NEWS

Pioneering Highway Monument Reopens

Lincoln Highway landmarks in Dyer receive much-needed attention after years of deterioration.

Lincoln Highway memorial rededication

Honoring The Lincoln Highway

The Indiana Lincoln Highway Association recently joined with the Town of Dyer and the Dyer Historical Society to celebrate the completion of a multi-year restoration of one of the region’s earliest monuments. The Henry C. Ostermann Memorial Bench and Lincoln Highway Ideal Section Monument re-opened to the public after years of deterioration.

The bench and Ideal Section Monument on US Hwy 30 in Dyer date from 1921. The Lincoln Highway Association created the marker to commemorate the Ideal Section of the highway. Following the completion of the Ideal Section, noted landscape architect Jens Jensen designed a bench in honor of Henry C. Ostermann, a field secretary and vice president of the Lincoln Highway Association, funded by contributions from associates across the country after his death in 1920. Jensen’s sketches of the 1926 memorial were included in official road guides and publications. Following the destruction of the original Ideal Section marker, a new marker was erected in 1969 by the Daughters of the American Revolution incorporating the original 1921 plaques.

In 2009, the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association (ILHA) initiated a campaign to restore the bench and marker after years of deterioration caused by the impact of snow, salt and road debris. The Town of Dyer constructed a new sidewalk in front of the site to improve pedestrian access to a nearby school.

A grant from Indiana Landmarks Efroymson Family Endangered Places Fund helped fund the restoration plans, and the Efroymson Family Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation supplied a grant for masonry repairs. ILHA won financial support from the Dyer Historical Society, Dyer Garden Club, Boy Scouts and various community groups. The restored site now includes restored original elements, new interpretive signage and donor recognition panels — and a safer new sidewalk providing access to the site.

Lincoln Highway marker dedication

The memorial and marker were unveiled and the occasion marked with the installation of a new Lincoln Highway concrete marker by the local Boy Scout troop, mimicking the ceremony that took place 80 years ago. For more information on the Ostermann Memorial Bench and Ideal Section Marker visit the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association.

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