BUCKEYE RAMBLINGS
The Official Newsletter of the Ohio Lincoln Highway League
Number 47                                                                                                                            November 2005

DELPHOS DEDICATES VETERANS MEMORIAL PROJECT

Although the typical November in Ohio includes too many gray days with wind, cold, rain, and sometimes snow, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 2005 featured a cloudless blue sky and a bearable temperature that allowed this writer and a crowd of nearly 400 citizens and dignitaries to gather in downtown Delphos for the dedication of their sparkling new Veterans Memorial. Located at the southwest corner of Fifth Street and Main Street, which was the intersection of U.S. 30-North and U.S. 30-South until the 1950s, and previous to that a control point on the Lincoln Highway, the impressive memorial park is the new centerpiece of the Delphos community. Recalling that the property was last host to a nondescript and long-closed Marathon gas station, Master of Ceremonies and VFW Quartermaster Rick Schuck rightfully stated that "We are proud to have turned an ugly duckling into a swan." The site was cleared, prepared, and improved by city and park workers.

The park features a Civil War statue that was moved from the nearby library, plus monuments to four later wars— World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in these wars were commemorated with inscriptions in these monuments. Black granite pillars recognize the five branches of the armed forces, and brick pavers honor individual men and women who have served their country, plus other local donors. Two brick pavers feature the names of two Civil War veterans from Delphos, and are placed in a star shape that surrounds the Civil War statue.

When asked when this memorial would be complete, Mr. Schuck responded by saying that "The answer is when there are no more wars." Let this be our prayer not only for the Delphos community, but for our entire nation.

WELCOME TO NEW O.L.H.L. MEMBERS

September 2005— Bath Township Museum c/o Paul Schubert (Fairlawn, Ohio);
Minerva Area Chamber of Commerce (Minerva, Ohio)

UPCOMING EVENTS

MID-OHIO CHAPTER

January 19, 2005— Meeting begins at 6:30pm at Buehler's Restaurant on east side of Ashland.  For information regarding chapter activities, contact Chapter President Mike McNaull or newsletter editor Beverly Looker.

EASTERN OHIO CHAPTER

December 8, 2005— Annual Christmas Dinner at Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton (all OLHL members are invited to attend).
April 29, 2006— Eastern Ohio Chapter will host the 12th Annual Business Meeting of the OLHL, at the Canton Club in downtown Canton, overlooking the Lincoln Highway.

For information regarding chapter activities, contact Chapter President Jeff Lotze or 330-875-2989

OHIO LINCOLN HIGHWAY HERITAGE CORRIDOR

April 26, 2006— OLHHC Travel and Tourism Conference at Shisler Center in Wooster.
August 10-12, 2006— Second Annual Buy-Way Yard Sale, in Ohio and Indiana!

Thank you to LHA/OLHL member Jim Cassler and The Klingstedt Brothers Company, who have donated the return envelopes that were used to mail the hard copy newsletter. Congratulations remain in order for Jim and his associates for continuing their fine work with the Lincoln Highway Trading Post, who in 2006 will begin their fifth year as the official supplier of Lincoln Highway Merchandise. Members are encouraged to visit the web site at www.LHTP.com for a look at the impressive inventory of items, which now includes a center-wire binder for your collection of Lincoln Highway Forum.

OHIO CHAPTERS HOLD ANNUAL JOINT MEETING

One of the highlights of the OLHL year is the joint meeting of our two state chapters. This year's joint meeting was held October 20 at TJ's Restaurant in Wooster, with the Mid-Ohio Chapter represented by 16 members and the Eastern Ohio represented by 8 members. Absent from the meeting was Mid-Ohio President Mike McNaull, who with his wife was celebrating their silver wedding anniversary in South Carolina (congratulations!). Eastern Ohio President Jeff Lotze presided over the meeting.

It was reported that Jim Cassler has secured the historic Canton Club for the 12th Annual Business Meeting of the OLHL, which is scheduled for April 29, 2006. The Canton Club is located on the 14th floor of the First National Bank Building in downtown Canton, and overlooks the Lincoln Highway. Possible tours may include the First Ladies Library National Historic Site and the Canton Classic Car Museum.

Jim also gave details on plans proposed by the Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor to buy additional signage which would include the years of the route below the typical Historic Byway signs now being erected across the state. Suggestions were sought to help with the funding of these signs. Several items from the Lincoln Highway Trading Post were donated by Jim, then auctioned, with proceeds going to the sign fund.

After an excellent meal was professionally served ("everyone was pleased with the restaurant"), Jeff Lotze provided the program. The audience was treated to a DVD presentation of the Eastern Ohio Chapter's trip to the national conference in Ely, Nevada. Among those making the trip were Jeff Lotze and son Jeremy, Jim Cassler and son Brian, and John Long— Jim's faithful assistant with the Trading Post.
from report by Jeff Lotze.

