Lincoln Highway Interactive Exhibit
The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition hired Horizon Displays to help them tell an engaging story of the Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast highway in the United States. The exhibit would be displayed initially at the Welcome Center in Dixon, IL (birthplace of Ronald Reagan!), with the understanding that whatever we built would need to be able to be moved and displayed at various locations along the historic highway’s path as it crossed through the state.
Our client handed off a manila folder with some notes and information, and we discussed some of bullet points—facts and anecdotes that they wanted to include. They included a few photographs of varying quality. We took it from there.
Working with account executive Nancy Kress, I organized the information they provided, and researched to uncover more. I sourced the highest quality images available through the National Archives and created original graphics. We crafted a narrative about the highway, and supported it with anecdotes and data. The story was told across three large framed panels. Below each panel, we included additional information with hands-on interactive elements to give visitors a tactile discovery experience.
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—team—
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designer •
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Marc Ludena
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content & copy •
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Marc Ludena / Nancy Kress
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engineering •
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Marty Feldhaus
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build & installation •
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Wayne Fleetwood
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client •
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IL Lincoln Highway Coalition
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The largest panel provides an overview of the Lincoln Highway, explaining the history of the project and anecdotes about its creation.
A sliding element below reveals portraits of key personalities behind the development of the Lincoln Highway and additional biographical information about each subject.
We told stories of the people who traveled the Lincoln Highway for business, pleasure, and glory.
I’ll take any opportunity to talk about Vincent Price, a personal hero of mine. I was able to do so, in the interactive element dedicated to the Lincoln Highway Radio Hour.
In the run-up to World War I, Augusta and Abigail Van Buren took a well-publicized journey by motorcycle in an effort to prove that women could contribute to the war effort as couriers. These daring sisters faced many obstacles and dangers from the elements, the road and from the prejudices of those who opposed their feminist ideas. The completed their trek but were ultimately turned down by the Army because of their gender.
We created this life-size photo-op station so visitors could step inside Augusta’s boots and onto her bike.
Aside from celebrating the Lincoln Highway, we wanted to contextualize how this first coast-to-coast highway changed American society.
A timeline with a fun sliding element shows visitors key moments throughout the life of this dynamic, but ultimately all-but-forgotten route across the country.
2,436 concrete markers were made and placed along the original highway route, many of them during a one-day event by Boy Scout troops across the country. Some of them remain preserved along the original route, some have found homes in museums or with private collectors, and some have been discarded.
We created two replicas at actual size to include with the exhibit.
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