The Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway (HM19OY)

Location: Ely, NV 89301 White Pine County
Buy Nevada State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 39° 47.839', W 114° 44.462'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 816 views
Inscription

A Vision that Spanned America

The Visionary: Carl Fisher was a dreamer with an entrepreneurial spirit. After amassing a large fortune and building a reputation in the auto-parts industry, Fisher began to dream of building a paved hard-surface, coast-to-coast highway. He envisioned a magnificant roadway that spanned the United States and officially closed the gap between the East and the West forever.

The Vision: Prior to the Lincoln Highway's completion, the majority of roadways in America were unpaved, dusty trails that aimlessly crooked and kinked from one settlement to the next. The disjointed nature of the roadway did not permit transcontinental travel. Fisher recognized the growing popularity of the automobile and saw the need for a national road which would allow individuals to travel at their own pace, a luxury not afforded by trains.

Construction began in 1913 with the proposed highway route starting in Times Square in New York City and passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and ending in San Francisco, California's Lincoln Park. As the construction effort moved forward, paving the roadway became an expensive proposition, and much of the route was left unpaved until state and federal funds were invested in the project almost a decade later.

The Vision Fades: The Lincoln Highway triggered the American people's desire to connect and drive across the nation. Witnessing the economic prosperity that followed the highway route, every state in the Union wanted a named highway built within their borders. Soon, named highways began to pepper the landscape. The new roadways shared routes, intersecting and overlapping in a confusing tangle. The time for a national system of highway was looming.

In March 1925, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) started plannig a federal highway system. All named roads (including the Lincoln Highway) were ignored in their planning. Eventually, the Lincoln Highway was broken up into U.S. 1, U.S. 30 (including U.S. 30N and U.S. 305), U.S. 530, U.S. 40, and U.S. 50. All road signs featuring the Lincoln Highway name were removed. By the 1940s, the Lincoln Highway had faded away.
Details
HM NumberHM19OY
Series This marker is part of the Lincoln Highway series
Tags
Placed ByNevada Department of Transportation
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, September 11th, 2014 at 1:40am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)11S E 693402 N 4407702
Decimal Degrees39.79731667, -114.74103333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 47.839', W 114° 44.462'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 47' 50.34" N, 114° 44' 27.72" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)775
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1 White Pine County Rd 18, Ely NV 89301, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Nearby Markersshow on map
Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. What historical period does the marker represent?
  2. What historical place does the marker represent?
  3. What type of marker is it?
  4. What class is the marker?
  5. What style is the marker?
  6. Does the marker have a number?
  7. What year was the marker erected?
  8. This marker needs at least one picture.
  9. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  10. Is the marker in the median?