by Prairie Rivers of Iowa Board President, Reed Riskendahl
Our Lincoln Highway and the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway – a National Scenic Byway. It is not like they belong to us, but we do get mighty possessive over things. It is more as if we belong to them. They are in our very being. So much so that we take it for granted.
The path of the Lincoln takes a meandering path through Marshalltown and Marshall County. Many times, I have found that “L” designation on a street or paved road where I didn’t expect it.Nevertheless, I have not always paid attention, when it runs on a street that I have frequented thousands of times over the last 30+ years.
Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Marshalltown, Iowa
You see, I have worked in several businesses that actually are on the Lincoln. Here in Marshalltown, the Lincoln runs right down Main Street – right beside our courthouse. The business district runs on Main Street from 3rd Avenue to 3rd Street, with several other nearby streets. Several decades ago, I worked in Spurgeon’s Department Store. It was one of dozens throughout the Midwest that were located in county seat towns. The location was a good one – directly north of the courthouse, with its stately appearance and grand history. The amount of traffic was substantial, and I recall sweeping the sidewalk daily, and washing the windows so folks could see the latest fashion for the family or the home. Thousands of dresses, shoes for the family, sheets for the beds, yarn and crafts for those talented with a needle. That era has passed, but the Lincoln – America’s Main Street is as important as ever.
I also had the pleasure of working at the Times-Republican newspaper. We were a daily and the unrelenting deadlines gave us a certain rhythm that is important in a small city. News of the realm, as well as solid local coverage gave the paper a readership that many of the businesses close to the Lincoln wanted to advertise in. Stores like Gildner’s Men’s Store, Thompson True Value, Hellberg’s Jeweler’s, Zeno’s Pizza, Taylor’s Maid-Rite and hundreds more.
Over the years, after traveling, I would return to Marshalltown along the Lincoln. The beautiful canopy of trees along west Main St on the Lincoln just said “home” to me. The shade was welcoming. Some trees remain, even after the terrible tornado that ravished our city in 2018, and the derecho of 2020 took even more.
But the Lincoln still is here. A testament to the ebbs and flows of events and culture in our history. No longer is it the primary conduit from one place to another. Sometime along this treasured history, it has become a place to experience life at a different pace. Sometimes ignored by the pell-mell pace of today’s life, but sometimes a pleasure to behold, thinking of the decades that have passed and what this old road has experienced.
Take a trip down the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway, slow the pace a bit, and pull off occasionally to simply witness America’s Main Street. You may even see some of the many stories that are yet to be told.
During National Dairy this June, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy your favorite sweet treat while traveling along the 460 miles of Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway – A National Scenic Byway in Iowa. Starting in Clinton and working your way across the state to Council Bluffs there are plenty of family-owned shops to stop at and delight in a tasty ice cream treat!
How about weighing in on who’s going to win the rumble between Superman ice cream and Cookie Monster ice cream while at Carol’s Original Dairy Treat in Clinton? Then stop further down the road at Smillee’s Ice cream in DeWitt and taste their super-premium chocolate.
Small family-owned Parlor City Ice Cream has served up unique treats like their Smores and Thin Mint sundaes in Cedar Rapids and Marion for over fifty years! From there drive over to Tama’s Dairy Sweet Treats (formerly the Sugar Shack) and have a Daisy’s Twister.
Head further west to Starbuck’s Drive-In in Nevada, family-owned not the chain, for flavors like blackberry, key lime, and strawberry.
Stop in Jefferson for a triple threat that features twins. How’s that for a twister? You can’t beat a root beer float from A & W, then stop at Twiins Shoppe (yes two ii’s) for a goodie, and finish up your visit at Ice Cube Concessions and Skating Rink in Spring Lake County Park for some hand-dipped Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream before you strap on your roller skates!
The Dairy Mart in Glidden boasts “Good Food and Better Ice Cream” while Nutshelle’s Dairy Sweet in Woodbine has malts, shakes, sundaes, floats, and cones along with pints and quarts to take home and savor!
