Lincoln Highway Historic Byway
Are you a history buff? If so, you owe yourself a drive along the Lincoln Highway Historic Byway!
Established in 1913, the 3,385 mile long Lincoln Highway was one of America's first transcontinental automobile roads. The route began in Times Square in New York and ended at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. It played an important role in the development of the automobile's influence on the way of life in 20th century America. Even after much of the Lincoln's alignment was incorporated into US 30 in 1926, the road retained its significance and its popular identity as the Lincoln Highway until 1956 when the Interstate Highway System was born.
The alignment of the Lincoln Highway in Ohio was modified a number of times from 1913 until 1928. Because the Lincoln Highway Association wanted to run the road's Illinois alignment near Chicago, the Lincoln was apt to be rerouted in Ohio and Indiana any time more direct roads between Pittsburgh and Chicago were built or improved. Fully 60 per cent of the original Lincoln Highway in Ohio was abandoned in subsequent reroutings. Therefore, for continuity's sake, the Lincoln Highway Historic Byway follows the final alignment adopted in 1928, which connected the cities of Canton, Massillon, Wooster, Mansfield, Bucyrus, Upper Sandusky, Delphos and Van Wert.
So what's there to see and do along Ohio's portion of the Lincoln Highway in the 21st century? Plenty! There are numerous museums, state parks, locations on the National Register of Historic Places and on the National Historic Trust, classic car shows, festivals too numerous to mention, and of course, plenty of great local places to shop and dine. A few hours along the road and its attractions will have you "lovin' the Lincoln!"