Belle Plaine

BELLE PLAINE	Pop. 3,887	Control, Herring Cottage.
Cedar Rapids 34.5	Marshalltown 38.7	Three hotels, 3 garages. Local speed limit, 12 miles per hour, enforced. Three banks, 1 railroad, 75 general business places, express company, telephone company, 2 newspapers. Commercial Club. Camp grounds.
Graded Dirt		L.H. Local Consul, James Herring.

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

The Youngville Station section of the Benton County site has its own page. Please check out this historic, and nearly restored, 1930s highway roadside attraction.

East of Belle Plaine on Highway 131.
Today travelers between Cedar Rapids and Tama have a straight shot on U.S. 30, but in Lincoln Highway days the route was circuitous: "It is necessary to detour south between here and Tama to avoid the 'Bohemian Hills,' a series of nine ridges that made travel so difficult that it was easier to go ten miles out of the way than confront them."

Highway 131.
This dilapidated barn was on shaky legs in 1995. Sometime between then and now, it toppled or was taken down. "Here is a fine example of the Lincoln Highway in the heart of the corn belt - straight and narrow, and with an asphalt shoulder no more than a foot wide and often less." (Greg Franzwa)

Belle Plaine.
The Lincoln Cafe sits at the intersection of Thirteenth and Sixth Avenue on the 1913 Lincoln Highway route. Across the street is the old Herring Hotel, now an apartment building. The Lincoln Highway took a southern loop to avoid the rolling hills between Cedar Rapids and Tama. Eventually, those hills were graded to make way for U.S. Highway 30, which bypassed Belle Plaine by several miles. However, the spirit of the Lincoln Highway is still alive and well in Belle Plaine.

Belle Plaine.
Near the intersection of the Lincoln Cafe and Herring Hotel, the Sankot Garage opened in 1914 and is still operated by the Sankot family. The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Belle Plaine.
The famous George Preston filling station and motel. The sides of the station are covered with old advertising and road signs, several from the Lincoln Highway era. "Preston began collecting those artifacts when he started working in the station at the age of thirteen. On the east side of the station is a garage which houses a treasure trove of antiques, including a 1925 Model T which Preston bought for $100 for his son. The elder Preston was flown to Los Angeles on March 21, 1990, where he broke up Johnny Carson on the 'Tonight Show'. His death at 83 warranted headlines in the August 15, 1993, issue of The Des Moines Register." (Greg Franzwa, The Lincoln Highway: Iowa, 1995)

Unfortunately, the Association must report that Blanche Preston, wife of George, recently passed away. "While George was more talkative, flamboyant and well known, Blanche was always part of the action at the station and small motel that they operated. She could and did perform all duties from pumping gas to cleaning rooms – and she did a wonderful job or raising their two boys, Ron and Monte. Of course, the question always arises, what will happen to the station now. Ron Preston has been to all of our National Conferences and many of the Iowa meetings. I believe he has a good sense of the importance of the Lincoln Highway in our history and I know he knows how much the station means to the history of the Highway. It appears that this perspective will be guiding future decisions regarding the station. Well preserved and with continued presentation to the public, it would make a great memorial to Blanche and George." (Bob Ausberger, Along the Lincoln Highway, The Newsletter of the ILHA, July/August 1998)

"The two-car caravan of the Louis Round family passed through Belle Plaine on June 23, 1914, heading back to Cleveland. He reported to The Motorist magazine, that 'The roads so far are beyond my expectation - they are as a general thing well marked.'

Thornton Round remembered Belle Plaine. 'This town claimed a great distinction. It had a paved street!'

The March 16, 1915, issue of the Belle Plaine newspaper reported that vast traffic was expected on the Lincoln Highway this year, with many expected to drive to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. The great fair would celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal."

BENTON COUNTY

Belle Plaine