The "Coast to Coast" Lincoln Highway

These are the first Lincoln Highway bridge rails ever built on the nation's first transcontinental highway. The Abraham Lincoln Highway ran from Times Square, New York, to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, during 1913-1927.

Towns all across the nation were anxious to have the "Main Street of America" pass their way and went all out to advertise the route. Washoe County had been criticized for not marking their part of the route. So in 1914, contractor A.F. Neidt, when building a new culvert about 0.9 miles east of here took it upon himself to mark the highway with these unique rails.

H.E. Frederickson, (pictured) Consul-at-large of the Lincoln Highway Association was so impressed with the rails that he proposed this design for all Lincoln Highway bridges clear across the country. Only one other such set of bridge rails were ever built, in Tama, Iowa, the following year in 1915.

In later years, when the highway numbering system replaced named highways, this route became U.S. 40 and was eventually realigned.

During the early 1970's, when Interstate 80 replaced U.S. 40, the Nevada Department of Transportation salvaged the old bridge rails from the long abandoned Lincoln Highway and put them on display here.

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