DeKalb County and the Lincoln Highway
By Ivan Prall

Readers of C. V. Marshes’ Early Recollections will sympathize with his struggle with early county roads.  For those who have not read the book, he describes traveling from Waterman to Combs Mill, north of Sycamore, to have bags of grain ground into flour.  On one occasion driving home at 3 a.m. his brother fell asleep on the wagon seat beside him and fell off in front of the front wheels.  Because the mud was so deep, although the wagon wheels passed over his neck, he was not harmed.  On another occasion because of the deep mud they had to disassemble the wagon and take it and its cargo, piecemeal, across the worst spots and then reassemble to continue their trip.

Farmers’ efforts to market their produce had been a sore point for some years, but the advent of the automobile added the claims of city dwellers, who by the early 1900s, had purchased an automobile but could not risk driving outside city streets.

In 1912, although one million cars and trucks were registered in the U.S., if a person wished to travel from coast to coast they had two options:  take a train or a ship around the tip of South America as the Panama Canal had not yet been built.  Most of those one million automobiles depended on a carbide lighting system for night time travel.  This carbide lighting system was known as Prest-o-Lite, and the company manufacturing these lights was headed by Carl G. Fisher.

Mr. Fisher realized that to sustain automotive growth, roads must be built outside cities for the use of the increasing automotive population.  He proposed to build a highway from Time Square in New York 3,389 miles to San Francisco.  The road was to be constructed of crushed rock.  It was considered that at least 10 million dollars would be needed, but when Mr. Fisher approached Henry Ford for a donation, Ford, who was producing three quarters of the cars on the road, declined.

At this time Henry B. Joy, president of the Packard Motor Cars Company, stepped in with a large donation and persuaded officials to utilize a $1.6 million congressional appropriation set aside for a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, but never spent.  When the project was agreed to be called the Lincoln Highway the deal was sealed.

There now followed a small civil war as every town coast to coast desired to have access to a good road.

The Lincoln Highway Association was set up, for unknown reasons, based on the Roman Consular form of government.  Two hundred sixty-three were chosen to cover the area from New York to San Francisco.  The Consul for the DeKalb area was Dr. J. W. Corkings of DeKalb.            

Meanwhile, cement manufacturers sensing a possible market for their product, which hitherto had been mainly used for sidewalks, offered to donate barrels of cement for demonstration projects.

Dr. Corkings obtained such a donation for the local highway on the condition that a particularly muddy location be chosen as a demonstration of the difference between mud and concrete.  The location chosen was the road past Malta. If there be a doubt as to this being a proper location … a Sycamore Tribune column of this era described the harvest of over two tons of fish from the swampy area through which the road would pass.

While Doc Corkings had received the concrete gratis, there was still the problem of gravel and labor to consider.  He badgered the County Board into appropriating $3,000.  Two thousand more came from public subscriptions.  Those donating $25 or more received a mahogany plaque.

Work commenced in September, 1914. This time was chosen as the horses were needed earlier for farm work. Corkings had obtained a steam operated concrete mixer and some engineering expertise from Springfield. The mixer had never been used for anything but sidewalks before. PHOTO: Concrete crew at work on the Seedling Mile near Malta, Illinois, 1914. Photo courtesy of the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition.

By late October, the project had run out of funds. Originally scheduled for one mile, a wealthy farmer named Frederic Willrett, living 1/10 of a mile west of the starting point by Malta’s Cemetery; donated $1,000 on the condition the seedling mile ran the extra 1/10 mile to his driveway. Today the blue signs put out by the Illinois Department of Transportation mark this beginning and end of the Seedling Mile.

The last concrete was poured on Nov. 12, 1914. Much celebrating occurred. Whistles were tied down in Malta and DeKalb and bells were rung. A plane scheduled to fly from Des Moines, IA to Malta for this big celebration failed to find Malta and landed in Indiana setting a new world record for distance flight in 1914.

The War which had now started in Europe put a greater demand for good roads. Everyone was wildly enthusiastic and the DeKalb Woman’s Club ordered a boxcar of shrubbery to beautify the Seedling Mile. For this occasion they rounded up nearly 100 volunteers and put on a large feast. Street dances were held on the highway at the west side. PHOTO: The first “Seedling Mile” in the country at Malta, Illinois. The concrete pavement was ten feet wide. Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Year: n. d. Filing Code: ILL.37 Size: Small, Accession No: lhc1258.

In an interview with Beth Busby, now deceased, she described how anyone owning a car in northern Illinois tried to visit the Seedling Mile and try it out. She stated they would reach a top speed of 35 mph, but ran off at the end, burying the car in the mud to the frame, requiring a team of horses to extract them.

Another flaw occurred early also. This Seedling Mile was only 10 ft. wide. Two cars of high school children racing their parents’ cars locked hubs and overturned. Subsequently, the Seedling Mile was widened by two feet on each side with brick.

In 1995 the Phi Theta Kappa organization at Kishwaukee College raised the funds for a large bronze plaque commemorating the Seedling Mile. This is now displayed at the entrance to their campus. Photo: Lincoln Highway Commemorative Plaque near the entrance to the Kishwaukee College Campus, near Malta, Illinois. Photo courtesy of the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition. (PRALL) Four more “seedling miles” were constructed in 1915. These “prototypes” immediately became popular motorist destinations. The stark contrast between these smooth patches of pavement and the bumpy or muddy roads leading up to them created a groundswell of public opinion in favor of “Good Roads.”