Driving along the Lincoln Highway

In the early 1900's a need for a nation wide highway was plain to those in the burgeoning automotive industry and Carl Fisher, who manufactured the carbide gas headlights in most auto's of the period as well as being one of the founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, organized a meeting in 1911 at which he proposed building a transcontinental highway declaring "Let's build it before we're too old to enjoy it!".  Projected to cost a handsome sum of 10 million dollars (250 million in today's money) within a month he had one million raised from his friends. Other contributors included Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt and the then current president Woodrow Wilson. Interestingly Henry Ford refused to contribute, believing the federal government should foot the bill rather than private donors.

Construction began in 1912 and by 1916 the highway was built and available for travel. According to a road guide at the time the trip would take 20-30 days and a motorist would need to average 18 miles per hour for 6 hours. Driving was only done during daylight hours and drivers were advised to bring: a shovel, an ax, jacks,chains, tire casings and tubes, tools and of course a pair of Lincoln Highway pennants. The guide also mentioned topping fuel at every opportunity as gas stations were few along the route in the early days. And finally "Don't wear new shoes".

There were few hotels unless you passed by a town and there's many a story about sleeping beside your car (Or under it in case of rain)  with only the evening stars as company. The highway's heyday was from the late 1910's thru the early 1950's with president Dwight Eisenhower signing legislation creating the National Interstate system in 1956. After the interstates were built, many directly over the Lincoln roadbeds, the rest of the highway fell into disuse and was largely forgotten.

In Franklin Grove stands the National headquarter for the Lincoln Highway association. Formed in 1992 to identify and preserve the portions of the highway that still existed along with historic sites and monuments that had been built during the highways lifetime. The headquarters is located in a building that had been owned by Harry Isaac Lincoln, a cousin of Abraham.  It's a massive stone block building right in the center of town and of course, along the highway's route.

If you ever get up that way the staff inside are friendly and knowledgeable and eager to talk. Souvenirs of all kinds are available as well as display cases filled with memorabilia from the glory days. It's a short drive on what once was America's very first highway.

The Lee county Infirmary

Earlier this year I posted an article about the Green River Ordnance plant. At the time I posted several photo's of what I had identified as an 'Administration' building for the plant. I have since found out I was wrong. It was in fact, the Lee county Infirmary.  The Infirmary, also known as the Lee county Poor farm, was built in the early 1900's and constructed in Three parts. It replaced an earlier structure that had been wood frame. The East wing was strictly for male patients, the West wing was for the females and the Central hub had the superintendents quarters and offices.

Morrison Vail of Dixon was awarded the contract to build the facility at a final cost of $55,800.00, a handsome sum at the time. The building ended up being 162 feet long and 104 feet deep with what were then state of the art facilities. In addition to private quarters for the superintendent there was space provided for doctors offices,an operating theater located behind the doctors office and a private dining room for staff.

The residents each had their own dining rooms, keeping men and women completely separated and two rooms in each wing were reserved fro patients judged to be insane. Four rooms were double sized and meant for couple, married individuals or to be used as sitting rooms if so desired. In addition to a complete kitchen to serve the facility there was a bakery and an outside 'Icing' chamber.

The East wing had a Tuberculosis ward with its own bathroom and screened in sun porch isolated from the rest of the building.  The total occupancy of the building was set at 45 men and women in addition to staff, doctors, nurses, attendants, etc.

Like all institutions such as this people occasionally died.  Since this was an almshouse or poor house, often the deceased had no family to claim the body for burial. A small cemetery was located near the building to inter those who went unclaimed.

Today the building stands empty and forlorn. The other shell still looks good, but the interior is ruined. Windows are broken out, doors are missing, the barn beside the almshouse has fallen in. An effort was made back in 2005 by the Roberts family to restore and preserve the cemetery and the headstones that are visible today are only so due to their efforts. Though there are 102 people interred there we only found a few that were legible.

The stones we were able to identify are:

Charles Rudolph- D. Sept. 24th,1898
Lewis Alexander-D. Feb 22nd,1898
John McNeal-D. Jan 19th,1898
Casper Ott-D. Sept.15th,1895

This is an interesting chapter of Lee county history and if you ever get up that way be sure to stop for a moment and reflect on how much things have improved since then. Note: The property is in disrepair and there are No Trespassing signs posted. Stay on the public road.

