CEDAR COUNTY

Lowden

LOWDEN	Pop. 630 Alt. 717	Control, Center of Village
Clinton 38.6	Cedar Rapids 41.4	Two hotels, 1 garage. Local speed limit, 10 miles per hour, enforced. Two banks, C&NW Railroad, 25 general business places, express company, telephone, 1 newspaper.
Oiled Dirt

- A Complete Official Road Guide of The LINCOLN HIGHWAY Fifth Edition (1924)

Lowden.
The Kreinbring Service Station. Soon to undergo renovation, and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lowden.
The old Lincoln Hotel, "a marvelous restoration completed in 1995. Authentically restored, the renamed Lincolnway Hotel Apartments is now an apartment house. It has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places." (GF). The Lincoln Highway went past the hotel and turned right to leave Lowden to the north. Old U.S. Highway 30 proceeded past the hotel and exited town to the west. Both routes converge out at the famous Lowden abandoned section.

As you drive the highway in Iowa today, watch for the blue, red, and white Lincoln Highway banners posted throughout the state, for sale by the Iowa LH Association.

West of Lowden.
Arguably the most revered stretch of Lincoln Highway in Iowa, the Lowden abandoned section starts here.

West of Lowden.
Halfway into the famous abandoned section, visitors can hike around the massive concrete embankment of the short Lincoln Highway bridge that spanned the creek. Both the bridge here and the viaduct at the other end of the mile-long section were removed, forever preserving this historic segment of early highway. This is private property - always get permission from landowners before exploring.

"Continue west into Cedar County to discover a wealth of small-town Americana, towns which gained in importance with the 1913 announcement that the Lincoln Highway would connect all of them. But as late as 1924, according to the Road Guide, one would have discovered that the roads were dirt rather than the wonderful concrete which Clinton County offered... In other words, for a day or two after a rain, mud."

- Greg Franzwa, The Lincoln Highway: Iowa, The Patrice Press, 1995.