EASTERN OHIO CHAPTER HOLDS SECOND ANNUAL ROAD RALLY

The Eastern Ohio Chapter held its Second Annual Road Rally in August. There were eight entries, and all entries finished in one way or another. The rally started in Canton at Klingstedt Brothers Printing Company (Lincoln Highway Trading Post), with the final destination being a cookout in the town park at Dalton. Jeff Lotze planned the rally to include a number of sections on the Lincoln Highway. Points were given for right answers to questions and clues along the route.

Jim and Karen Cassler were the winners of the road rally, and won a DVD featuring the first season of "The Dukes of Hazzard." Prizes were also awarded to second-place finishers Dick and Gerry Lotze, and to third-place Ezra Malernee and his son. The prize for the Best-Looking Ride went to Bob Evans. There was even a prize for the participants who were the most lost, but we aren't saying who got that auspicious award. Jeff estimated that 28 members and non-member guests were in attendance.  From report by Jeff Lotze

IN SEARCH OF...
THE 1924 DETOUR ROUTE

Those of you with copies of the 1924 edition of The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway have likely noticed that for quite some time, a detour route in Pennsylvania and Ohio east of Canton was recommended. As early as 1919, when the U.S. Army Transcontinental Convoy passed through Ohio, a route through East Palestine, Columbiana, Salem, Alliance, and Louisville was preferred over the traditional Lincoln Highway route by way of East Liverpool, Lisbon, and Minerva. In the days of named roads, this route was known as the Canton-Alliance-Pittsburgh Trail, and was later called the Cox Highway in honor of an Ohio governor.

That this detour route was the preferred route comes as no big surprise because the Lincoln Highway route through Columbiana County was the most difficult part of the route to improve of any section in Ohio. Even today, it is the U.S. 62 corridor through Salem and Alliance which features divided highways and interchanges, while the relatively quiet two-lane section of U.S. 30 between Lisbon and Minerva remains well down ODOT's list for projected four-lane improvements. If U.S. 30 ever does become a four-lane route across Ohio, it is a certainty that a new alignment west of Lisbon will be the final link of the completed chain.

In the August 2005 issue of Buckeye Ramblings, it was reported that a trio of Lincoln Highway Association members had put together a trivia quiz on the subject of their favorite highway. This writer found that to be a greatly interesting project, and added some input in compiling mileage totals of the various routes across Ohio. The 1924 Detour Route was considered for a special category in the final tally for Ohio because of its long-term use. However, there was a bit of a challenge in determining the location of this route (and thus the mileage) in the years of its use between 1919 and 1924.

With the help of highway archaeologist Jim Ross (who also maintains this OLHL web site), we think we have come up with the most likely alignment for the detour route that was traveled in the early 1920s. Some day, this writer will make it back to that part of the state again to follow it for himself, but for right now, an odometer chart prepared  in September 2005 (see below) best describes the historic detour. For a guy who is not a surveyor and mapper like this writer, Jim has instincts for finding old road remnants better than anyone I have ever met.

Along with his nose for tracing bits and pieces of bypassed routes, Jim also has a keen eye for old highway architecture. The 1924 Detour Route is absolutely loaded with old gas stations that have been converted to other uses as either U.S. 62 or State Route 14 were bypassed around the several towns and villages. Along with the odometer chart on Sheet 5 are five photographs (all by Jim Ross) of old filling stations, and almost every community seems to have at least one. From top to bottom are pictures of old fill-'er-ups in East Palestine, Columbiana, Damascus, and two in Beloit. Another picture of a similar station in Sebring would not fit on the sheet. Jim also found at least one old roadside rest facility, with the typical canopy structure and well.

One particular part of the route which remains in question is where the route entered Ohio at the time when the army convoy arrived in 1919 to camp at the fairgrounds in East Palestine. The state route that now leaves in an easterly direction toward the state line from downtown East Palestine was built on an entirely new alignment at about this time, but we are not sure of the exact year or years. Anyone with a more specific knowledge of highway history in that neighborhood could certainly help us with that small dilemma. The official maps of the Ohio Department of Highways are inconclusive, and as often happens when tracing other old roads, it seems that for every blue book and road guide that this writer has researched, a different route is charted. In several cases, road guides charted a path that passes to the northeast side of East Palestine, on what is now State Route 14.

