For anyone staying at home because of the virus, the Geneva History Museum produced a virtual walking tour of the historic homes and buildings. Homes and buildings on S. First St. are on the original route of the Lincoln Highway and those on S. Third St. are on the second generation routing of the Lincoln Highway. There is a brief mention of the Lincoln Highway after nine minutes. The Little Traveler store was a major stopping location for early travelers and the store is there today, with online shopping until the stay-at-home order is lifted, see: https://www.littletraveler.com/. Enjoy!
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep everyone safe from the spread of the virus, the LHA Board of Directors and the Illinois Conference Committee cancelled the Joliet 2020 Conference. Also, organizers for the annual Drivin’ the Dixie event in Illinois, Carl Fisher’s other road, cancelled it, too. We planned to have the Drivin’ the Dixie event as a pre-conference activity.
The next host of the LHA Conference, the California Chapter wisely predicted that the virus would cause the cancellation of the Joliet 2020 Conference. Here is what will happen. Both conference locations will be pushed back one year. The 2021 LHA Annual Conference will be in the Joliet area and the 2022 LHA Conference will be held in California, in the Sacramento area.
For those of you who already registered for the 2020 Conference in Joliet, you will receive a full refund, if we processed your payments. As the virus situation became worse, the LHA held some checks without cashing them.
We in Illinois hope that everyone will stay safe and we hope to see our LHA family in 2021 in Joliet for the Annual Conference as well as the Drivin’ the Dixie event.
Cass Street Bridge on the Lincoln Highway in Joliet
The concrete marker re-dedication at the Lincoln Way Inn Bed & Breakfast in Franklin Grove originally scheduled for September 10th at 10:30 a.m. will need to be postponed to a later date. The bed & breakfast needs to attend to guests that weekend.
Once a new date can be selected, information will be posted.
In mid October 2015, in time for the changing colors of the leaves, the Illinois Chapter took a two-day driving tour of the Lincoln and Grant Memorial Highways, connecting them with Route 31 to the east and the Great River Road, along the west side of northern Illinois, with a side trip through Lena on the Stagecoach Trail. Below you can find a PDF of general driving directions, so anyone who wants to plan out a similar two-day driving tour can do so. The driving directions make a big counter-clockwise loop around northern Illinois. The fall driving tour was one of the most scenic places to visit in northern Illinois. Connecting the history of Lincoln and Grant makes sense, both geographically and historically, too.
Lincoln and Grant Driving Directions PDF
You are welcome to print the driving directions but they are under copyright so please treat them like you would a printed book for citing quotes.
Enjoy!
Lincoln and Grant Driving Directions PDF
On June 23, House Bill 1081 which passed, will go to the Illinois Senate. This bill, if passed, would replace the specialized license plates with a new universal license plate but with a specialized sticker representing the organization. The bill passed overwhelmingly in the House and we expect it to pass in the Senate. Here is the bill’s current status:
Vote on if you are still interested in a specialized sticker or not here!
Ohio will get a special Lincoln Highway license plate but in Illinois, the special plate program might be replaced by special stickers.
The Village of Ashton will celebrate its 150th birthday this year, June 11 through June 14. There will be a parade on Sunday, June 14th. See the entry form below if you want to participate. For a schedule of events for the Sesquicentennial Celebration, please see: http://www.ashtonil.com/
Come on out! Ashton will turn 150 only once!