The Indiana Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association met in Ligonier at the Elks Lodge on Saturday,
November 18, 2006.  Local preservationists, downtown business owners, and local citizens welcomed the membership and joined us for the fall meeting and program.  Patty Fisel, owner of the Emporium Antique and Clothing Consignment shop at 212 Cavin Street (old Lincoln Highway) organized the luncheon and volunteers, and promoted the meeting to local residents.  It was a full house!  Thank you Patty! 

Prior to the meeting LH members visited the historic brick paver alignment immediately south of Ligonier, strolled and shopped along Cavin Street, visited the municipal park that served as a tourist camp for auto travelers and visited the historic radio museum on Lincolnway South.  Many photographs were taken and the Da-Lite Motel was re-discovered from a post card image taken in the 1930s!

Former Indiana LH Director, Michael Weigler, and his son Andrew, attended from Wisconsin and planned to travel the Lincoln Highway across Indiana in search of old alignments for the nation-wide LHA mapping project.  Mike was presented with D. Lowell Nissley's newly released LH book entitled Lincoln Highway: The Road My Father Traveled and a 2006 Interstate Convoy LHA medal for leading the mapping project for Indiana.  Mike reported that the website will be launched in the near future and travelers will be able to download and print driving maps along the entire LH route from coast to coast. 

Program presenter Terry Douglas Goldsworthy of South Bend was the main speaker for the fall meeting.  Terry had conducted detailed research of the Ligonier portion of the Lincoln Highway utilizing various versions of the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, old photos, postcards, and images from the University of Michigan Special LH collection.  Attendees found the power point program filled with historical detail about the surviving historical resources along the LH in Noble County.  Terry's information sparked interest in saving more buildings and showcasing the LH heritage through Noble County in order to stimulate cultural tourism. Terry is willing to do research for other LH communities across the United States.  If interested contact Jan Shupert-Arick at 260-471-5670.

Tami Kreager of Ligonier made a presentation on the Discovery Express History and Science Museum Project that will be housed in the historic Mier Carriage Works Building in downtown Ligonier.  Mier was one of the many early auto manufacturers in Indiana along the historic Lincoln Highway route.  Once completed, this facility will be an important attraction along the LH corridor - and will have preserved the Mier Carriage Works buildings.  What a wonderful example of historic preservation contributing positively to the future economic well being of a Hoosier community.  We urge members to get involved with this project!

We are also happy to report that there is interest in renewing the sister city relationship with Ligonier, Pennsylvania - also on the Lincoln Highway.  Isaac Cavin migrated from Ligonier, Pennsylvania to Noble County in the 1830s and named the city after his former home in Pennsylvania.  A renewed sister city relationship utilizing the LH corridor will increase the travel between these cities and may involve students and civic organizations.  We'll keep you posted.

Plans are under way for the annual meeting in the spring…if we can work out the details, we'll hold the meeting at Bob's BBQ (Barbeque - now Moody's Corner Café) - at the intersection of State Road 2 and U.S. 20 near Rolling Prairie.  More details in early 2007.

Safe travels!

Respectfully submitted,
Jan Shupert-Arick, IN LHA Director
November 24, 2006

Ligonier offers the greatest concentration of Noble County buildings which are listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.  Located on the western side of the county at the junction of US 6 and SR 5/US 33, Ligonier offers stunning Victorian mansions that reflect the city's rich Jewish history.  Two beautiful bed and breakfast inns are located in Ligonier, as well as the Ahavath Shalom Temple, which is now the Ligonier Historical Museum.  One of Indiana's historic round barn's is found just outside Ligonier.  Just south of Ligonier on U.S. 33 is an original brick alignment of the 1913 Lincoln Highway route across the nation - from New York's Time Square to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The Ligonier Visitors Center, housed in a 1920s filling station is where you can visit the Indiana Historic Radio Museum which has a collection of over 400 radios, telegraphs and microphones dating from 1898 to the first all-transistor radio which was manufactured in Indiana in 1954.  Stone's Tavern was built in 1839 by Richard Stone. The building was a welcome site to stage coach passengers traveling the Goshen - Fort Wayne road. The building was used as a post office, jury room, and dance hall.  It is now the location of a popular fall festival, the Stone's Trace Pioneer Festival.  Another popular festival in Ligonier is the annual Marshmallow Festival held over Labor Day weekend.    Pumpkin Fantasyland during the month of October is fun for the whole family.  The Jennie Thompson Gardens provide a brilliant floral display in 27 beds that memorialize one of Ligonier's biggest benefactors, Jennie Thompson. You'll enjoy walking through the brick pathways. Sitting space is available at the waterfall and throughout the garden.