Longtime LHA member and author Lowell Nissley writes:

“Thanks for all your hard work in keeping us informed on what’s happening along the LH. In the last issue of the FORUM I noticed an article on Illinois markers (page 43). The article says that the markers were “Designed by the Jensen Corporation, a landscape architect firm in Ravinia, Illinois.” Does this give a legitimate clue as to who made and where the posts were made?

Here’s my thoughts:

The Jensen Corporation is undoubtedly Jen Jensen, the noted Prairie – Arts & Crafts style landscape architect, who was previously associated with the Lincoln Highway Assoc. at least back to 1917. Jensen’s papers were destroyed in a fire, but his drawings and blueprints were saved and donated to the Bentley Historical Library which is located on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. See:
http://xrl.us/vn7r and
http://bentley.umich.edu/

Among his drawing are two large (approx. 2 ft × 6 ft) suggested plantings for the Lincoln Highway along a meadow, and along a prairie, from 1917. There is also a complete set of blueprints of the Ideal Section (from the Fed Hwy Admin), plus many Ideal Section drawings including those for the Ostermann Memorial bench, and plans and drawings for the unrealized Ideal Section Campground. The U of M Special Collections Library also has a nice matted and framed colored drawing of the Ideal Section Campground that was part of the LHA holdings. Alas, the Jensen holdings have no mention of the concrete markers. Also at the Bentley are the archives of Henry Joy, including his photo albums of his 1915 LH trip.

In the LHA holdings at U of M’s Special Collections’ LHA Holding is a “marker” file. In it was only a small blueprint of a rough drawing of a top part of a marker.

The secret to finding out where the markers were made may be in the papers of the Whitehead & Hoag Company who made the bronze Lincoln medallion inserts. They were located in Newark, may have went out of business in 1959, and the location of their papers, if they still exist, is unknown.

Lowell’s book Lincoln Highway, The Road My Father Traveled won an award from the Independent Publishers Book Review in the travel category.

nwi.com reports that the city of Lynwood, IL voted to contribute funds for the construction of an interpretative gazebo on the Lincoln Highway. This is part of a project by the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition for 20 such gazebos across IL on the LW:
http://xrl.us/2s5u

Check out Jim Frazier‘s Photography blog on the LH in IL:
http://thelincolnhighway.blogspot.com/

IL’s RoadDog reports:

Ground was broken this past Saturday in New Lenox for the new $225 million Lincoln-Way West High School. Upon completion, it will serve 2,500 students and have three wings. It will join three other Lincoln-Way high schools: North, Central, and East. One of these has a LH concrete marker, but I don’t know which one.

Matteson, IL’s mayor vetoes a new Walgreens on the Lincoln Highway as “a real negative impact on the quality of life in the area”:
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/business/329436,061BIZ3.article

Local watering holes and live music on the Lincoln Highway in DeKalb:
http://www.northernstar.info/articles/?id=35982

Saving the house where Lincoln slept in Sterling, IL:
http://xrl.us/2s9h

More articles about the murals in DeKalb from the Northern Star:
http://www.star.niu.edu/articles/?id=36053
and from Midweek.com:
http://xrl.us/2tae

A nice article about downtown Geneva from newzblogz.com:
http://xrl.us/2s92

Fulton, IL folk art – willow chairs:
http://xrl.us/2s96

From chicagobusiness.com – Take a trip around Illinois with Abraham Lincoln:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24861

RoadDog
sends this report on DeKalb’s Cornfest:

One of the major Lincoln Highway celebrations in Illinois will be held in a different location next year because of planned roadwork. For the last 29 years, it has been held right on Main Street which is the LH. It is blocked off between 4th and 1st streets.

Close to 100,000 people attend to eat, eat lots of sweet corn (free for awhile on Saturday) and listen to some great music.

Possible alternate locations are Dekalb’s Taylor Airport or NIU’s Convocation Center. It is not clear whether it will move back in 2009. I definitely hope it returns. Nothing like eating corn and listening to music RIGHT on the old LH and not getting run over by an auto.

The 30th Cornfest is set for Aug. 24-26. Country band Sawyer Brown and Idol finalist Becky Covington are scheduled to appear already, along with local favorite groups.

From the Rockford Register Star – Read about the IL Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway’s ambitious mural project at:
http://xrl.us/2tfh
plus their history article at:
http://xrl.us/2tfj