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Shelton celebrates Lincoln Highway Festival
By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com
SHELTON -- As a youngster growing up just outside Shelton, Bob Stubblefield recalls watching steam trains chug across the prairie from his rural schoolhouse.
From the same schoolhouse, he recalls watching cars making their way from coast to coast on what was known as the Lincoln Highway. A group of American industrialists had set out to create the nation's first "continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all descriptions, without toll charges."
"It was a holdover from the Oregon Trail -- just ruts and mud," in the beginning, Stubblefield said.
But as communities and business leaders saw to it the road became hard-surfaced, more and more traffic ventured out on the "Main Street Across America" that stretched nearly 3,400 miles.
"It was the first auto trail after the Oregon Trail," Stubblefield said. "From Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco -- it fulfilled a need."
As hard surfacing was complete, traffic picked up and so did the speeds. It wasn't long before the young Stubblefield watched the State Patrol driving 1937 Fords along the same highway that the U.S. government renamed by number in Nebraska as Highway 30.
But now as the 80-year-old Nebraska president of the Lincoln Highway Association, Stubblefield is doing more than watching the highway and its traffic -- he's helping preserve the history of its creation.
He helped create the Lincoln Highway Visitor's Center located at C Street and Highway 30 in Shelton and shares time staffing that center with other volunteers of the Shelton Historical Society. All are just a cell phone away to greet visitors and open the center's doors at the back of the historic First State Bank building.
Functions such as food sales during Sunday's Lincoln Highway Festival, which featured a downtown car show, help keep the center open.
Spot on the highway, the center's entrance boasts the tell-tale red, white and blue Lincoln Highway marker.
Once inside, it's everything Lincoln Highway.
Pens, postcards, water, letter openers, ashtrays.
There's Lincoln Highway cigars -- just 9 cents in the day -- and of course, there's Burma Shave memorabilia.
"Do you know where Jerome's Tepee was in Grand Island?" Stubblefield inquired as he pointed to an original black pennant professing the tepee in Grand Island to be in the "center of North America."
It was right by the big Husker Harvest Days billboard located at Highway 30 and Husker Highway, Stubblefield said, on the north side of the road.
"It was what was called a tourist trap," he chuckled.
One of the most stunning displays in the visitor's center is a row of original metal Lincoln Highway mileage markers. They were purchased by the Automobile Club of Southern California and erected along the highway to give travelers an idea of distance to the next stops.
"Brule 1 mile, Big Spring 11 miles," stated one sign. "Paxton 10 miles, North Platte 43 miles."
Stubblefield and other members of the association (there are 100 in Nebraska and 1,100 nationwide) have purchased the signs at auctions, antique stores or wherever they are found.
"This one patched a truck box," Stubblefield said as he pointed to a Central City mileage sign.
All the signs show wear and tear -- including damage from target practice by the mischievous.
"This one still has the original bullet in it," Stubblefield said, rubbing his hand over a sign.
Still, the signs (valued in the thousands) and the accompanying collection of transportation history are impressive.
"You very seldom see this number of Lincoln Highway collectibles in one spot," Stubblefield said.
Omaha association member Nils Erickson said work is under way to get such a museum in Omaha, but first efforts are to save five homes and three historic buildings along the Lincoln Highway from demolition. A pharmacy wants to clear the properties for new construction.
Stubblefield said changes along the highway are inevitable over time -- the creation of Interstate 80 diverted much of the Lincoln Highway traffic. But the roadway was born of American ingenuity and continues to serve large populations.
"I've lived my entire life within two miles of the highway," Stubblefield said. "It has such an interesting history."
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From the same schoolhouse, he recalls watching cars making their way from coast to coast on what was known as the Lincoln Highway. A group of American industrialists had set out to create the nation's first "continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all descriptions, without toll charges."
"It was a holdover from the Oregon Trail -- just ruts and mud," in the beginning, Stubblefield said.
But as communities and business leaders saw to it the road became hard-surfaced, more and more traffic ventured out on the "Main Street Across America" that stretched nearly 3,400 miles.
"It was the first auto trail after the Oregon Trail," Stubblefield said. "From Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco -- it fulfilled a need."
As hard surfacing was complete, traffic picked up and so did the speeds. It wasn't long before the young Stubblefield watched the State Patrol driving 1937 Fords along the same highway that the U.S. government renamed by number in Nebraska as Highway 30.
But now as the 80-year-old Nebraska president of the Lincoln Highway Association, Stubblefield is doing more than watching the highway and its traffic -- he's helping preserve the history of its creation.
He helped create the Lincoln Highway Visitor's Center located at C Street and Highway 30 in Shelton and shares time staffing that center with other volunteers of the Shelton Historical Society. All are just a cell phone away to greet visitors and open the center's doors at the back of the historic First State Bank building.
Functions such as food sales during Sunday's Lincoln Highway Festival, which featured a downtown car show, help keep the center open.
Spot on the highway, the center's entrance boasts the tell-tale red, white and blue Lincoln Highway marker.
Once inside, it's everything Lincoln Highway.
Pens, postcards, water, letter openers, ashtrays.
There's Lincoln Highway cigars -- just 9 cents in the day -- and of course, there's Burma Shave memorabilia.
"Do you know where Jerome's Tepee was in Grand Island?" Stubblefield inquired as he pointed to an original black pennant professing the tepee in Grand Island to be in the "center of North America."
It was right by the big Husker Harvest Days billboard located at Highway 30 and Husker Highway, Stubblefield said, on the north side of the road.
"It was what was called a tourist trap," he chuckled.
One of the most stunning displays in the visitor's center is a row of original metal Lincoln Highway mileage markers. They were purchased by the Automobile Club of Southern California and erected along the highway to give travelers an idea of distance to the next stops.
"Brule 1 mile, Big Spring 11 miles," stated one sign. "Paxton 10 miles, North Platte 43 miles."
Stubblefield and other members of the association (there are 100 in Nebraska and 1,100 nationwide) have purchased the signs at auctions, antique stores or wherever they are found.
"This one patched a truck box," Stubblefield said as he pointed to a Central City mileage sign.
All the signs show wear and tear -- including damage from target practice by the mischievous.
"This one still has the original bullet in it," Stubblefield said, rubbing his hand over a sign.
Still, the signs (valued in the thousands) and the accompanying collection of transportation history are impressive.
"You very seldom see this number of Lincoln Highway collectibles in one spot," Stubblefield said.
Omaha association member Nils Erickson said work is under way to get such a museum in Omaha, but first efforts are to save five homes and three historic buildings along the Lincoln Highway from demolition. A pharmacy wants to clear the properties for new construction.
Stubblefield said changes along the highway are inevitable over time -- the creation of Interstate 80 diverted much of the Lincoln Highway traffic. But the roadway was born of American ingenuity and continues to serve large populations.
"I've lived my entire life within two miles of the highway," Stubblefield said. "It has such an interesting history."
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