May 15, 2011: A Lincoln Highway marker is on Lincolnway in Jefferson’s business district, between IA 4 and the courthouse. Visible in the background is the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower.
Greene County plays a very important role in Lincoln Highway history, both past and present. The county was the first to pave its entire Lincoln Highway route, in 1919. In the 1990s, the route was carefully marked and multiple sites were put on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, much of E53 is scored near the outer edges of the concrete, marking the original width before the road was reconstructed in the 1990s.