YORK COUNTY, Pa. — The sign outside the Modernaire Motel in Springettsbury Township will be restored by a local association—if it can find the money to do so.
The Lincoln Highway Association has been given the sign from the property's current owners and intends to restore and install it in the Agriculture and Industrial Museum in York.
The motel opened in 1949 along the Lincoln Highway, which was America's first coast-to-coast highway running from New York to San Francisco.
"People would come into the lobby and they would say they felt like they were coming into someone's home," said Tom Davidson, the director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association. "People would come along the Lincoln Highway, and they would be greeted by people that treated them like family instead of the hotel chains that we have today."
The hotel was founded as a family owned and operated business by owners Martin and Charlotte Mundis after they were inspired by a West Coast road trip.
Davidson says the Association needs $15,000 to restore and install it in the museum. He says people can donate now to ensure that a York County landmark does not get lost to history.
"This is an important symbol of traveling on the great American road trip, and the travel we did in the 1950s into the 1960s and even 70s," Davidson said. "We want to preserve this symbol of our transportation history and put it in a place where it can be seen by the public and future generations can see it and better understand what people experienced along the road."