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SECTION 10—UPPER SANDUSKY TO BEAVERDAM—36.8 MILES

The route of the 1928 Lincoln Highway between Upper Sandusky and Beaverdam is usually remembered as the straightest section on the entire transcontinental route. It is now also recognized as one of the most dangerous sections on the route, because it carries heavy volumes of traffic as an important part of U.S. Route 30 between Interstate Route 71 near Mansfield and Interstate Route 75 near Beaverdam. In 1990, an Ohio Department of Transportation study made in the area east of Beaverdam reported that this route carried about 5000 vehicles per day, with about half of Dedicated in 1900, the Wyandot County Court House is one of the most impressive in the entire state, highlighted by outstanding murals and an interior staircase which spans two levels.  The court house is built on the site of a cemetery for soldiers who died in battle during the War of 1812.those vehicles being trucks.

Dedicated in 1900, the Wyandot County Court House is one of the most impressive in the entire state, highlighted by outstanding murals and an interior staircase which spans two levels. The court house is built on the site of a cemetery for soldiers who died in battle during the War of 1812.

This section became part of the Lincoln Highway in June 1919, when the route of the U.S. Army's Transcontinental Motor Convoy was being planned. At the urging of the army engineers, Lincoln Highway officials finally abandoned the notorious "zigzag" route through Forest and Ada (cf., State Route 53/State Route 81 to Ada today) in favor of the "straight" route through Williamstown and Beaverdam. This resulted in a distance reduction of about thirteen miles. Austin F. Bement, then vice-president of the Lincoln Highway Association, called this new routing "the longest section of the Lincoln Highway between the two coasts A sign from an era when truck traffic began to dominate what is now U.S. Route 30, the Bon-Air Motel, one mile west of Williamstown, has been vacant for as long as I can remember.without a turn." The 1924 Guide embellished on that a bit, reading "...without a turn or curve."

A sign from an era when truck traffic began to dominate what is now U.S. Route 30, the Bon-Air Motel, one mile west of Williamstown, has been vacant for as long as I can remember.

That embellishment is technically incorrect, because there were - and still are - some slight curves in this particular section. These curves are in the area of the bridges over Tymochtee Creek and Oak Run, both in Wyandot County, and also through the eastern most mile in Allen County. Not coincidentally, these are also the only parts of the alignment in this charted section that diverge from the section lines of the rectangular survey. In the final analysis, over 42 miles of the 44.5 miles from Warpole Street in Upper Sandusky to what is now State Route 115 in Allen County truly do follow the surveyor's section lines.

Nowhere in the state can the rectangular survey system be appreciated more than here in northwestern Ohio. Although the first system of these surveys originated in eastern Ohio, where the Pennsylvania state line meets the Ohio River [see Section 0—The Point Of Beginning], the hills and hollows there do not allow for the immediate recognition of the land having been laid out in squares. However, in the flatlands of northwestern Ohio, where so many roads follow the section lines (and quarter-section lines, etc.), a passing look at any county map will reveal the methodical pattern of the survey work. An excellent example of this rectangular network is in Orange Township, in the southwest corner of Hancock County. The remarkable thing about Orange Township is that almost all the roads in the township are on the section lines, and only on the section lines—of the 84miles of section lines that make up the exterior and interior of this township, 80.5 miles are followed by a roadway. Another three miles of roadway which do not follow a section line instead follow the half-section line through three of the sections.

In rural rectangular Ohio, the one-room schoolhouse was ideally at the center of four square-mile sections of land.  This structure east of Williamstown was built in 1880.In rural rectangular Ohio, the one-room schoolhouse was ideally at the center of four square-mile sections of land. This structure east of Williamstown was built in 1880.

Within this particular rectangular system, a typical "congressional" township is six miles square, made up of 36 one-mile squares called "sections." A congressional township (indicated by township number and range number) should not be confused with a civil township (indicated by a name), which may or may not contain 36 square miles (for example, Van Buren Township, in Hancock County, contains only 24 square miles). These congressional townships were surveyed east from the First Principal Meridian, defined by the Ohio/Indiana state line, and both north and south from the Base Line, which is approximately at 41 degrees North Latitude. The 36 sections within each township were divided into quarter-sections and other fractions, allowing for an orderly distribution of these lands. Compared to the metes and bounds descriptions of the colonial states (for example, thence N45°E a distance of 30 rods to the old oak tree, etc.), the descriptions of the rectangular survey lands are more definite with respect to location (for example, northwest quarter of Section 16). An "old oak tree" from an 1800s deed description is not likely to be found today.

The problem of surveying this series of "squares" on a spherical earth, coupled with the problem of surveys approaching the same township line from opposite directions, is what creates the annoying jogs on highways throughout northwestern Ohio. These jogs can be observed four times in this part of the route, starting six miles east of Williamstown at U.S. 30 milepost 18, and then for every six miles thereafter (bearing westerly) to milepost 0, at the Allen County line. An example of how highway engineers have solved the problem created by these jogs is at milepost 6, where a gentle reverse curve—in this case, a curve to the left, followed immediately by a curve to the right—has overcome a small jog of 33 feet at the congressional township line.

