The Seedling Mile

Grand Island's mile belonged to a national campaign. The Lincoln Highway Association could not afford to pay for long stretches of road, so from 1914 it sponsored seedling miles, short concrete sections meant to show what a permanent road could be and to rally support for government-funded paving, and it arranged donations of materials from the Portland Cement Association. The first official seedling mile was finished west of Malta, Illinois, in November 1914. The best known came later: the 1.3-mile ideal section between Dyer and Schererville, Indiana, built in 1922 and 1923 and still carrying traffic.

What the plaque says

The Seedling Mile Here is a section of an original Seedling Mile on the Lincoln Highway. It was completed November 3, 1915. Grand Island was the second city in the United States to build such an example of concrete roadway. The original Seedling Mile extended from the corner of Willow Street one mile east, ending near the Seedling Mile School. By 1913 the route of the Lincoln Highway had been chosen and dedicated nationwide by the newly formed Lincoln Highway Association. The association's main goal was to develop a paved, toll-free, transcontinental highway from New York City to San Francisco. To help meet this goal, the associa- tion conceived the Seedling Mile program. Seedling Miles would be the "seeds" from which paved roads would extend across the nation. The Seedling Mile was constructed with locally donated cement and funds. Fred W. Ashton of Grand Island raised $1,170 for the project. Realignment of the highway in 1931 allowed this section to be preserved. It is the only remaining original section of a concrete Seedling Mile that has not been widened or covered with asphalt. Nebraska Department of Roads Nebraska State Historical Society, 2010

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer — 4.3 mi
  Edward Durell Stone's island pavilion in Grand Island and an 1890s railroad town of moved buildings, among them the cottage where Henry Fonda was born in 1905.

More markers nearby

• Hall County Courthouse — 1.0 mi
• Old Dodge School - World War II POW Branch Camp — 1.1 mi
• Pioneer Park — 1.3 mi
• The Lincoln Memorial Highway — 1.3 mi