wyoming.
The section of highway east of Grand Island was started in December, 1914,
and an experimental paved mile was completed in 1915. Here, near the center of
the transcontinental route, work began quickly because of strong public
sponsorship. As the road was built, it was marked by red, white, and blue banded
utility posts, three to a mile. In 1928 three thousand concrete markers were
erected, each bearing a bronze medallion of the head of Abraham Lincoln.
Completed in 1927, the Lincoln Highway, the prototype transcontinental route
designed for automobile traffic, stimulated highway improvement. It later became
federally marked U.S. Highway 30. In the 1950-1960s Interstate 80 was built to
carry east-west traffic through Nebraska. Though I-80 parallels the Lincoln
Highway route in many counties, the older route continues as a part of the
federal highway network." ~ text of marker