Finally, you reach Council Bluffs on Iowa’s western border where Christy Crème, a true neighborhood mom and pop locally-owned since 1954 rotates ten different flavors of sherbet daily. Whatever your sweet tooth desires, you cannot go wrong with this lineup!
The long awaited announcement came the morning of February 16th, 2021 that the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway has been given the designation of a National Scenic Byway! This was a long-awaited award and work towards it began in 2016 when working on the Corridor Management Plan (CMP)and talked about even prior to that.
The Lincoln Highway, although the first improved transcontinental road in the nation, is a fairly newer byway in Iowa. The Department of Transportation’s Scenic Byway program is over 20 years old. The Lincoln Highway was nominated by the Iowa Lincoln Highway Association and brought into the fold as a state byway in 2006 (making it 15 years in 2021).
Woodbine’s bricked Lincoln Highway
A byway is made up of 6 intrinsic qualities: archaeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway’s main quality is historic and we focus on that aspect in many of our programs and marketing materials. To be a National Scenic Byway one of these qualities needs to be of high value and the route has to already be recognized as a state byway through their DOT.
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Corridor Management Plan (CMP).
As part of Prairie Rivers of Iowa’s agreement with the Iowa DOT to manage this byway, we created a CMP using criteria set out by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). We held community meetings and visited with residents, government officials (local, county, and state) and other organizations to see what amenities existed in each of the intrinsic qualities. Our plan gathered ideas and feelings of the 13 counties and 43 communities our byway ties together as we prepared our to-do lists of projects. One of the topics, and identified as a state-wide project, was for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway to apply to be a National Scenic Byway.
There was only one small problem. The National Scenic Byway program was sitting on FHWA’s shelf. It was still a program, but was not active and not being funded. It wasn’t revived until 2020 when the program welcomed new designations (no funding included). The stars had aligned for us- the Scenic Byway program was revived and taking applications, we had a completed our CMP, we also had an Interpretive Master Plan, and we had overwhelming support of our communities to make this application. See https://www.prrcd.org/lincoln-highway-corridor-management-plan/for the full CMP.
Once the work began in earnest on the multi-page application, we needed to identify 8 important locations that supported our chosen “Historic” quality. It was difficult to narrow the choices down to just 8 and even them out across Iowa to show an accurate impression of the Lincoln Highway route in Iowa.
The locations chosen were:
The Sawmill Museum, Clinton
Youngville Cafe, rural Benton County
Preston’s Station Historic District, Belle Plaine
Lincoln Highway Bridge, Tama
Reed-Niland Corner, Colo
Carroll Railroad Depot, Carroll
Brick Street, Woodbine
Harrison County Historical Village and Welcome Center, Missouri Valley
Youngville Cafe, rural Benton County, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Built by Joe Young in his pasture for his widowed daughter to operate the gas station, cafe, and cabins. She and her children lived upstairs.
Also included in the application was a route map and a turn-by-turn description of the 460+ mile Iowa Byway route, traveler information about nearby airports and interstates/highways, restroom availability, brochures and marketing materials that are available, etc. It was a very intensive application and took a team to write it and to create the map.
Our application was reviewed and submitted in June 2020 by the Iowa DOT and then the waiting began. FHWA said in late summer 2020 that they had made their recommendations to the Office of Administration and Office of Transportation for them to review and approve the list. Approval finally happened on January 19, 2021 but the announcement not made until February 16th.
We are so excited to embark on this new journey as a National Scenic Byway and the exposure we will receive now on a national level. Even during a pandemic, we have been delighted to see visitors check-in to locations in our new passport program with Travel Iowa. This program rolled out in January 2020 and will run for a year. All eight of the above locations are, or will be, a part of this passport program. It’s another way we encourage people to travel and learn more about this historic road.
