|
From the Ohio line, it traveled the Sugar Ridge Road, located on the southern edge of the Great
Black Swamp, which was platted and improved as early as 1837.
The Maumee Road leads out East, passing the Lutheran College, down the Maumee River South side, and is the same as the Van Wert Road as far as New Haven in Adams Township -- six miles
East on the Wabash and Erie Canal, and at that point the Van Wert Road takes the Ridge, as it is called, and follows it diagonally through Jefferson, the South West corner of Jackson and North East corner of Monroe, and into the state of Ohio toward Van Wert. - from the Roads in Allen County, Dawson's Daily Times, August 17, 1960
Townley - three miles west of the Ohio border, (Old Lincoln Highway at State Road 1) in
Jackson Township, and Allen County, IN. The county seat is Fort Wayne. The county is named for Col. John Allen of Kentucky, who fought Tecumseh's siege of Fort Wayne in 1812. Townley was originally a railroad town, created when the Findlay, Ft. Wayne and Western Railroad laid tracks and created a passenger stop and this county crossroads. When the FFW&W failed, the settlement languished, until the Lincoln Highway revived it by bringing auto travelers. The
settlement was left without its vital highway traffic when U.S. 30 was re-routed in the 1980's. Only one building (altered) remains. It once served Townley as a filling station, restaurant, and bar.
Road Remnant - West of Townley, the historic Lincoln Highway turned sharply north. Later road improvements softened this curve, but the earlier road remnant remains visible.
Zulu - approximately two miles west of Townley, at the intersection of Paulding Road, also in Jackson Township, Allen County. Originally known as Four Corners. A General Store/Post
Office, grocery, and filling station remain.
Zulu Garage - 18449 E. Lincoln Highway. In 1923 Elmer A. Oberly opened the Zulu Garage
After serving in WWI and attending tank training while in the military. A descendant noted that when the garage opened there were only 5 Model A's owned locally. Most of the garage business came from travelers on the Lincoln Highway. The Zulu Garage has excellent integrity and
character.
Ed Oberly Gas Station - 18346 E. Lincoln Highway. Elmer Oberly's brother, Ed, opened this gas station on the Lincoln Highway in 1925.
Where to eat - Billy's Downtown Zulu, 18000 US Highway 30 E, Monroeville, IN 46773, (260) 623-3583, http://www.fwtc.org/zulu/zulubill.htm
The community of Four Presidents Corners is situated on the intersection of the 4 townships of Jackson, Monroe, Madison and Jefferson, in Allen County, about 1 1/2 miles south of the Lincoln Highway between Townley and Zulu.
Townsend's Gas Station - 17425 Lincoln Highway East. This c. 1920 gas station has been
converted to a private residence. Mr. Townsend was reputedly a bootlegger and locals tell stories of how he was seen being chauffeured in his Hudson.
Tenet's Tavern - 16806 Lincoln Highway. This c. 1870 structure was an early tavern on the Sugar Ridge Road. The tavern was an extremely popular stop during the days of the Interurban trains and the Lincoln Highway. It was said that one could step directly off the interurban train into the tavern. It was open during prohibition. It was said that liquor was hidden in a cistern on the east side of the building. Hitching posts can still be found on site from the pre-Lincoln
Highway years.
St. Louis Besancon Historic District - 15529-15535 E. Lincoln Highway. The St. Louis
Besancon Historic District consists of five buildings and a cemetery facing the Old Lincoln
Highway. This early 1840's French Catholic settlement was know as New France and later
Renamed Besancon after a town in the area of French Alsace. The French settlement extended all the way from Zulu to New Haven. For more information see The Besancon Historical Society.
In 1996 the St. Louis Besancon Church, school, rectory and parish office were added to the
National Register of Historic Places. Besancon is located in Jefferson Twp of Allen Co. The church is Gothic Revival style with stained glass windows with the names of the donors on them. This second church was built around the old one in 1871 and made of brick. In 1923 the
exterior was shamrocked. The Besancon Historical Society was formed in 1996 and is located in the parish office building. The BHS archives have family histories, indexes for birth, marriages and cemeteries and over 1000 pictures of families, people, towns and farms.
|
|
