I'm a history dork... the Lincoln Highway

There... I said it. I'm a dork... I mean, I'm a history dork. Prior to my moving to Iowa I did some research into the area and found the Lincoln Highway. Way back before interstate freeways, the U.S. Highway system, and even most paved roads, there was a move to create a highway system and link the country. Various associations popped up, each promoting their own routes and agendas. The Lincoln Highway was one of the first and one of the only coast-to-coast highways.

This photo, while not necessarily the sexiest photo ever done, shows the only "seedling mile" in Iowa. It is between Mt Vernon and Cedar Rapids. The various highway associations could not afford to pave these highways themselves, and private industry wasn't about to do it, so they came up with the "seedling mile" concept.

The "seedling mile" was a 1-ish mile stretch of high quality concrete highway paid for with private funds, usually placed in rural areas. The idea was that drivers would curse and grumble over the horrible mud or dry & pitted road conditions, then they would come across a gleaming new concrete roadway and fly down the road loving every minute of it. Then, hopefully, these drivers would pressure their state or local legislators to build complete concrete highways... which they eventually did.