The Lil' Nick Special

This weekend was the Bureau County fair! A whole week of fun, festivities, fattening foods that would make a doctor weep at the thought of calories consumed and cholesterol levels shot.  There were exhibits and contests including one that this humble adventurer won a prize at.  But this weekend was Also Depot Days in Amboy. Also well attended and with much the same results.

Last week I, Tom Anderson and Lil' Nick happened to find ourselves up in Lee county meeting fellow photographer and history enthusiast, Kimberly Wattley.  Kimberly agreed to meet us at the depot museum and we chatted for about 45 minutes on places to go and people to see and I have high hopes she'll join us on some future expedition.

As she and I sat and talked Tom and Lil' Nick decided to take a closer look at the depot and locomotive. The last time we were there there had been some construction going on and the engine had been stripped prior to a fresh coat of pain. Now that it was all put together they wanted to check things out.  The following photo's were ALL taken by my Lil sidekick Nick. If you know him, congratulate him on a Job Well Done.

You don't have to go to Holland to see a windmill.

They have one of their very own in Dwight, IL.  In 1879 Dr. Leslie Keeley in association with John Oughton announced that they had found a cure for alcoholism, dubbed the 'Gold Cure'. This led to the founding of the Keeley Institute located in Dwight but eventually had over 200 branches throughout the United States and Europe.

Oughton, an Irish chemist, Remodeled the house in 1894 which had originally been a club house for the Institute and located on the grounds of the Keeley estate. Upon completion his wife nicknamed it 'The Manse'.

Behind the house sits a 110 foot high windmill. Originally called the Pumping Tower it was constructed in 1896 by U.S. Wind, Engine, and Pump Co. of Batavia, IL. and at the time was one of the largest structures of its kind in the country. It remained in the Oughton family until 1996 before eventually being donated to the city.

Were it not for the presence of Dr. Keeley and his Institute, Dwight might never have become more than just a sleepy farming town. As it is, Dwight attained World wide recognition for a time as THE place to go for a cure to an insidious affliction.

Thanks to my sidekick Lil' Nick for some of these shots.

Can you hear the Clanging of the fire bell?

On our recent trip to Dwight we came across a wonderful old piece of technology sitting at the visitors center. A 1914 American La France Model "T" Ford fire engine. This is a type 32 which was produced between 1914 thru 1927. It was a marriage of sorts between the Ford motor company which supplied the rolling chassis and American La France which supplied the fire fighting apparatus.

The fire engine served Dwight faithfully from 1914 thru 1937 when it was acquired by the owner of the Texaco station as a promotional tool for his Fire Chief brand of gasoline. The engine was repainted and the motor restored in 1970. It was later sold and donated to the Dwight Historical society who then put it on display at the Texaco station it had once called home.

It's available for children to sit on ( Lil' Nick took advantage of that ) and is a cute addition to the Route 66 gas station we stopped at. People from all over the world stop by there, a couple from England were leaving as we arrived. So next time you want someplace to go, consider a drive down to Dwight.

Cruising down the Mother road

Saturday was a sunny and relatively cool day. And so, I gathered up my camera's, topped off the gas tank, collected Lil' Nick and we went searching for the Mother road. I'm referring of course to historic Route 66. We found it in Dwight, about an hours drive away. Dwight is a small town of just over 4000 people and amongst the Many items of interest was that stretch of old Route 66 that still exists.

The first thing we spied coming into town was a old time Fillin' station that was built in 1933 and known by Basil "Tubby" Ambler who operated it continuously from 1938-1966 and then Philip Becker who ran it from '66 to 1999. In 2002 he donated it to the city who, after a complete renovation, turned into a visitors center with great fanfare.

Look at the station and you'll note that the service bay area was an add on put up in the 1940's as the war commenced and more and more people had cars serviced and kept them longer. Inside the service bays today is a special treat amongst the other souvenirs, Dwight's first powered fire engine, 1914 Ford Model T combination ladder and pumper truck.  Even Lil' Nick got in the act, pretending he was racing off to battle a roaring inferno.

