Lincoln Way in San Francisco

[LincolnMan]

I was pleasantly surprised to find the Lincoln Way in San Francisco. Was this the western endpoint of the famed Lincoln Highway?

[RJNorton]

(12-16-2017 08:12 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I was pleasantly surprised to find the Lincoln Way in San Francisco. Was this the western endpoint of the famed Lincoln Highway?

Bill, I am a little confused on this. Doesn't the Lincoln Highway (Route 30) end in Oregon?

I am confused because another map has it ending in California.

https://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/map/

[LincolnMan]

That’s why I posted the thread. I’m confused also. I was hoping someone on the Forum could shed some light.

[LincolnMan]

Wasn’t seeing the Pacific Ocean on Lincoln’s bucketlist?

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to David Lockmiller for sending these photos. He lives in San Francisco near the end of the Lincoln Highway. David writes, "The terminus post is very near the bus stop across the street from the Palace of Legion of Honor in San Francisco."

[LincolnMan]

Thanks David! Interesting to me to note that the Lincoln Highway Association started in Detroit. Henry Joy has a street named for him in Detroit (Joy Road). Good stuff!

[David Lockmiller]

(12-18-2017 05:45 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  David Lockmiller lives in San Francisco near the end of the Lincoln Highway. David writes, "The terminus post is very near the bus stop across the street from the Palace of Legion of Honor in San Francisco."

Thank you, Roger, for doing such a good job in posting the photographs. One can see the sign post just to the right of the bus stop in the first photograph.


The museum of fine arts was dedicated to the memory of the 3,600 California men who had lost their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I. For a more complete history of the building, there is the following:

High on the headlands above the Golden Gate—where the Pacific Ocean spills into San Francisco Bay—stands the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels to the city of San Francisco. Located in Lincoln Park, this unique art museum is one of the great treasures in a city that boasts many riches. The museum’s spectacular setting is made even more dramatic by the imposing French neoclassical building.

In 1915 Alma Spreckels fell in love with the French Pavilion at San Francisco’s Panama Pacific International Exposition. This pavilion was a replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris, one of the distinguished 18th-century landmarks on the left bank of the Seine. The Hôtel de Salm, as it was first called, was designed by Pierre Rousseau in 1782 for the Prince of Salm-Krybourg. Completed in 1788, it was not destined to serve long as a royal residence; the German prince, whose fortunes fell with the French Revolution, lived there only one year. Madame de Staël owned it briefly before Napoleon took it over in 1804 as the home of his newly established Légion d’Honneur, the order he created as a reward for civil and military merit.

Alma Spreckels persuaded her husband, sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels, to recapture the beauty of the pavilion as a new art museum for San Francisco. At the close of the 1915 exposition, the French government granted them permission to construct a permanent replica, but World War I delayed the groundbreaking for this ambitious project until 1921. Constructed on a remote site known as Land’s End—one of the most beautiful settings imaginable for any museum—the California Palace of the Legion of Honor was completed in 1924, and on Armistice Day of that year the doors opened to the public. In keeping with the wishes of the donors, to “honor the dead while serving the living,” it was accepted by the city of San Francisco as a museum of fine arts dedicated to the memory of the 3,600 California men who had lost their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I.

Architect George Applegarth’s design for the California Palace of the Legion of Honor was a three-quarter-scaled adaption of the 18th-century Parisian original, incorporating the most advanced ideas in museum construction. The walls were 21 inches thick, made with hollow tiles to keep temperatures even, and the heating system design eliminated aesthetically offensive radiators and cleansed the air that filtered through it with atomizers to remove dust.

[LincolnMan]

I wish I had known about this when I was there last month. Thanks again David for the info.

[David Lockmiller]

(12-19-2017 04:05 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I wish I had known about this when I was there last month. Thanks again David for the info.

You are quite welcome.

The next time that you are in San Francisco, you must visit the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum. It has a wonderful collection of art work including an excellent Rembrandt, Degas (Impresario), Monet (water lilies), Renoir, Van Gogh, and even an inspirational sculpture by Picasso (the Orator). The Museum has a very large collection of Rodin sculptures, including Victor Hugo whose head appears to be emerging from a block of white marble.

I am still looking for the photograph of the Lincoln Highway terminus post with Lincoln's image. I forgot to mention that there is a nearby second Lincoln Highway marker located at the corner of California Street and Park Presidio. In 1919, California Street may have been the principal (or only) roadway going out to the desolate Lands End terminus of the Lincoln Highway. [Now, it's difficult to find parking at any time in the Richmond district of San Francisco.]

[RJNorton]

Thank you to David for sending a couple more photos:

[LincolnMan]

Love the photos!

[David Lockmiller]

(12-20-2017 05:50 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Love the photos!

Thanks, Bill, I have a passion for photography.

[RJNorton]

Thank you to David for sending this image:

[LincolnMan]

I bought a cigar tin box at an antique store today. I has the Lincoln highway on the outside and on the inside of the lid. That’s why I bought it, of course. Anyway, the graphic has the highway ending in San Francisco. I thought coming across the item today was so coincidental!

[David Lockmiller]

This film on the Lincoln Highway is going to be on my local PBS station in San Francisco (KQED - channel 9) at 10:30 PM tonight. I assume that it is available on other PBS stations throughout the United States. Check your local listings.

Ride Along The Lincoln Highway

The film celebrates the history, the instigators, the various routes, the length and the wonderful American sights that can be seen along this first coast-to-coast highway. First established in 1913, the Lincoln Highway connects Times Square in New York City with Lincoln Park in San Francisco, passing through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, a bit of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Produced by Rick Sebak, the film chronicles its history and profiles the current landmarks still along the way.