 Lincoln Heritage Trail | |
|---|---|
| Major junctions | |
| North end | Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| States | Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky |
| Highway system | |
The Lincoln Heritage Trail is a designation for a series of highways in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky that links communities with pre-presidential period historical ties to U.S. president Abraham Lincoln.
Fifty years after Lincoln's death (1915), the Illinois General Assembly authorized the Illinois State Historical Library to mark the exact route traveled by Lincoln from Kentucky through Indiana to Illinois. Almost another 50 years passed before the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) trail was opened in 1963.
The governors of all three states – Illinois' Otto Kerner, Indiana's Matthew Welsh and Kentucky's Bert Combs – took part in a conference at Kentucky Dam Village in mid-April 1963 to agree on the designation and plans to mark – and market – the route. [1] [ full citation needed ]
And marketing, not historical significance, was a – if not the – driving force behind the Lincoln Heritage Trail. As author Andrew Ferguson wrote, he quotes Robert Newman, Illinois' director of tourism in the 1960s. "[T]he whole thing was cooked up by the marketing guys at the American Petroleum Institute," Newman explained. "They wanted to get people traveling – get 'em into their cars, get 'em buying gasoline." [2]
As part of the tourism effort, meetings were held in communities through which the Trail would pass, with attendees learning of the goal of drawing more tourists to Lincoln-related and other local attractions. Each community was to be responsible for its own advertising and service campaigns, but a centrally-produced brochure – of which the first 300,000-copy printing would later be extended by another million – would bring focus to the most important sites. The Tell City News reported that meetings held in Tell City [3] [ full citation needed ] and Dale, [4] [ full citation needed ] Indiana in the spring of 1963, garnered significant interest.
The Trail originally had 3,000 markers showing Lincoln's route to Illinois.
In Kentucky, the main Trail followed US 60 from Henderson through Owensboro, Maceo, Lewisport, Hawesville, Cloverport and Hardinsburg, then over KY 86 and US 62 to Elizabethtown. From Elizabethtown, it continued via KY 61, US 31E, US 150 and US 68 through Hodgenville (and Lincoln's birthplace) and Harrodsburg to Lexington. From Lexington westward, the Trail then turned toward Louisville via US 421, US 460 and US 60 through Frankfort, Shelbyville and Simpsonville. [5]
"Alternate" routes in Kentucky included:
An unrelated, but historically accurate "Lincoln Trail" was mapped for travelers in the Hoosier State in 1958 and 1959. [6] This route, which followed the route of the family's journey from Kentucky to their new life in Indiana in 1816 and onward to Illinois 14 years later, began near Cannelton. The Cannelton News reported on May 6, 1958, that this Trail would "help publicize observance of the Lincoln Sesquicentennial," according to then-Gov. Harold Handley.[ citation needed ]
From its starting point at Cannelton, the trail proceeded:
While this initial "Lincoln Trail" would only be publicized through 1959, it would form the nucleus of Indiana's part of the 1963 Trail. Although some parts would be deleted – namely the Dale-to-Lynnville-to-SR 64 portion, in favor of the better, US 231 to SR 64 route between Dale and Huntingburg, the trail grew significantly with some major additions: [5]
Several Alternate routes were added in Indiana as well: [5]
In more recent years, a portion of the Trail was rerouted again to follow US 231 north to Jasper, and then west on SR 56 to SR 61 north of Winslow. From here it follows SR 61 to Vincennes.
In Illinois, there were two branches of the Trail designated as the Southern Branch and Eastern Branch. The Southern Branch began on the Illinois side of the Wabash River opposite New Harmony, Indiana. The Eastern Branch began at Westport, on the western end of the Lincoln Memorial Bridge across from Vincennes, Indiana.
The Southern Branch followed:
The Eastern Branch followed:
Alternate routes with no notable Lincoln ties (at least as far as the 1963 brochure indicated) included:
As the Interstate Highway System began to be completed in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky throughout the 1970s, traffic numbers on these older state and U.S. highways declined and, eventually, as signs wore out, many were not replaced. This has been especially true in Kentucky.
Indiana has maintained signage on the main line of the Trail and rerouted it in some areas, as mentioned above. Alternate routes are generally no longer marked, but a notable exception is the segment of US 231 and SR 67 between Worthington and Spencer, where several reassurance markers can be seen.
Until recent years, Illinois, for its part, has done a much better job of continuing to maintain signage in many areas, and the route is fairly easy to follow. However, the Trail is no longer marked on IDOT highway maps produced for the public; the last to show it was the 2017–2018 issue. [7]
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