It's hard to imagine taking a road trip across America without using today's dedicated highway system, but in 1912, there were few automobiles and even fewer roads. Railroads were still the transportation of choice to get anywhere beyond one's local village.
Cities built roads from brick, stone or other material, but in rural areas, roadways were few and were constructed of dirt or gravel, meant for local use. Automobile travel was challenging at best and impossible at worst for those trying to navigate across washed-out or muddy roads, deep ruts and difficult terrain.
Then the Lincoln Highway Association came along, founded in 1913 and led by Carl G. Fisher, who owned an automobile dealership, an automobile headlight manufacturing company and later built the Indianapolis Speedway.
The association included a group of like-minded businessmen, including Frank Seiberling, who founded Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and Henry B. Joy, who was the president of the Packard Motor Car Co. at that time.
Their intentions were two-fold: 1) To build a coast-to-coast highway for automobile access from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, and 2) Use the new highway to encourage the development of other highways across the nation, according to a history of the Lincoln Highway posted online by the Federal Highway Administration.
Fisher estimated the highway would cost $10 million, and his friends in the auto industry pledged $1 million for its construction. The Lincoln Highway Association was incorporated on July 1, 1913, and chose the name The Lincoln Highway in honor of late President Abraham Lincoln.
That same day, Fisher and a group of motorists called the "Trail Blazers" left Indianapolis in a convoy of 17 cars and two trucks, heading west to map out the best route for the western section of the highway. It took them 34 days to complete the journey to San Francisco; upon their arrival, they rode in a ceremonial parade to mark the end of their trip and then returned to Indianapolis by train.
The Lincoln Highway Association announced the official route for The Lincoln Highway on Sept. 14, 1913, charting a 3,389-mile roadway that passed through 12 states on its way across America from the East Coast to the West Coast. The route was officially dedicated a month later, on Oct. 31, 1913; it was the first route in America that was designed for an automobile to travel across the nation, from east to west.
However, the Lincoln Highway Association had difficulty raising enough private funds to actually build the highway, so their work turned to promoting the use of The Lincoln Highway, building short sections of the highway and encouraging state and local government officials to complete sections of the highway in their areas.
In 1928, The Lincoln Highway was marked using 3,000 concrete markers placed along the right-of-way to show motorists the official route. However, it wasn't until 1938 – 25 years after The Lincoln Highway was first named – that most of the over 3,000-mile highway was completed.
The Lincoln Highway also helped to launch the design and construction of other roadways across the U.S., which would lead to the Interstate Highway System, signed in 1956 by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which created many of the highways we travel on 70 years later.
Some interesting facts about The Lincoln Highway:
Length: originally 3,389 miles in 1913, later revised to 3,142 miles
East Coast Terminus: Broadway and 42nd Street, Times Square, New York
West Coast Terminus: Lincoln Park, San Francisco, California
Crosses through 12 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California
National midpoint of Lincoln Highway: Cozad, Nebraska (1,694.5 miles, based on the highway's original length)
Speed Limit: approximately 15 miles per hour in 1916
There are some unusual attractions and places to visit in and around Pennsylvania's section of The Lincoln Highway, including:
The Haines Shoe House, a vacation rental home shaped like a giant shoe, located at 197 Shoe House Road in York.
Koontz's Coffee Pot, an 18-foot-tall building shaped like a coffee pot, located at 714 W. Pitt St. in Bedford.
The Lincoln Motor Court, a group of tourist cabins built in the 1940s and the last motor court still in operation along the Lincoln Highway, located at 5104 Lincoln Highway in Manns Choice, near Bedford.
The Lincoln Highway Experience at 3435 U.S. Route 30 in Latrobe, where guests can take a virtual Lincoln Highway bike ride across the U.S. and view exhibits of Lincoln Highway memorabilia that include a restored Packard automobile (the "official" Lincoln Highway automobile) and a restored tourist cabin, the front facade of a vintage filling station and the fully-restored 1938 Serro's Diner, where guests can enjoy a slice of pie and a cup of coffee with paid admission to the museum.
The World's Largest Teapot at 600 Indiana Ave. in Chester, West Virginia, is a 14-foot tall and 14-foot round structure resembling a giant teapot.
There are also many important places from American history to see along the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania, including Independence National Historical Park and Valley Forge National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Gettysburg National Military Park and the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Fort Ligonier, Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington and the Fort Pitt Museum in Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: How the Lincoln Highway shaped America's national highway system