Lincoln Highway is being studied for its placement and national significance to be registered as part of the National Park System.

The 3,300-mile road that stretches from New York City to San Francisco resulted from the first successful effort to create an all-weather transcontinental highway specifically for automobiles.

Having already received recognition as a historic route in Illinois, the National Park System coordinated a comprehensive study of Lincoln Highway routes starting in June 2000, said Ruth Frantz, former director of the Lincoln Highway Association’s Illinois chapter.

To be considered nationally significant, land ownership, acquisition costs, threats to the resources and local interest in long-term preservation have to be reviewed.

“The nostalgia of history and personal stories to this nearly 90-year-old highway can only begin to explain what Lincoln Highway represents,” said Phyllis Kelley, a DeKalb County historian and Lincoln Highway Association member.

Lincoln Highway began as a miscellaneous collection of downtown streets, country lanes and old trails marked with a sign showing “L.” By the 1920s, it became the nation’s premier highway and a test ground for new road and bridge-building techniques.

Construction of Lincoln Highway sparked construction of highways and routes across the United States. Before Interstate 88 and other roads spanning through DeKalb County were built, Lincoln Highway was the main route passing through DeKalb and many other towns throughout the United States.

Lincoln Highway impacted towns it ran through.

“It meant that towns would either be on the map or be left off,” Kelley said.

Boxes of old photographs, letters and correspondences relating to Lincoln Highway are housed at the Joiner History Room in Sycamore.

Lincoln Highway was not only a road that spans downtown DeKalb but a piece of history that only can be shared through stories and photos, Kelley said.