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Beaverdam, Ohio

Beaverdam (pop: 400) (On highway since 1919)

A brick building in Beaverdam was the relay station for all coast-to-coast telegrams. This small town was an intersection of the Lincoln Highway and the Dixie Highway; currently the intersection of I-75, S.R. 30 and S.R. 696.

In 1999, Richard Taylor (above) and the Mid-Ohio Chapter of the LHA rebuilt a brick pillar on its original foundation in Beaverdam. Located at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway and Dixie Highway in Beaverdam, the new pillar was dedicated to Carl Fisher, who founded both highways.

Ohio roads were key in the delivery of Detroit made vehicles bound for the east coast for shipment to the World War I European theater. Railroads were busy with supplies bound for the war, and best way to deliver vehicles was to drive them to ports.

Beaverdam was at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway and a road connecting with Detroit that would later be named the Dixie Highway (below).

Hard to believe, but this was a major US auto intersection in the late teens or early 20's! Photo by Lincoln Highway Collection, Transportation History Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan.