The Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway. America's first transcontinental highway passed 137 feet south of this spot. , This plaque is dedicated to the history of America's first transcontinental highway, which passed 137 feet south of this spot. A section of Macadam is displayed in the sidewalk. The highway in the Schererville area followed the Sauk Trail and was first paved with Macadam in 1911., The Lincoln Highway was first conceived at a meeting in Detroit, Michigan, on July 1, 1913, and the formal announcement was made September 14 that a highway would be constructed stretching from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco covering 3,389 miles. The concrete paving first occurred on a matching basis between the Lincoln Highway Association and local communities. Other significant events in the highway's history were the transversing of the United States by an army truck convoy that included a future president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would become known as the "transportation president." This 1919 trip took 62 days. The speed limit in Schererville at that time was 8 m.p.h. The construction of the "ideal section" between Schererville and Dyer, Indiana, which was to be the model for future highway design, started in 1922 and was completed in 1923. In 1928 the Boy Scouts of America marked the highway coast-to-coast with concrete posts featuring a Lincoln medallion and directional arrows., Information provided by the Lincoln Highway Association, PO. Sox 308, Franklin Grove, Illinois and Arthur Schweitzer, Schererville, Indiana.