Western Terminus of the Lincoln Highway

Behind a nondescript bus shelter, across from the Legion of Honor stands a small grey concrete marker indicating the western end of the Lincoln Highway.  

The Lincoln Highway was the first coast-to-coast highway established in the United States. Founded in 1912, the Lincoln Highway Association was part of the early “Good Roads” movement to improve automobile roads in the United States. Starting in Times Square in New York, the highway traveled over 3,000 miles, ending in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park.  

Along the highway, concrete markers were placed with a bronze medallion of Abraham Lincoln, and the symbol of the highway with stripes of red on the top, blue on the bottom, and a large L in the middle. This symbol was also painted on telephone poles, signs, and buildings along the highway.