The New Holland Area Historical Society invites local residents to take a trip through Lancaster on the Old Lincoln Highway (Route 30) via a presentation by Benton Webber of Manheim Township, who has sleuthed out the original locations of 40 concrete marker posts placed along the Lincoln Highway where it traveled through Lancaster in 1928.

Webber will give his presentation in the chapel at Garden Spot Village (GSV), 433 S. Kinzer Ave., New Holland, on Thursday, March 17, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but attendees will be required to wear masks.

Webber embarked on a journey to find the present-day whereabouts of all 40 of the marker posts after obtaining a copy of the 1928 list describing the original location of each marker. He also found an updated list from 1960 that noted that 22 had remained in their original locations that time. "There is one today in its original position," said Webber, who noted that the post is at Third and Chestnut streets in Columbia. Webber visited the post and took measurements, and he had a portable replica built. In September 2021, he began taking the replica to the original locations as he found them and posting photos from each excursion on Facebook. He plans to complete the project with a Facebook post on May 28.

The markers were put up on a single day in September 1928 by Lancaster Boy Scouts. A representative of the Lincoln Highway Association, an organization founded in 1915 that was dedicated to making public improvements, selected the locations for the posts. "They were trying to figure out how to connect different points," noted Webber, who added that in Pennsylvania many roads were gravel, well-graded, and traveled regularly. "The Lincoln Highway stretched from New York to San Francisco, and it was the nation's first transcontinental highway," he said.

Researching the original locations presented challenges because of the changes in road names, locations, and landmarks. "Some were easy, but most were not," said Webber, who said that finding the southeast corner of Hamilton Watch Factory was pretty easy, but that determining one location in Columbia was not. "The one that vexed me the most was opposite Home of a Million Parks," he said, adding that the problem was a typo. "It was really Home of a Million Parts, which was a junkyard near Columbia." Webber has worked with municipal officials, historians, and preservationists in his research.

Webber's work on the project is part of his goal to preserve Lancaster history. "I have been interested in telling and understanding the story of Lancaster," he said. "One of the ways to tell it is how our roads connect us and help us to reimagine how things have changed in just a century and how much they can change ... how they reflect the times and what we do."

More information about the Route 30 marker project may be found by searching for "Benton Webber" on Facebook.

Readers who wish to know more about the historical society may visit http://nhhistorical.com or search for "New Holland Area Historical Society" on Facebook.