We’ll see you on the Byway – now a NATIONAL Scenic Byway!
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway managed by the not-for-profit Prairie Rivers of Iowa has received a tourism grant from the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce to create and install an interpretive panel at the Marshall County Courthouse.
The panel will provide travelers along the byway with historical information about the courthouse’s site selection, original construction and dedication in 1866, the subsequent addition of the clock tower in 1900 and more. The recent history surrounding courthouse damage and repairs due to the 2018 tornado and 2020 derecho, including the March 31, 2020 return of the dome as Marshalltown Strong onlookers cheered on, will be featured as well.
The return of the Marshalltown County Courthouse dome on March 31, 2020 after some repair and restoration. Photo by Andrew Potter/Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber grant is being leveraged with grants from Union Pacific and Humanities Iowa to help complete the project according to Prairie Rivers of Iowa’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Coordinator Jan Gammon. “We’ve been working for a while now to make this project a reality to help increase the number of byway travelers to Marshall County while encouraging them to stop and embrace its rich history,” says Gammon.
“We are excited to support this project and look forward to seeing it as a great addition to our Marshall County Courthouse and the Marshalltown downtown,” said Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce Tourism Director Andrew Potter, “We have always cherished our Lincoln Highway tradition here and this project will ensure that will continue into the future.”
The not-for-profit Prairie Rivers of Iowa has managed the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway for nearly fifteen years promoting historic preservation and economic development along Iowa’s 460-mile route that includes welcoming communities like Marshalltown. Future plans encompass the hope of obtaining National Scenic Byway designation while continuing to improve preservation, interpretation and recreation efforts for the benefit of travelers and the communities they visit.
Funding for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Marshall County Courthouse interpretive panel was received in part from Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce Tourism.
One month in and 2021 is looking very promising for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway! The Iowa Scenic Byways Passport Program rolled out on January 5th. Our Byway office in Ames is one of the stops and people are visiting us and picking up our free travel information. It’s great to see travelers out enjoying Iowa, even in the winter months. Go to Iowa Scenic Byway Passport (traveliowa.com) and join the nearly 2,500 that have already entered the program. By checking into each new location on your cell phone, you are entered into a drawing for a gift basket worth hundreds of dollars from one of the Byways. Our gift basket month is April.
And why April, you ask? Well, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway turns 15-years old on March 31st so we will spend the month of April celebrating our birthday. We hope to know by then if we are selected to be a National Scenic Byway and then we’ll have even more to celebrate.
Speaking of celebrations, we are planning unveiling ceremonies for all of our newly installed interpretive panels. Two panels are completed and waiting for spring to arrive and installation to occur. They are at Preston’s Station Historic District in Belle Plaine and the Missouri and Mississippi Divide pull-off near Arcadia. Four more are in the design phase. 1. Yellow Smoke Park near Denison about the Bowstring Bridge, 2. Eureka Bridge near Jefferson, 3. Marshall County Courthouse in Marshalltown, and 4. Woodbine about their town and brick streets. We are waiting to hear on funding for a 4-panel installation in Clinton. We should know by May and get those designed and installed as well.
Mary Preston and her husband, Garry Hevalow, accepting the interpretive panel for Preston’s Station Historic District in Belle Plaine. Installation will be Spring 2021.
We’d like to thank the Union Pacific Railroad Community Ties Giving program, Humanities Iowa, Burke Heritage Fund, Woodbine Main Street, Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce Tourism, and Rotary Club of Denison for their grants and donations towards this project.
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway is rolling with COVID-19 and its challenges. We are promoting locations that allow for social distancing and zero touch-points. Go to our webpage and under “Take a Road Trip” http://Take a Road Trip! – Prairie Rivers of Iowa (prrcd.org) you will find our brochures to help plan your trip across Iowa on the Lincoln Highway. We have an Info Guide (an overall brochure of things to see and do), Recreational and Camping brochure, Junior Explorer booklet (for kids), 1919 Army Convoy brochure, and our most recent- Breweries, Distilleries, and Wineries in Eastern Iowa. Whatever your interest, you should find something either educational, entertaining, or relaxing on the Lincoln Highway. We’ll see you on the Byway!
