Last updated: September 8, 2022
Place
Lincoln Highway-Omaha to Elkhorn
David Calease, NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
can be accessed at either at its east terminus of Burt Street and Old Lincoln Highway (174th Street), or at its west terminus of 192nd and Old Lincoln Highway.
Significance:
Transportation
Designation:
National Register of Historic Places
MANAGED BY:
City of Omaha
The Lincoln Highway-Omaha to Elkhorn segment is located between 174th and 192st Streets. This portion of the Lincoln Highway is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its significance as an intact, rural section of the first vehicular transcontinental highway in the United States.
At the turn of the twentieth century, railroads dominated interstate transportation while roads were primarily used for local interests. The rise of the automobile, however, cultivated a growing support for a system of interstate roads. Carl G. Fisher, an automobile entrepreneur, promoted a transcontinental highway, claiming that the success of automobiles was dependent on good roads. On July 1, 1913, Fisher and other promoters founded the Lincoln Highway Association, proclaiming an automobile route would connect New York City and San Francisco.
The Omaha-Elkhorn road was part of the route that would connect the East and West Coasts through an interstate highway system. This section remained a dirt road until 1920 when brick paving was completed, part of a larger campaign in the early-1920s to pave the entire highway in Nebraska. The paving of the road helped usher in the age of the automobile in the United States, solidifying the use of motorized vehicles to transport people, equipment, and goods.
The three-mile stretch connecting Omaha to Elkhorn retains the historic materials and character of its 1920s usage, the only known rural portion of the Lincoln Highway in Nebraska to do so. The segment features brick pavement with minimal patching in good condition. A historical marker is located on North 180th Street at the southeast corner of the intersection of Old Lincoln Highway; five reproduced Lincoln Highway markers, visible from the road, were added in 1976. The road provides travelers with the experience of driving on an early twentieth-century highway.
At the turn of the twentieth century, railroads dominated interstate transportation while roads were primarily used for local interests. The rise of the automobile, however, cultivated a growing support for a system of interstate roads. Carl G. Fisher, an automobile entrepreneur, promoted a transcontinental highway, claiming that the success of automobiles was dependent on good roads. On July 1, 1913, Fisher and other promoters founded the Lincoln Highway Association, proclaiming an automobile route would connect New York City and San Francisco.
The Omaha-Elkhorn road was part of the route that would connect the East and West Coasts through an interstate highway system. This section remained a dirt road until 1920 when brick paving was completed, part of a larger campaign in the early-1920s to pave the entire highway in Nebraska. The paving of the road helped usher in the age of the automobile in the United States, solidifying the use of motorized vehicles to transport people, equipment, and goods.
The three-mile stretch connecting Omaha to Elkhorn retains the historic materials and character of its 1920s usage, the only known rural portion of the Lincoln Highway in Nebraska to do so. The segment features brick pavement with minimal patching in good condition. A historical marker is located on North 180th Street at the southeast corner of the intersection of Old Lincoln Highway; five reproduced Lincoln Highway markers, visible from the road, were added in 1976. The road provides travelers with the experience of driving on an early twentieth-century highway.