Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway West

Road Trip Iowa | Episode

Jun 5, 2025 | 27 min

Travel the western stretch of Iowa's Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway from Boone County to Council Bluffs. Discover the tranquil landscapes, community spirit and proud history, with stops at the many hidden gems along the way.

Transcript

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On this episode of Road Trip Iowa, we're traveling the western stretch of Iowa's Lincoln Highway from Boone County to Council Bluffs. We discover the cultural and historical landmarks, tranquil landscapes and proud heritage.

Well, cheers to Templeton, right?

Yes, cheers!

Next, on Road Trip Iowa!

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Kwik Star is proud to be a part of Iowa communities across the state. Family owned for over 50 years, we're dedicated to treating our guests, employees and communities as we would like to be treated.

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Musco Lighting is an Iowa company that travels across the U.S. and to more than 125 countries to light community recreation fields, stadiums, airports, monuments and more. While our reach is global, we're committed to our local communities.

The Gilchrist Foundation, founded by Jocelyn Gilchrist, furthering the philanthropic interests of the Gilchrist family in wildlife and conservation, the arts and public broadcasting and disaster relief.

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[Brooke Kohlsdorf] From Times Square to the San Francisco Bay, the Lincoln Highway has carried motorists across this great land for more than a century. This road passes through 13 Iowa counties, connecting 43 communities over 460 miles. Today, we're traveling from Madrid to Council Bluffs. Let's review our itinerary.

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[Kohlsdorf] We'll immerse ourselves in a world full of botanical tranquility. Tour an orchard that is fun to the core. Learn how one Iowa town became forever bonded to a legendary basketball franchise. And we'll tap into the bold and spicy history of a century old whiskey.

[Kohlsdorf] We begin south of the Lincoln Highway near Madrid where a public garden offers visitors a sweeping display of Iowa's natural beauty.

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[Kim Anderson] The Iowa Arboretum and Gardens is a gem in Boone County. It feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, and it kind of is, but that's part of its charm. And I really like that about it because you kind of feel like you're traveling to this place and when you get here it really is a magical place. And to see the smiles and the aha moments on people's faces, especially children, is really satisfying to me.

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[Kim Anderson] We offer exceptional experiences for people of all ages and abilities outdoors in nature. And we take that very seriously as one of our goals. We have gardens, we have tree groves, we have a wetland, we have a children's garden, we have butterfly gardens. We have a treehouse village, which has just been erected and just opened recently. That offers woodland trails and prairie trails, accessible playground area and some other opportunities in the forest to be out in nature and be creative and just be one with nature.

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[Kim Anderson] We have this Tunes in the Trees concert series in the summertime that draws people on Tuesday nights and we have food trucks and people can have a picnic and they can listen to great music, usually local music from around the area, and just enjoy the outdoors with their children and families while they're having a good time listening to the performances.

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[Eric Gliem] You take a nice, cool evening like tonight. I've got the water behind me. I can listen to the music in front of me to listen to. It's just a nice, relaxing evening with my wife where we can sit here and enjoy the sounds of nature, the music.

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Oh my darling, can we go

To Blackfoot River and cleanse our souls

[Kim Anderson] Public events help us really show people what the Iowa Arboretum is all about, that we care about community and families, that we want people to have experiences in nature. We want people to be creative and we want people to enjoy each other's company in a unique environment and really just take in the arts and the performances and enjoy each other's company.

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[Kohlsdorf] Located just south of Boone, Ledges State Park is one of the most popular and scenic state parks along this stretch of the Lincoln Highway.

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[Kohlsdorf] Known for its dramatic sandstone cliffs and lush vegetation, Ledges offers travelers the opportunity to experience awesome hiking trails, amazing overlooks, expansive biodiversity and an abundance of recreational activities.

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[Kohlsdorf] Ledges is a great place to visit year-round, especially in the fall when thousands of trees explode with spectacular splashes of color.

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[Kohlsdorf] Next up, we're headed to Jefferson where for more than 100 years history and culture have come together along the Lincoln Highway.

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[Kohlsdorf] Jefferson is a small but vibrant city located directly on the Lincoln Highway. This progressive community offers a variety of opportunities for art enthusiasts and history buffs alike.

[Matt Wetrich] We have so many things that are great experiences. It's that kind of small town, calm way of life and get out of the big city and just be away from everything and a little R&R. And the people here are so welcoming.

[Kohlsdorf] One of the city's most notable landmarks is the Mahanay Memorial Bell Tower. Erected in 1966, this 12-story structure overlooks the city with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

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[Pat Richards] The bell tower was given to the people of Jefferson by Floyd and Dora Mahanay as a way to honor the family, but also bring something to Jefferson that will honor the Lincoln Highway but also their enjoyment of music and education and community involvement.

