Indiana Lincoln Highway Association board member Bruce Butgereit and his wife Marcia
created detailed turn by turn road guides of the 1913 and 1928 routes of Indiana’s Lincoln Highway Byway.
In addition they produced a listing of Indiana Lincoln Highway Educational Discovery Stops with GPS coordinates. This program was made possible by an Historic Preservation Education Grant from Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The documents are all pdf files, and require the free Adobe reader. These are now available on our Maps / Directions web page.
On May 5, La Porte became the fourth town along Indiana’s Lincoln Highway routes to display an informational kiosk; it joins Warsaw, New Carlisle and Plymouth.
La Porte Kiosk Dedication
The newest kiosk can be found in front of the town’s restored NY Central and Lake Shore Depot (803 Washington St.), now the home of the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce. One side of the kiosk highlights the Lincoln Highway’s history through La Porte County, featuring such landmarks as Bob’s Bar-B-Q, the Hotel Rumely and the county courthouse, as well as the depot. The reverse side offers a brief history of “The Lincoln Highway: American’s First Paved Coast-to-Coast Highway.”
The kiosk, which was painted in a color scheme to match the depot, was unveiled by Indiana Lincoln Highway Association members Jim Bevins and Fred Sachtleben. Both men are La Porte County natives who spent more than two years on construction and installation of the kiosk.
La Porte Mayor Blair Milo, and Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce President Mike Seitz, were presented with a Proclamation prepared by Indiana Lincoln Highway Association President Jan Shupert-Arick. Click here for the Proclamation.
La Porte Mayor Blair Milo & Chamber President Mike Seitz
The annual meeting of the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association followed at B&J’s American Café. The group learned of opportunities for partnering with businesses in a presentation from Chamber President Mike Seitz.
The Indiana Lincoln Highway Association’s accomplishments of the past year – highlighted by the highway’s designation as a Byway– were outlined in a presentation by President Jan Shupert-Arick.
Photos courtesy Tim Ashley. Click photos for larger views.
IndianasNewsCenter.com, the ABC and NBC affiliate in Fort Wayne, is running a new series on local small towns. They are kicking off this series with Churubusco. Check out their video below with Eric Olson:
If you were looking for a definition for small town America the name Churubusco would do. The town sprang up in 1838 when the railroad intersected the old Goshen Road, an ancient Indian trail. The early town served the local farm community and was an important source of lumber thanks to the local sawmill. When the legendary Lincoln Highway pushed through in 1913 it put Churubusco on the map. The town was always a sleepy community and would have stayed that way but for one brief yet notorious brush with fame. It revolved around Churubusco’s most famous phantom citizen; a guy named Oscar, the ‘Busco Beast.
Oscar’s story begins one night in1948 at a little lake on a farm east of town owned by Gayle Harris.
“And he and another fellow was up on the barn working on the roof,” says town historian Chuck Mathieu. “And apparently they spotted something in the lake and that kinda got the story started.”
Nobody knows what that something was but Harris and his buddies wasted no time trying to catch it. They built traps, they built cages, wire nets…sent down divers. The commotion caught the eye of local newspapers and the story took off from there.
“And it actually gained national acclaim,” says Chuck Mathieu. “Lowell Thomas was a radio commentator at the time and he did a story on it. Life Magazine sent Mike Shay out and he took photographs of it.”
As a breathless nation watched the hunt for Oscar escalated, climaxing with the ultimate strategy…draining the lake. Alas that strategy like all others was destined to fail.
“Mr. Harris I guess became ill,” says Chuck Mathieu, “and then winter set in and they never did get it completely drained.”
And that’s where Oscar’s trail grew cold. Though he was never found most folks think Oscar was a giant turtle, perhaps a southern alligator snapper that ventured too far north. Whatever it was Oscar’s story lives today. the ‘Busco Beast guards downtown Churubusco, welcomes folks to the local park, guards the towns water supply and is celebrated each year during the turtle days festival. So even though he never showed his face, Oscar the turtle is the gift that just keeps giving, to life in this very pleasant town.
Cindy’s Diner was recently reviewed in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.com, by Cindy Larson:
“If anybody ever asked me for a list of the top 10 must-experience restaurants in Fort Wayne, of course Cindy’s Diner would be near the top.
This little gem anchors the corner of Wayne and Harrison (Lincoln Highway) streets downtown and is beloved by many. The 1953 luncheonette owned by John and Cindy Scheele was moved to its present location in 1990.
Cindy’s motto is “serving the world, 15 at a time” because that’s all the seats the tiny diner holds, although they have added a few tables outside.”
Photo by Cindy Larson of The News-Sentinel
Cindy’s Diner is actually bigger than normal for a Valentine Diner, as many models from this Kansas manufacturer only had 8 – 10 stools. You can read more about these diners at the Kansas Historical Society website: http://www.kshs.org/p/travel-by-theme-diners/10398
The Indiana Lincoln Highway Association is seeking information, images and ephemera dealing with the early cabin camps on the Lincoln Highway. These precursors to the motel were also referred to as cabin courts, cottage camps, auto camps and courts, tourist camps and motor courts. We are interested in the history and disposition of these camps, and images from photographs, postcards, matchbooks and other advertising ephemera.
Please visit the Cabin Camp Project page under the Blog / News menu link above, or click here.
Kosciusko County’s very first traffic roundabout is on the old Lincoln Highway. It opened Nov. 22nd on Warsaw’s west side at the intersection with Fox Farm Road. In Warsaw Old U.S. 30 (Lincoln Highway) is known as Lake Street. Traffic roundabouts are designed to improve traffic flow and safety, and eliminate the maintenance associated with stop lights. Another roundabout is scheduled to be built in 2012 at the intersection of Old 30 and Zimmer Road not far from the one already in place.
Joyce Chambers and Kimberly Jo Parker have developed a Lincoln Highway resource kit, which is available at no charge to any area schools, and home school teachers. For more information please see our Publicationsweb page.
Welcome to our new website.
The seven header images display randomly on each page. These historic images are all from my Indiana Lincoln Highway postcard collection.
Aerial view of Red Top Diner and gas station in Fort Wayne on US 30 (showing Maumee St (Lincoln Highway), at back
Lincolnway viaduct New Carlisle
Shell Gas Station at Lincoln and Dixie Highways intersection in Plymouth
Chester’s Camp, Lake County (exact location unknown)
Gresswick Tourist Camp, west side of South Bend at the intersection of Lincoln Way West and Quince Rd
S. Main St, Goshen
Ligonier Motor Court, at US 33 (Lincoln Highway) and US 6 intersection
Highway Byway.
