It has been 100 years since the opening of the transcontinental Lincoln Highway, and DeKalb County residents got a taste of its history Wednesday night.

“[Lincoln Highway] allowed people to move independently from the train,” said Kay Shelton, Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) president and anthropology and geography instructor at Kishwaukee College. “People could get in their car and go whereever they wanted. They weren’t restricted to where the train tracks went.”

At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Shelton presented the history of Lincoln Highway at the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, 1350 W. Prairie Drive in Sycamore.

“The road really did change American history,” Shelton said.

According to her presentation, entrepreneur Carl Fisher constructed the idea to build a coast-to-coast rock highway. Most of the roads throughout the country had been dirt and mud and he believed people would see great use in an improved road that would connect the country.

“He was the Richard Branson of his era: very wealthy, into all kinds of crazy, crazy stunts,” Shelton said. “It was his idea to build a highway from New York City to San Francisco.”

Shelton said Henry Joy, the president of the Packard Motor Car Company, told Fisher he should name his coast-to-coast rock highway after Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln worked with Joy’s father, James Joy. The road would eventually be named the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Highway, shortened to Lincoln Highway.

“I have heard of [Lincoln Highway], but never knew a lot of the details that she had told us,” said Esmond resident Nancy Heisner.

The public opening of Lincoln Highway was on Oct. 31, 1913. Shelton said the LHA is celebrating the anniversary early to avoid any conflicts with Halloween.

Lincoln Highway consists of a series of existing roads that were connected to form a transcontinental highway. Over the years, roads have been modified for increased travel. Shelton said the first paved mile of road on Lincoln Highway was located in Malta and was 10 feet wide.

According to her presentation, DeKalb boasted a free auto camp where drivers could rest overnight. The auto camp was located on the site of Annie’s Woods, 401 Lucinda Ave.

Shelton said in 1919, Dwight Eisenhower’s Army convoy stayed at the DeKalb auto camp.