Lincoln Highway gets new marker at Lincoln Park

High on a windy and weed-worn knoll in Lincoln Park, a little-noticed event occurred at 2:30 p.m. on Flag Day, June 2002 - the placement of a replica marker evidencing the "Western Terminus of the Lincoln Highway."

The first coast-to-coast highway, the Lincoln Highway ran from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco and was completed in 1913 for a distance of 3,384 miles. It was named to perpetuate the memory of President Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln Highway was conceived by Carl Fisher (founder of the Indianapolis Speedway), who encouraged pioneers of the fledgling automobile industry to join him in mapping a direct automobile route between the two cities. So, in 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association was incorporated with Henry Joy (president of the Packard Motor Car Company) as its first president.

The original concrete marker evidencing the western terminus was positioned at the foot of the "Three Shades," a massive bronze by Rodin, on Sept. 1, 1928 by San Francisco Boy Scouts.

On June 14, 2002, San Francisco Boy Scout Troop 17, led by Patrol Leader Steven Tortorelli, Life Scout, re-enacted that event by positioning a replica marker a short distance from the original site. Participating in the re-dedication was Dede Wilsey, president of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Pamela McDonald, director of Audience Development and Civic Affairs at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Also participating was former Eagle Scout Bernard Queneau, now 90 years of age, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who traveled the length of the Lincoln Highway in 1928 with three other scouts, demonstrating highway safety exercises, first aid and life-saving methods.

From July to September 1919, a two-mile U.S. Army Transcontinental Convoy of 56 military vehicles and 209 men "conquered" the Lincoln Highway. Accompanying the convoy was then-Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who perceived the need for improved highways for both military and commercial purposes.

Thirty-seven years later, President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, giving birth to the interstate highway system which serves our nation today. Interstate 80 follows much of the old Lincoln Highway, once the "Main Street of the Nation."

The celebration event was sponsored by the California Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association, which voted during the Lincoln Highway Association National Conference, held June 11-15 at Sacramento, to support the effort.