[Peg Raney] We have a lot of people that just love the tower. I love music. This is a perfect way for our community to share the arts.

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[Pat Richards] The bells ring every 15 minutes and play Westminster chimes. Then five minutes after the hour two songs will play.

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[Pat Richards] On Wednesdays throughout the summer, we have local people that we call Mahanay maestros that volunteer to play between 12:15 and 12:30.

[Peg Raney] I love the sound. This is just recognizable that oh, I must be in Jefferson, these bells are playing.

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[Pat Richards] You can ride an elevator up to an observation deck. Once you're in that observation deck, it's a magical moment. There are so many things you can see.

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[Matt Wetrich] The beauty of a small town like this and being the Lincoln Highway going right through the heart of our downtown is that you can park in one spot and you can see everything on foot. Everything is walkable and we encourage that a lot and we've done some things around the community to really make it walkable, bikeable.

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[Kohlsdorf] Jefferson is quickly becoming known for its robust art scene, which creates a unique backdrop for local businesses inspired by historic preservation and agriculture, including The Centennial restaurant, woodworking shop RVP 1875 and Greene Goods Market and Greenhouse just outside of town, plus much, much more.

[Pat Richards] You have to stop in Jefferson, Iowa. This is a town that is full of vitality and volunteerism and a lot of attractions and stores and places to visit.

[Matt Wetrich] I think we are kind of leading the way for how a small town in rural American can survive and grow. So, really proud of all the cool things that we have going on.

(bells ringing)

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[Kohlsdorf] Next, we're headed west of Jefferson to a century old orchard where family is at the core of everything.

[Chris Deal] I'm part of a fourth generation, or the fourth generation of Deal's to at least attempt raising apples here in Iowa. My great-grandfather came over from a farm in Illinois in 1917, loved planting apples and that has been the one consistent thing from one generation to the next is adding more apples.

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[Chris Deal] We've got 40 some acres of apples here. We make nearly 30,000 gallons of cider, fresh cider every year. We started about ten years ago making hard cider. We also make apple pies, apple dumplings, caramel apples, apple cider donuts, anything unique and fun we can do with apples we really try to use the opportunity to show the diversity of the fruit.

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[Kohlsdorf] Travelers can expect a full agricultural experience when visiting the orchard, including a corn maze, a kid's play area, a petting zoo, a 10-acre pumpkin patch, Christmas trees and a field full of sunflowers and zinnias.

[Chris Deal] We open the main store in July. We raise sweet corn and tomatoes and so once the sweet corn is ready is when we open up. We always have apples in July as well, some summer varieties. And we go through Christmas Eve. We have always tried to create a top-notch experience for anyone who comes. We're so humbled that we have so many people who come by and see us every fall, every Christmas season. So, we appreciate anyone who is willing to stop by and help them kind of see a unique part of Iowa agriculture.

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[Kohlsdorf] Stretch your legs in the heart of Carroll where a full-sized basketball court decked out in purple and gold commemorates the day an airplane fell from the sky and forever bonded this western Iowa town with one of the most legendary franchises in professional sports.

[Dr. Jack Donavan] I just remember being awakened with the sound of this horrible, not horrible but a noise that I wasn't familiar with.

[Norman Hutcheson] There was some noise going around but we really didn't know what it was.

[Dr. Jack Donavan] I got out of bed and I walked out on my patio and my next-door neighbor across the street was screaming at me, look out, look out.

[Norman Hutcheson] Circled the water tower about 200 feet, all they could read was the "ll" on Carroll because of the fog and the snow.

[Dr. Jack Donavan] You could see everything about that airplane. You could count the rivets on the bottom of that plane.

[Kohlsdorf] On the evening of January 17, 1960, the then Minneapolis Lakers were flying home in a blizzard following a basketball game in St. Louis. Experiencing an electrical failure and low fuel, the team's plane was forced to pull off a miracle landing in the middle of a corn field.

[John Steffes] This is almost the precise site. It touched down, it came in from the south and it flew around the town at least nine times.

[Kohlsdorf] All 23 players, pilots and passengers survived the landing.

[Dr. Jack Donavan] It looked like a miracle, it looked like this airplane sitting there in the middle of this corn field, snow field. The only place where the corn was down, the only black area there in miles around and he found it. He had the Holy Spirit working with him that night.

[Kohlsdorf] The team returned home by bus the next day and the plane was flown out a few days later.

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[John Steffes] Carroll, Iowa has a lot to do with the NBA. If the Lakers had not survived and Carroll didn't come to the aid, it would have been down to seven teams. There were only eight teams in 1960.

