Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway. In the 1800's the United States was experiencing its industrial revolution. Inventors were running rampant. The new horseless carriage was the rage. America soon realized that the horse and buggy were a thing of the past. Bicyclists, having trouble dealing with the rutted roads, organized a "Good Roads Movement" which was quickly adopted by the early motorists. Then in 1908 a true visionary, named Henry Ford, began producing an automobile for the working man. Before long practically everyone owned a "Model T." However a new problem arose -Where to drive these new motorcars? What would later become roads were, at this time, no more than trails and wagon ruts. Other than wagon trails such as the Oregon, California, Old Emigrant and Santa Fe, there were virtually no roads connecting cities across our country. In 1912 another visionary by the name of Carl Fisher, President of the Prest-O-Lite automotive lighting company and developer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Miami Beach, Florida, came up with the idea to build an all season road across the United States. An Association was formed and dedicated on October 31st, 1913. The Associations Proclamation read:, "The purpose of this Association is: To immediately promote and procure the establishment of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all descriptions, without toll charges and to be of concrete wherever practicable. This highway is to be known, in memory of Abraham Lincoln, as 'The Lincoln Highway.", When first mapped out in 1913, the Lincoln was 3,389 miles in length. By 1924, due to realignments, it had been shortened to 3,142 miles. The Highway passed through 13 states before reaching California beginning at Times Square in New York City, and terminating at Lincoln Park in San Francisco. It was hoped that the Highway would be completed before the 1915 opening of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco., The route was charted and many sections improved, but the Highway was not fully paved until the early 1930's. The fact that there was a marked route across the continent drew thousands to California. The Lincoln Highway became known as "America's First Coast to Coast Highway," "Main Street Across America" and "America's First Promoted Transcontinental Highway." The Association, feeling that its mission had been accomplished, ceased financial involvement in 1928, but remained active in promoting the Highway into the 1940's. Lt. Dwight David Eisenhower travelled the Highway through Tracy in 1919, as part of a military convoy. As President, he relied on that experience and that of seeing the German Autobahn to promote the Interstate Highway System in the 1950's. No other enterprise has done more to allow freedom of travel and promote Interstate Commerce. In 1913 the Lincoln Highway followed 11th Street through Tracy, crossing the Transcontinental Railroad, where this bridge stands today. The routing of the Highway through Tracy contributed greatly to the City's growth, and as early as 1918 motorists travelling through Tracy saw the development of electrical shops, automobile garages, filling stations and restaurants. From 1926 - 1933 the Highway was officially signed US 48, and US 50 from 1934-1972. , -Gary Kinst, Lincoln Highway Historian