THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION (LHA) TODAY

The original Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) dissolved in 1935. However, the organization was reactivated fifty-seven (57) years later at a meeting in Ogden, Iowa in October, 1992.

The new Lincoln Highway Association of today is, like its predecessor, also a voluntary membership organization open to all with an interest in celebrating and preserving the Lincoln Highway. Its activities seek to 1) identify, preserve, interpret. and improve access to the highway and associated sites; 2) pursue appropriate measurers to prevent further deterioration, destruction, or alteration of the remaining section of the highway; 3) publicize and seek public awareness of its goals and activities for preserving, promoting, and developing the highway; 4) facilitate research about the highway and publish a magazine for articles and news about it and the Association’s activities; and 5) work with local communities and businesses to promote the highway as a tourism destination. The organization is an IRS Code 501c(3) charitable and educational organization.

Today’s Lincoln Highway Association boasts over 1,000 members in nearly every U.S. state and in many foreign countries. It has state chapters covering all of the thirteen states through which the Lincoln Highway passed on its 3,389-mile course from New York to San Francisco. Somewhat naturally, the Association’s National Headquarters is located in the “Land of Lincoln” at 111 South Elm Street in Franklin Grove, Illinois. PHOTO: LHA National Headquarters Building, Franklin Grove, Illinois. Photo Courtesy of the Lincoln Highway Association.

The LHA publishes The Lincoln Highway Forum, a quarterly journal providing readers with historical and contemporary information about the highway and the Association’s events and activities. Among those activities is an annual meeting conducted in a location along the historic route. The 2006 annual meeting will be held on the Campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from June 13-17, 2006.

The new LHA was instrumental in securing passage of federal legislation, in December 2000, directing the National Park Service to coordinate a comprehensive study of the routes of the Lincoln Highway. This Special Resource Study (SRS) evaluated the highway and related resources and presented management alternatives for its long-term preservation. The study was completed in 2003 and the results can be obtained by visiting http://www.nps.gov/mwro/lincolnhighway/background.htm. As further testimony to the LHA’s success, the Association was the recipient of a donation of $100,000.00 from a generous, but anonymous, friend of the highway from Pennsylvania in 2005.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION CONTACT: The Lincoln Highway Association P. O. Box 308 (111 South Elm Street) Franklin Grove, Illinois 61031 (815) 456-3030 or visit www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org

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