So if you ever find yourself wanting something to do on a weekend, consider taking a short drive down to Livingston county and find yourself on Route 66. In addition to the service station there are a variety of other places of historical interest in town as you'll see in future posts.

Speaking of which, want to give a big Thank You to the folks at the Route 66 restaurant just down the road. They treated us like gold. We got great burgers, hand made and cooked to perfection!

He Survived thru a Twist of fate: An Update......

I was recently contacted by one of my followers who had detailed knowledge about the recent post I made on Leo Mongoven.  Many thanks to Kimberly Watley for her kind permission to use her story here on my site.

It was February 14, 1929, Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran was the target. It is believed, Al Capone ordered the hit. He didn’t contract Cupid, however.

Chicago wasn’t big enough for Irish and Italian mobsters to play well together. North and South side rivalries began with hijacking alcohol trucks during prohibition. (I was shocked to learn it had nothing to do with the Cubs and Sox too.)

Each gang sought control of an enormous underground network of bootlegging, prostitution and gambling markets. (Booze, sex, money and power, I guess somethings never change.)

To be number one in the nation, prohibition-era gangsters fought to eliminate their rivals. Bugs and his gang are credited with the first drive-by shootings, while Capone sought to gain control methodically.

The bloody climax between them resulted in seven of Bugs’ men being ambushed by gangsters dressed as police officers, in a North side Chicago garage.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, went down in history, even though its intended target was missed.

Bugs had a bodyguard, Leo Vincent Mongoven, known on the street as Leo The Ghost. He earned his moniker because when the law came to call, he vanished.

The Ghost was never credited with saving Bugs because he was an amazing bodyguard. In fact, that story never made it to the public. Bugs didn’t make it to the garage on time because Leo was late picking him up.

A couple of years ago, long after I moved out of Chicago’s North side, I learned the other part of that story.

I was in my 160 year old house, out in the country, two hours from the big city. There was a knock at the door, a man and woman I’d never met stood on my porch. He was holding a camera, and she was wearing a floppy sun hat and had a nervous grin. They were in their 70's… I opened the door, smiled and asked if I could help them.

They started speaking over one another, excitedly. I stepped out onto the porch. She grabbed my arm, and apologized for barging in, but was hoping I wouldn’t mind her and her cousin taking photos of my house.

With a shrug, I said, sure. A house this old holds a lot of history for a lot of families.

As he fidgeted with his camera, she began to tell me about her great-grandfather who lived here in the 20's. With a twinkle in her eyes and child-like excitement in her voice, her memories flowed.

“When I was a kid, we played in that barn back there. All of us kids used to go in there, sit on the old tractor, pretend we were driving and plowing the fields. Grandmother worked her garden right over here, and she could grow anything. There were two big oak trees over there. Guess they are long gone now…”

I listened intently as she strolled down memory lane and he snapped pictures. I noticed her hand involuntarily drawn to her chest, as those memories she shared were deep in her heart. She was adorable.

He too had a lot of fond memories to share. He mentioned their great-aunt (Lauretta) whose bedroom is now mine, that was when I learned some behind the scenes elements of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre story.

When their aunt’s beau would come to town from Chicago, she would sneak him in through her bedroom window. But when the law came looking for him, the girl and her mother hid him in the floorboards of the attic.

“No, Leo isn’t here,” they would say.

Her boyfriend, Leo “The Ghost,” was visiting his sweetheart for Valentine’s Day, and was running late getting Bugs to that garage.

He was here, in my house, smooching on their aunt, thus saving Bugs' life.

To say I was fascinated is an understatement.

Not too long ago, I was in a nearby cemetery taking pictures of a Veteran’s grave who is the only local man I know of who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

While walking through, I found, The Ghost. <3

P.S. In the blog post, it was written that he was late because he was picking up a pack of cigarettes. I'm a romantic and like the story I heard better.

So there you have it. Again many thanks to Kimberly for sharing her story with me and She's promised to pass along even more interesting places to visit and document that are just Off the Beaten Path.

                                           (Mongoven is the man standing at the far left).