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[Kohlsdorf] In 2010, the now Los Angeles Lakers donated $25,000 to build this court to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the miracle landing.

[Dr. Jack Donavan] The ribbon cutting, that was pretty exciting. We had the people from the Lakers here.

[John Steffes] Yeah, we had a perfect day in September, did a fly over, we had a few of Tommy Hawkins made a great speech and then he kissed the court. It was a fun day. It was a lot of people here and did the ribbon cutting and the DC-3 went over just at the right time.

[Kohlsdorf] Today, travelers can visit this historic site and shoot some hoops on the exact spot where Carroll residents came to the aid of the NBA.

[Norman Hutcheson] It's very well known in the community. It's one of the pieces of history that every town would like to have that has a good ending.

[Dr. Jack Donavan] Makes me feel really good about Carroll, Iowa.

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[Kohlsdorf] We've taken a short detour south of the Lincoln Highway to Templeton, a small town with a big spirit that has become nationally known for its age-old rye whiskey. Let's take a look around.

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[Chase Prebeck] We're here in the visitor's center, more specifically the museum where we kind of really dig into the history and everything behind Templeton, the town and the people and the whiskey.

[Kohlsdorf] This place is amazing. There is a lot here. What is the story of Templeton?

[Chase Prebeck] 1882 is when the town started. So, we start in the museum here talking about some of that early history, how people came to town. And then we start moving along throughout the 1920s, Prohibition, times got tough, the Great Depression hits. So, that kind of comes into why did we start making this whiskey? Had to make some money, had to feed our families. So, people thought well, let's make some whiskey, let's start selling it. People made it for years and years after Prohibition ended and then in 2006 made it legally, we'll call it when Templeton really started here at the distillery when we started making our whiskey. So, we've got a lot more going on in the other buildings behind us. Do you want to go over there and see how it's all made?

[Kohlsdorf] Yes, let's go!

[Chase Prebeck] Perfect, let's go!

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[Lester Brown] Well, Brooke, welcome to the Templeton Distillery.

[Kohlsdorf] Thank you for having me. Tell me about this place.

[Lester Brown] So, this place was built in 2018. We could do essentially 8,500 barrels a year. That equivalates to about 400,000 cases of whiskey. Right now, we're doing a low rye bourbon, so the mash is 75% corn, 17% rye and 8% malted barley. So, the corn comes in, we put it in the silo. We'll go ahead and we'll grind it and we'll add our rye, we'll cook it, we'll cool it and then we ferment it for four and a half to five and a half days.

[Kohlsdorf] And then it goes into the barrels. Where does that happen? Where do the barrels go?

[Lester Brown] So, we have two warehouses. We actually filled one up when we had to build another warehouse. So, the barrels will sit in a row for four, six, ten years.

[Kohlsdorf] So, after the whiskey or the rye sits, then it is bottled right away here?

[Lester Brown] Yep, we'll dump it, we'll go ahead and process it and then we put it in bottling tanks and then it's bottled right here on site.

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[Kohlsdorf] So, this is the bottling phase. Tell me what's going on here.

[Nate Marr] Right now I'm putting eight bottles on a piece on a turntable. They go down to the rinsing station right behind me. So, I'm rinsing everything out. And then from there it goes on to fill the bottles with the whiskey and it moves onto our corker, which automatically corks it on by itself and then it goes down to our labeler. And then it goes down to our sleever that sleeves it on. And then it goes down to where our boxes are at down there, put them in the box.

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[Randy Facile] Every once in a while, you might get one with a wrinkle, but not very often. But we want to make sure they're perfect before we put them in the box.

[Kohlsdorf] So, you're quality control down here.

[Randy Facile] If you want to say that, okay.

(laughs)

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[Chase Prebeck] Brooke, welcome to our tasting room.

[Kohlsdorf] Thank you.

[Chase Prebeck] This is where we end our tours so we can try a few different whiskeys here. We will start with our Templeton Rye 6-year town reserve. Only can find here in Templeton, was aged right here in Templeton. We can start with it here now. First, take a little smell and kind of get a little bit of the rye spice coming out, a little bit of the sweetness coming off the nose and then go ahead and take a sip out of it. Here you should get a little bit of the black pepper spice flavor, a little bit of caramel, a little bit of butterscotch on the finish, really warms you up.

[Kohlsdorf] It burns, mm-hmm.

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[Kohlsdorf] Yeah, but you do, you taste that caramel in this one.

[Chase Prebeck] I always say the two seconds after you drink it is the best flavor you'll get. The finish really gets that nice sweetness coming out. You get a lot of that flavor from the barrel because you get about 75% of your flavor from the barrel.

