Published: October 21, 2007 01:15 am         

Goshen signs mark 'Lincoln Highway'

Fifty-four new informational signs were uncovered Saturday along the original route of the Lincoln Highway through the city of Goshen.

The project was spearheaded by the Lincoln Highway Association and the city Street Department, which made and installed the three-color signs. The red, white and blue road signs were installed this month and covered in black bags until Saturday morning.

The route runs from C.R. 28 and Wilden Avenue on the north, down Chicago Avenue and Pike Street to Main and out U.S. 33 to the south limits.

“The street department did a beautiful job,” said Tom Riggs, a Goshen historian and Highway Association member, at the Saturday unveiling.

Riggs said his next projects include encouraging the County Commissioners to place a “zero mile marker” on the courthouse lawn, and trying to get a business to help replace the old “city limit” archway near Chicago and Beaver Lane.

Jan Shupert-Arick, Fort Wayne, now national president of the Lincoln Highway Association, announced that this is the second time the highway route was dedicated at Goshen.

She said that on June 22, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sent Vice President Thomas Marshall to dedicate the road, which was developed with private investors to help with interstate travel and getting goods to markets via motorized vehicles.

The Lincoln Highway was the first east-west road built from coast to coast. Much of the construction was privately funded by investors who represented businesses in the transportation field.

Shupert-Arick thanked the 40 people who attended the event Saturday morning and urged people to join the Lincoln Highway Association. She said there is an effort to have the highway named a “state byway” but that effort must be grass-roots, at the urging of residents.

“It’s a thrill to be here. Your support is wonderful,” she said.

The dedication was at the C.R. 40 intersection and then the group drove north through the city with a police escort shortly after 11 a.m.

Shupert-Arick announced that the association’s national conference in 2009 is set in South Bend.

The national office is now at 402 W. Washington St., South Bend. The telephone number is (574) 233-0393.