When planning a trip along the Lincoln Highway, use our brochures as guides. The Junior Explorer booklet has games for kids to play in the car.
What do you do during a pandemic? And while you’re at it, throw in a derecho too! Well, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway created two videos and a brochure about Breweries, Distilleries, and Wineries in Eastern Iowa along the Lincoln Highway. It was a fun, challenging, and in the end – a very rewarding experience.
View of the Mississippi River from the deck at Wide River Winery north of Clinton.
Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery entrance at Swisher, Iowa.
Getting Started
Notification of partial funding for the Lincoln Highway project came from Iowa Tourism in November 2019 and we spent the winter months contacting and working with the four supporting businesses who are featured in the videos. Spring and the start of the growing season would work best for filming and then BOOM! Mid-March came with a pandemic and everything came to a screeching halt. Breweries, distilleries, and wineries were ordered closed and everyone was told to stay home. If you went out in public, you were asked to wear a mask. Schools and universities closed or went on-line. Oh, no! We were working with the University of Iowa’s Cinematic Arts Department and the Office of Outreach and Engagement and were counting on graduate students to do the filming and editing. Putting the videos on a temporary hold, we turned our attention to the accompanying tri-fold brochure that we hoped to debut at the Byways booth at the Iowa State Fair. Well, you all know how that went with the fair…… At times, we wondered if this project would ever get off the ground, but it did!
Work Gets Underway
Trevon Coleman, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate student at the U of I, and Philip Rabalais, a recent MFA graduate, agreed to do the filming and editing. During mid-to-late summer, some restrictions were lifted allowing for partial business openings. We had the opportunity to film and we jumped at it. For safety precautions, we were masked the entire time. Patrons at the establishments wore masks except for when they were eating or drinking. At times it felt very surreal. But people were looking for a safe escape from their homes. One couple from Illinois rode a motorcycle down the Iowa side of the river to celebrate the wife’s birthday and stopped at the Mississippi River Distilling Company. Wide River Winery had two RV’ers stop in. One is featured in the film. She is from Virginia, retired, and decided to rent out her house and take off across America. She hasn’t been home for over a year.
Trevon Coleman interviewing Jeff Quint at Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery in Swisher. Philip Rabalais on the floor working the sound equipment.
Trevon Coleman (foreground) and Philip Rabalais, U of I graduate students, prepare their equipment at Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City.
Most patrons were willing to share their experiences. At Cedar Ridge, 4-5 groups were enjoying the spacious outdoor seating. Big Grove Brewery just added to their outdoor seating and it was being put to good use as well. Many people were tired of being at home and as long as they could travel at their own speed and social distance, they were having a great time. As said in one of the films, people need to “get off the couch and into the car.”
The four locations: Mississippi River Distilling Company (LeClaire), Wide River Winery (Clinton), Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery (Swisher), and Big Grove Brewery (Iowa City) all were very accommodating and these videos show the owners’ passion for their business and products. Doing our part, we did taste test a few brews, spirits, and wines and brought some back to share with others…. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!
Garrett Burchett moving newly delivered empty barrels to make room for the film shoot at the Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire.
That’s a Wrap
Even throwing a derecho at us in August, did not deter Trevon and Philip from completing the filming. Once power was restored and businesses were open again, they forged on. We are so excited to share the end product with the public and we will see you on the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway as you patronize these 4 locations and the others in eastern Iowa. And have fun. “There’s always got to be fun!”
Big Grove created a’ “Beer Interrupted” named for the derecho hitting and a power outage interrupting the brew process. Big Grove leaves no brew behind so the hazy DIPA was aggressively hopped with El Dorado and Lotus.