[Kohlsdorf] It's been really fun to see your operation here to see how it's made, how it's bottled and how you enjoy it. It seems like it's really important bringing people here to experience it, right?

[Chase Prebeck] Oh absolutely. We love showing off our small town hospitality, bringing people in from all over the world to come here to try our whiskey and to show them what we have here in our little town of 360 people.

[Kohlsdorf] Well, cheers to Templeton, right?

[Chase Prebeck] Yes, cheers!

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[Kohlsdorf] Next, we're headed to Denison where the life of a hometown legend is celebrated.

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[Kohlsdorf] The Donna Reed Center for the Performing Arts and Heritage Museum stands as a tribute to Academy Award winning actress Donna Reed. Known for her roles in It's a Wonderful Life, The Donna Reed Show and so much more, it's a great stop to learn about a local entertainment icon.

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[Kohlsdorf] Housed in a historic 1914 German opera house, the center has been meticulously restored and features exhibits showcasing treasures from Donna's life as an actress. The exhibits not only celebrate her achievements in Hollywood, but emphasize her Midwestern roots and the values that helped shape her career.

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[Kohlsdorf] The Donna Reed Center and Heritage Museum, where her wonderful life continues to inspire locals and visitors from around the world. A vibrant, cultural hub along the Lincoln Highway.

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[Kohlsdorf] A unique and original stretch of the Lincoln Highway is at the center of our next stop, a stop filled with history.

[Deb Sprecker] We're in downtown Woodbine. We're part of the Brick Street National Register Historic District. In 1921, Woodbine's bricks were laid. When people say Woodbine they think the Lincoln Highway and they think the longest stretch of the original bricked highway in Iowa. I do think that being on the Lincoln Highway all those years ago has really sustained our community.

[Kohlsdorf] The community fell in love with those brick streets, which have become the centerpiece to the historic pride that Woodbine showcases today. But, after almost a century of wear and tear, the community realized they needed some restoration.

[Bob Sullivan] The road was in bad shape because it was designed for horses, not 80,000 pound semis.

[Kohlsdorf] So, in the early 2000s, volunteers removed, washed and replaced the historic bricks.

[Bob Sullivan] There's eight inches of concrete, two inches of sand and four inches of the brick pavement. So, it's built to handle the big trucks.

[Kohlsdorf] One thing travelers will notice is the distinctive sound it meets when the rubber meets the road.

[Bob Sullivan] Oh yeah, it's --

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[Kohlsdorf] Woodbine's brick streets are the gateway to a town filled with other historic and cultural attractions.

[Deb Sprecker] We understand now the importance of maintaining our historic fabric. And so, Woodbine has a really strong collection or inventory of historic turn of the century buildings and over the last 15 years we have done a lot of work to maintain and rehabilitate those buildings. So now they are full of businesses.

[Kohlsdorf] Woodbine's Brick Street Historic District offers a unique glimpse into early 20th century small town America, making it a must stop for history lovers and casual road trippers alike.

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[Kohlsdorf] If you're a history buff and a railway enthusiast, the Rails West Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs is the perfect stop for you. Housed in the historic 1899 Rock Island Depot, the museum provides a glimpse into the region's rich railroad heritage, offering visitors a charming destination to explore.

[Gracie Goos] It operated passengers until 1970 and then was freight until 1980. Then the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County took over and worked together as a community to build it into the museum that it is now.

[Kohlsdorf] Inside the original walls of this old depot, visitors can get a glimpse of the historic railway artifacts.

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[Kohlsdorf] Just outside, you'll find an interactive train yard filled with restored locomotives and railway cars.

[Gracie Goos] Out there in the train yard we have a steam engine locomotive. Our steam locomotive is the oldest train car we have out there. We also have an Omaha dining car that has been remodeled. We also have a mail car.

[Kohlsdorf] The Rails West Museum is open to the public and hosts special events and educational programs, offering visitors a first class view of the role the railroad played in the development of the American West.

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[Kohlsdorf] From the Mighty Mississippi to the Missouri River, a drive along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway is one of the best ways to see our state.

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[Kohlsdorf] We walked the trails and climbed the cliffs at Ledges State Park. Discovered a vibrant town known for its art, history and notable landmarks. Visited a museum celebrating the wonderful life of a local legend. And we journeyed across the Lincoln Highway's longest stretch of original brick street.

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[Kohlsdorf] There's so much to see and do along this western stretch of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway. So, pull up a map and hop in the car today. For more on the history, culture and landscapes along Iowa's scenic byways, join us next time on Road Trip Iowa.

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Kwik Star is proud to be a part of Iowa communities across the state. Family owned for over 50 years, we're dedicated to treating our guests, employees and communities as we would like to be treated.

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