The 1913 Lincoln Highway in Lake County, Indiana, part 2: The Ideal Section

When the Lincoln Highway was laid out from coast to coast in 1913, the state of America’s roads ranged from so-so to poor. In particular, a Lincoln Highway motorist entering Lake County from the east could expect this after a rain: “Muddy, rutted road, looking west 14.4 miles east of state line, Indiana. (Photograph taken by Chicago Architectural Photographing Company.).” In the digital collection Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/linchigh/x-lhc2683/lhc2683. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 09, 2026. [Note: The archive claims this place became part of the Ideal Section, but the Ideal Section did not extend this far east. I modified this caption accordingly.] It was always the Lincoln Highway Association’s aim to see every mile of its highway hard surfaced. Trouble was, they weren’t in the road-building business. They had to work with the authorities along the route to try to improve the road. One way they did that…