10 June 2008

LH's Heminger Travel Lodge


Here's some good news for Lincoln Highway enthusiasts. The Heminger Travel Lodge in Plymouth, Indiana received a second lease on life thanks to some clever thinking by a local non-profit group called "Turning Point". The former Lincoln Highway travel lodge was restored recently with Transportation Enhancement funds and will become a home for women and children in crisis situations.
The building had been a flop house for the last several decades. An eyesore, turned restored gem, along the Lincoln's 1928 realignment in Marshall County. See the LH marker on the brick light pier?

John Heminger first built the "Avon Inn" on "the point" about a mile to the east of Heminger about 1928 when the Lincoln Highway first came through Plymouth (green building above). Heminger and his wife separated....he remarried a German woman and built the Heminger Travel Lodge down the road in 1937. It later became the Pilgrim Tourist Home. It's been reported that a former mayor once hung out with his friends there, playing hookey from Sunday School, because Mrs. Heminger didn't follow Indiana's Blue Laws.

Heminger was listed on the National Register in 2000.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice save, and what an excellent use of the building!

Anonymous said...

Yes it is a nice save but raising enough money to keep it in good condition and serving the women and children who need it will be a heavy burden in a community that has become as shallow and tight fisted as River City! If it had rims and nets or goal posts it would be a cake walk to support!

hoosier reborn said...

All right, now who's being the cynic. You have to admit, the financial support thus far has been impressive for the project. At the same time, being familiar with the political angst it has caused, your comments resonate with me. My gosh, when the clerk treasurer couldn't kill the project, she moved!

Anonymous said...

Yes some groups, my wifes sorority as an example have generously supported it because it is to benefit women and children.....I will agree that I may be cynical as I see this as one of the last projects that will get done in town because there is absolutely no evidence of any vision in this administration

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