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Lincoln
Highway in Blair, Nebraska
"Even in the 1940s, Highway 30 through Blair was still know as the 'Lincoln
Highway' by many."
While the original Lincoln Highway passed through Omaha and
Elkhorn to Fremont Nebraska, after the construction of the Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Bridge at Blair in 1929, it was re-routed to U.S. 30 through Blair.
Even before the auto bridge spanning the Missouri was built,
this route connected Missouri Valley, Iowa to Blair via an
unreliable ferry crossing over the river. This route was
called the "B-Line" -- short for Blair Line.
Just as the bridge was being built, the Lincoln Highway
Association officially disbanded in 1927. The remaining
remnants of the organization did authorize the official
re-routing of the Lincoln Highway following the newly
re-designated U.S. Highway 30 through Blair in
1932. Lincoln Highway signs and makers were were relocated
from the Omaha/Elkhorn route in a controversial move that
pitted many in the big city of Omaha against the little town
with a new bridge. As the traffic increased on the new
short-cut on Highway 30 through Blair, the Lincoln Highway
designation slowed fell into obscurity many most everyone.
Just as the century was coming to a close, a renewed interest
in the old Lincoln Highway set in motion a a revival of
enthusiasts and research in the old route. in 1992, the
Lincoln Highway Association was reformed, mostly as an
organization dedicated to preserving the history of the
highway In 2006, the Blair History Preservation
Alliance, place a monument at a forgotten corner of the
Lincoln Highway B-Line route through Blair to celebrate
Blair's late coming role in the development of one of
the nations premiere coast-to-coast highways.
The route started at the bridge and went west down what is
known to day as Jackson street, passing by the area of east
Blair known as "Weimerville", past the city cemetery and
turned south a today's 10th Street. Heading south for
two blocks, the route then turned west at Nebraska Street
crossing the old North/South railroad lines of the Chicago,
St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha line (C. St. P. M. & O)
and turned south at old Walker Avenue (today 16th Street.)
The route cross the east/west railroad lines of the Chicago &
Northwestern, turned west at Washington street to go through
the city's downtown business district. At today's 19th
street, the route turned south and headed out of town and over
Barry hill towards Kennard, Arlington and Fremont to the west.
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