Grand Junction

GRAND JUNCTION	Pop. 1,012 Alt. 1,036	Control, Post Office.
Marshalltown 70.8	Carroll 35.6	Hotels, garages. Local speed limit, 12 miles per hour. The route of the L.H. across Greene County is paved. Two railroad crossings at grade, protected. Three banks, C&NW, M&St.L Railroads, 2 express companies, 2 telephone companies, 1 newspaper, Commercial Club. Free camping at city park.
Concrete		L.H. Local Consul, T.R. Watts, Citizens Bank.

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

Grand Junction.
The "Four Bridges" area east of Grand Junction is a true nexus of transportation history. Only a few hundred feet apart are the grade of the Union Pacific railroad, the first version of the Lincoln Highway, a later U.S. Highway 30, and the newly relocated U.S. 30. This photo is of the 1915 Lincoln Highway bridge: "The ornamental balustrade shows that the designers were especially proud of bridging America's first transcontinental highway." (Greg Franzwa, The Lincoln Highway: Iowa, 1995.) The two-track route of the original Highway had served as a farmer's access road until Iowa LHA founders Bob and Joyce Ausberger, two people without whom there would be scant Lincoln Highway revival, bought the land to preserve the bridge. Photo was taken from the UP viaduct.

Grand Junction.
Detail of the 1915 bridge proves its maturity. The waterway is West Beaver Creek.

Grand Junction.
Shot from the other side of the overpass, the second and third generation bridges bide their time. In the foreground is old U.S. 30, ferrying local traffic to and from the four-lane bypass. In the distance is new U.S. 30, a sleek gray ribbon of concrete built for speed as cars and trucks wizz by - not through - Grand Junction. The green space in-between will soon be the Iowa's first Lincoln Highway interpretative site, as the local Lions Club graciously donated land to host the LHA landmark.

Grand Junction.
On the west edge of town is an abandoned "one-stop" that offered gas and lodging. On the west side of town sits an abandoned service station for the Camp Cozy tourist court with a couple of equally old abandoned tourist cabins sitting quietly to the rear.

"... the old Lincoln Highway. This western leg of 2.75 miles is the first stretch of the old 1924 paving to be ruined by the Greene County supervisors. Ditches were cut wider and deeper, rights-of-way were moved far back into the fields, the roadbed was raised and trees which were old when the highway was poured and which nearly canopied the road were felled with chain saws. A mile west of Grand Junction a row of cedar trees opposite the cemetery were taken out. They were valued at $10,000. Furious farmers were helpless to stem the bureaucratic juggernaut. At this point modern U.S. 30 is one mile to the north."

GREENE COUNTY

Grand Junction