Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway. Village of Malta. Malta is proud to be the home to the “First Seedling Mile” on the Lincoln Highway. This first strip of paved road was made to use as a “show and tell” demonstration of the advantages of travel on concrete verses mud, in an effort to obtain donations that would fund the construction of paving the Lincoln Highway in Illinois. , Malta's Seedling Mile was known throughout the land. Anyone owning a car came to visit Malta and try out the famous strip of paved road! Illinois was the first state to produce this example of a long lasting, easy to travel road, with the expectation that this good example would “cultivate” additional seedling miles to show what an improved highway could do for the nation. , [Caption] Dr. J.W. Corkings was the consul for the local highway area in charge of collecting the funds and securing a particularly muddy location for the first demonstration. He had obtained a steam operated concrete mixer and some engineering expertise from Springfield. The mixer had never been used for anything but sidewalks before. Dr. Corkings had received the concrete gratis, funds from the County Board and public donations. Those donating $25 or more to the project received a mahogany plaque. Left image: “J.W. Corkings, State Consul, Illinois.” Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; Right: Plaque image provided by Ivan Prall; Bottom: Image: “Illinois Concrete Road Bed, Illinois.” Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor , The Interpretive Gazebo Project was partially funded through a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FWA) with the remaining funds, for this location, paid for by the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition (ILHC) – the management agency for the Illinois Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway. ILHC would like to thank Kishwaukee College for their in-kind support of this project. Grant funds were provided to tell the history and heritage of the Lincoln Highway in Illinois and stones of our corridor communities.