ODOMETER CHART FOR 1924 DETOUR ROUTE, BEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA TO CANTON, OHIO, VIA EAST PALESTINE, OHIO    Prepared September 2005

0.0 miles— START, at 11th Street in Beaver Falls
0.8— Turn Left onto 24th Street, a.k.a. State Route 588
1.1— Veer Left and go through underpass of railroad
2.2— Turn Right, continuing on State Route 588
4.0— Cross State Route 51 west
7.9— Continue on Old Darlington Road
8.0— Stop; continue on Old Darlington Road
8.2— Stop; turn Left onto Darlington Road (note: not Old Darlington)
9.4— Stop; Darlington Hotel on Left; eat lunch; continue straight
11.2— Right onto PA 51 N because original road destroyed
11.4— Left, back onto original road now called East Palestine Road,
leaving East Palestine Bypass
12.7— Stop
13.9— Stateline Road; enter East Palestine on Pleasant
14.7— Left onto Taggart
15.3— Veer Right
15.4— Right onto Market in East Palestine
17.3— Left onto State Route 14 (return to East Palestine Bypass)
23.2— Cross State Route 7
24.2— Left onto East Park (leaving Columbiana Bypass)
25.4— Follow traffic circle 1/4 around; Right on North Main in Columbiana
25.7— Left onto West Salem St./Old Fourteen St.
26.9— Left, returning to new State Route 14
29.6— Center of Washingtonville
31.1— Center of Salem
39.8— Center of Damascus
42.0— Right onto State Route 165, bearing north
43.5— Center of Beloit; Left onto 5th St. (not marked)
44.8— Center of Sebring, now on Ohio St.
49.0— Left onto Freedom
49.1— Right onto Main
49.5— Right onto Union; center of Alliance
49.7— Left onto Ely
50.6— Left onto (brick) Buckeye
50.7— Right onto unmarked road
50.8— Continue straight to rejoin Ely
51.4— Cross State Routes 62 and 225
54.5— Fork; left onto Columbus Road
56.5— Cross State Route 173
57.2— Center of Harrisburg
59.0— Left onto State Route 44
61.9— Center of Louisville; Right onto SR 153;
enter Canton on Mahoning
67.6— Left onto Lawrence (Eisenhower slept here)
67.7— Left onto Young
68.0— Right, returning to Mahoning
68.2— Fork; veer Right
68.5— Right onto 4th St.
68.9— Left onto Market
69.1— END, at Court House in Canton

OHIO MEMBERSHIP DROPS IN 2005

The September 2005 roster of membership for the Lincoln Highway Association arrived in mailboxes in October, along with the latest issue of Lincoln Highway Forum. The national membership dropped from 1187 to 1142, with a big part of that decrease coming out of the Ohio membership. Ohio is down 23 memberships since September 2004, dropping from 166 to 143.

Since the reformation of the Lincoln Highway Association, this is only the second time that the Ohio membership has dropped. Iowa remains the state with the most members, at 184 (up three from 181), and Ohio remains second, but now with only two memberships more than Illinois, which had a slight drop from 146 to 141. California is the only other state with more than 100 memberships.

Below is a chart covering eleven years of membership counts in the twelve original Lincoln Highway states. Five of every six LHA memberships are from one of these states. Members living in the other states designate their state dues to come to one of the twelve original states. Ohio has seventeen friends in six other states (nine in Michigan) which have part of their national dues coming to the Ohio Lincoln Highway League. Not only that, we have two OLHL members living in Europe. Thus, as of September 2005, the OLHL counted a total of 162 memberships.

Five of the non-Lincoln Highway states have more than ten memberships. Michigan tops the list with 28, and is followed by Maryland (21), Colorado (16), and Arizona and Wisconsin (tied at 13).

Let us be challenged in 2006 to grow our membership as we have in most years. We in Ohio have a strong and active group, led especially by the Mid-Ohio and Eastern Ohio chapters. For business folks who lack a historical bent, let them know about the work of our blossoming Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. Whether through history or business, we have outstanding fellowships with much to offer, so please encourage others to join in this coming year.

LINCOLN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS  (BY STATE AND YEAR)

Buckeye Ramblings is the newsletter of the Ohio Lincoln Highway League, our state affiliate of the Lincoln Highway Association, and is published four times per year. Editor of this newsletter and president of the OLHL is Mike Buettner (1618 Chandler Drive/ Lima, Ohio/ 45805). Any changes of address should be forwarded to Mike, either by mail or by calling his office at 419-227-1135. Other officers through April 2006 are Mike McNaull, Vice-President; Tammy Buettner, Secretary; and Michael Lester, Treasurer. State Director for the Lincoln Highway Association is Marie Malernee. Past State Director Bob Lichty is now our national president. For texts of back issues, plus photography and other Ohio information, visit our website at  www.lincolnhighwayoh.com.

Costs for printing and mailing the newsletter are covered entirely by LHA membership dues. Please renew your membership in the national association so that we can continue to publish news from Ohio on a regular basis.

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