Most of the 1928 alignment between Upper Sandusky and Beaverdam has remained virtually unchanged for nearly seventy years. Since assuming the U.S. 30-N, then U.S. 30 designations, only three projects have rendered significant changes to this alignment. In the middle 1950s, new bridges were constructed at Tymochtee Creek and Oak Run, both in Wyandot County, each a short distance north of the previous structures. A roadway about one-half mile long, now designated Township Road 54, remains a bypassed segment of the earlier route. This remnant now dead-ends at both of the old bridge locations, and can be accessed by using that part of Township Road 102 which intersects U.S. 30 just west of the bridge over Tymochtee Creek.

The present bridge over Tymochtee Creek is actually the third structure to take the Lincoln Highway across that stream. Although the previous (second) bridge at the end of Township Road 54 has been removed with few traces, the east abutment of the original (first) bridge can still be found, about 135feet north of the existing structure. This old cut stone and concrete abutment is best observed from that part of Township Road 102 that is northeast of the present bridge on U.S. Route 30.

In the late 1950s, the four-lane "Williamstown Bypass" was opened, creating grade separations with both the old New York Central Railroad and U.S. 68 at the north side of that crossroads community. Watch for the old overpass of the railroad in Williamstown—now a closed portion of County Road 332—from which Drake Hokanson took a photo for his 1988 book (after page 48). Not long after this photograph was taken, the crumbling concrete sidewalls were removed, along with the red, white, and blue Lincoln Highway signs. The whereabouts of the old signs remain a mystery.

A more recent project was completed in November 1993, when the last leg of the "Upper Sandusky Bypass" was opened. For this project, a two-mile stretch of limited access highway was opened from a point on existing four-lane U.S. 23 (about three miles northwest of Upper Sandusky) to a point on the old alignment (about three miles west of Upper Sandusky). The existing four-lane route had been opened around the east and north sides of Upper Sandusky during the mid-1960s. At the western junction point, a small part of the old Lincoln Highway was destroyed so that a new at-grade intersection could be constructed for safer access to and from the new highway. A dead-end remnant of the original alignment now serves as an access road to a farmhouse, and is designated "TH 330" (Township Highway 330). The major part of the old road between Warpole Street and the new intersection is now designated "CH 330" (County Highway 330).

Another recent project opened on December 22, 1999. This was a seven mile section from State Route 235 "above" Ada to a point on the existing limited access highway "below" Beaverdam. In early 1995, this author had the privilege of signing and sealing the right-of-way plans for that project. He also had the opportunity to be there for the official ground breaking when construction started on December 19, 1997. Construction of the remainder of four-lane highway between the Upper Sandusky Bypass and State Route 235 could begin in 2003.

One other equally gratifying project completed on October 16, 1999 was the construction of a brick replica pillar at the east edge of Beaverdam.  Seven members of the Mid-Ohio Chapter of the Ohio Lincoln Highway League spent the day erecting the pillar on the same concrete base of a previous pillar that was long ago destroyed. The first pillar was dedicated October 20, 1928 when the last stretch of concrete Lincoln Highway pavement was opened across Allen County. The pillar is dedicated to Carl Fisher, who also founded the Dixie Highway which intersects the Lincoln Highway at this point.

In 1999, Richard Taylor (above) and the Mid-Ohio Chapter of the LHA rebuilt a brick pillar on its original foundation in Beaverdam.  Taylor has been responsible for the restoration of other Lincoln Highway landmarks in Ohio.  Located at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway and Dixie Highway in Beaverdam, the new pillar (below) was dedicated to Carl Fisher, who founded both highways.In 1999, Richard Taylor (above) and the Mid-Ohio Chapter of the LHA rebuilt a brick pillar on its original foundation in Beaverdam.  Taylor has been responsible for the restoration of other Lincoln Highway landmarks in Ohio.  Located at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway and Dixie Highway in Beaverdam, the new pillar (below) was dedicated to Carl Fisher, who founded both highways.In 1999, Richard Taylor (left) and the Mid-Ohio Chapter of the LHA rebuilt a brick pillar on its original foundation in Beaverdam. Taylor has been responsible for the restoration of other Lincoln Highway landmarks in Ohio. Located at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway and Dixie Highway in Beaverdam, the new pillar (below) was dedicated to Carl Fisher, who founded both highways.

Historically, this section of the Lincoln Highway was a late addition to Ohio's map of Inter-County Highways, as it was part of I.C.H. #512, or Delphos-Upper Sandusky Road. It appears that the original Lincoln Highway Association may have sought Inter-County Highway status for this part of the coast-to- coast route in order to assure state aid in the future. Like all the sections between Mansfield and Delphos, this route has carried the designations of State Route 5, U.S. Route 30-N, and U.S. Route 30. Only that part of this section in Allen County is officially designated by the Lincoln Highway name. Wyandot County's white-on-green road name signs designate the federal portion of this roadway as "USH 30".

Recent research has revealed that part of this section of the coast-to-coast route was once considered for the Lincoln Highway's Ideal Section. Based on correspondence in 1921 from the secretary of the Lincoln Highway Association to the directors, the area that was considered was somewhere in Hancock County. It appears that the addition of this section to Ohio's system of Inter-County Highways made it a more likely candidate for state and federal aid, once the Ideal Section was considered along with it. Eventually, however, the 1.3-mile long and 40-foot wide lighted and curbed ribbon of concrete known as the Ideal Section was constructed between Schererville and Dyer, Indiana, near the Illinois State Line. It wasn't until October 1929 that the last seven miles of paving was opened through northwestern Ohio-- a stretch between New Stark and the Hancock/Allen County Line.

Odometer chart for this section

Strip Map 1 - Eastern Section   Strip Map 2 - Western Section