Model A Driveout

A Great Day on the Lincoln Highway

INLHA’s Model A Club drive-out on Saturday, August 22, 2026, was a success by any measure: 23 cars turned out to trace both the 1913 and 1928 alignments of the Lincoln Highway, starting from the Viking Chili Bowl in Valparaiso. Model A Club member Ken Foley put together an excellent turn-by-turn narrative that kept everyone on route and in the loop on local history.

Screenshot

A Lesson in Control Stations

Even longtime INLHA members picked up something new. About ten miles into the drive, the group passed a former U.S. post office that once served as a Lincoln Highway control station. When the highway was established in 1913, many cars had neither speedometers nor odometers, so control stations were placed along the route to help travelers track mileage between points, estimate their average speed, and find places to eat or spend the night.

Touring the Boyd House

The group stopped at the Boyd House for a tour led by George R. Dyer, a former board member and director of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association. The 45-minute tour covered the 1870s mansion’s history, including its more recent chapter as an insurance office headquarters.

 Rerouted by Storm Damage

From there, the drive crossed the Shearerville Bridge. A planned stop at the Osterman Memorial Bench had to be scrapped, since recent storm damage left the area largely inaccessible. Instead, the group made its way to the Dyer Historic Society.

 Lunch and Stories from the Road

The day wrapped up with a noontime meal and presentations from Jeff Blair, president of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association. A Goshen, Indiana native, Blair has walked the Indiana stretch of the highway twice and driven its full 3,000-mile length from New York to San Francisco. He shared photos from that cross-country trip, giving the group a broader sense of the highway’s scope beyond their own corner of it.