Road trip: Lincoln Highway’s historic route runs through San Joaquin County

Frequent road warriors will note an increase in red, white and blue Lincoln Highway signs throughout San Joaquin County, so I tracked down local Lincoln Highway historian Kevin Shawver to gather updates on the historic highway and to plot a road trip of its route through the county.

Shawver reflected on the huge changes wrought by the growth of private autos early in the 20th century. From Henry Ford’s 1896 invention of the Quadricycle to the introduction of the Model T Ford in 1908, autos burst on the scene and by 1913, most Americans had acquired, or were planning to get, a new horseless carriage and increase their mobility, both in their towns and across their state.

He continued, “the Lincoln Highway debuted in 1913, patching together city and state roads, many of them primitive, and would be soon deemed the ‘Main Street across America’. The highway energized many smaller to midsized towns, bringing road improvements, roadside attractions, hardware stores and auto dealers that sold gasoline, hotels, motels and restaurants — services for the fast-growing traveling Americans.”

Shawver adds, “the highway started in New York City’s Times Square, and wended its way westward, 3,389 miles to San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. The highway was the longest ‘thing’ in America, and was the first U.S. memorial to President Lincoln, preceding the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

"The highway helped inspired the term ‘tin can tourists’ — in the early century, gas had to be purchased in hardware stores or at auto dealers — there were very few gas stations. Tourists would discard the empty cans along the highway, leading to the term 'tin can tourists.'"

The highway was cobbled together from existing highways and byways in 1913; the original route came over Donner Pass or Echo Summit, headed west through Sacramento, turned south, winding through Galt, Woodbridge, Stockton, Lathrop, French Camp, Banta, Tracy and over the Altamont Pass to San Francisco. Several realignments would later fine-tune the route, made primarily to eliminate dangerous railroad crossings.

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An early realignment shifted the route in our north county over to Highway 99, running down Cherokee through Lodi, though the Lincoln always ran through Stockton. With the opening of the Carquinez Straight Bridge in 1927, the highway was realigned along a route roughly paralleling Interstate 80, and traffic then skirted San Joaquin County.

Hence, plan a road-trip along the San Joaquin County route; a good starting point is at the historic marker at Lincoln and A streets in Galt, just north of the county line. From the monument, head south on Lower Sacramento Road to Woodbridge, with several substantial brick buildings pre-dating the original Lincoln Highway opening. Woodbridge not only retains deep historical character with buildings dating back to the 1860s, it's a gourmet's delight with several notable restaurants and wine-tasting outlets in historic settings.

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Continue on Lower Sacramento Road south from Woodbridge, which becomes Pacific Avenue in Stockton. (Lower Sacramento was renamed Pacific to commemorate the opening of University of Pacific in Stockton in 1925.) The Lincoln Highway helped change the character of Pacific, once lined only with residences, into the Miracle Mile, a bustling commercial corridor due to the new automobile traffic fueled by the highway.

“The Miracle Mile district offers a host of restaurants for an historical stop (in buildings which existed at the time), including Midtown Creperie, Sam's Café (originally a Scott's Grocery during the highway’s time), stop for libation at Valley Brew just off the highway, or, grab a snack at La Palma (originally, it's banquet room was the Milky Way Malt Shop, an early fixture on the highway).

"The foyer of La Palma Restaurant features a number of historic Lincoln Highway photos, including several of the brand new Tuxedo Park (the first housing development north of Harding)”, Shawver said.

From Pacific, turn east on Maple and follow the highway route to El Dorado, then south, becoming Center Street, taking you into the center of old Stockton, where the grand Hotel Stockton (circa 1910) was a route highlight. Admire the historic Hotel Stockton, and find a host of  fine restaurants nearby, like Casa Flores, Blazin Cajun or Cancun Restaurants.

The highway continued south on El Dorado (now Center Street), where it headed southwest on Turnpike, towards French Camp (where a few historic buildings lie moldering away), through Lathrop, Banta and into historic downtown Tracy on 11th Street, then followed Grant Line Road west and up over the Altamont Pass, headed to San Francisco.

So, fire-up that “Tin Lizzie” and explore the route of the Lincoln Highway through San Joaquin County!

For more information: Lincoln Highway, lincolnhighwayassoc.org; Visit Stockton, visitstockton.org/about-us/Lincoln-highway/; Historic highways and autos, California Auto Museum, calautomuseum.org. Also see Facebook Pages like Shawver’s The Lincoln Highway in San Joaquin County, or the Lincoln Highway in the Golden State, by the California Lincoln Highway Association.

Contact Tim at tviall@msn.com; happy travels in the west!

This article originally appeared on The Record: Take a road trip on Lincoln Highway’s historic route