The Lincoln Highway in Reno: How Fourth Street Became Nevada's Main Street

Long before Interstate 80 carried traffic around the north edge of town, the road that brought America's first great wave of motorists through Reno ran down Fourth Street. The Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway for automobiles, was organized in 1913 and reached the Truckee Meadows in the earliest years of the motor age. In Reno it turned a street of breweries, warehouses, and rail-side businesses into a corridor of auto camps, garages, filling stations, cafes, and eventually neon-lit motels.

This guide traces how that happened: the 1913 plan for a coast-to-coast road, its arrival in Reno, the roadside businesses that followed, the 1926 move to U.S. 40, the Reno Arch and its famous slogan, and the corridor's slide after the interstate and its present-day revival. Where sources disagree on a date, we say so. We close with what it all means for anyone who collects roadside Americana.

The First Road Across America

Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher — an auto racer, headlight maker, and builder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — began promoting a coast-to-coast improved road around 1912. The Lincoln Highway Association was organized on July 1, 1913, and the road was formally dedicated that October 31, per Wikipedia's account. The Federal Highway Administration dates the highway's conception to the July 1913 founding, so “1912 versus 1913” depends on whether you count Fisher's first pitch or the Association's organization. Fisher's argument was blunt: “The automobile won't get anywhere until it has good roads to run on.”

After weighing names such as the “Fisher Highway,” the “Jefferson Memorial Highway,” and the “American Road,” backers chose to honor Abraham Lincoln. The FHWA puts the original route at 3,389 miles from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, crossing 13 states, and notes it later shortened to roughly 3,140 miles as stretches were improved. Linking those two coasts with one marked, improved road was the audacious part of the plan.

The Lincoln Highway Reaches Reno

In Nevada, the highway entered just west of Ibapah, Utah, then followed what is now U.S. 50 from Ely across the basin-and-range country, through Eureka and Austin, for about 317 miles to Reno, according to the Lincoln Highway Association's Nevada chapter. West of Fallon, drivers could choose a northern (Donner) route toward Reno or a southern route through Carson City to Lake Tahoe. Like the emigrants who struggled across the Forty Mile Desert and the railroad builders who followed, the northern traveler funneled into the Truckee Meadows before the Sierra.

Reno made practical sense: a railroad town on the Truckee River, roughly midway between Salt Lake City and San Francisco. The Online Nevada Encyclopedia's “4th & Prater” project records that the route announcement in September 1913 included Reno, and that in April 1914 the first Lincoln Highway sign in town was painted on the Washoe County Bank at Second and Virginia Streets. A surge of tourists followed in 1915, when the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco drew motorists west. It was a very different Nevada from the silver-boom state described in our look at Virginia City and the Comstock Lode, but the same Truckee corridor connected them.

Fourth Street Becomes Main Street

The City of Reno's historic survey states that the Lincoln Highway Association designated 4th Street as the transcontinental route in 1913. The Online Nevada Encyclopedia notes that the highway's path through Reno and Sparks shifted over the years, with East 4th Street from Virginia Street to the “Asylum road” (today's Galletti Way) as the most consistent stretch. Motorists also moved through downtown on Virginia Street, where the first local sign hung, so the route is best pictured as running along Fourth and Virginia Streets.

When the Victory Highway was organized in 1921, it was cosigned along the same street through Reno, according to the state's draft historic-district nomination. That meant two named “auto trails” shared one main street. The city's survey describes East 4th Street as a corridor that embodies the transition from railroad dominance to the rise of the automobile, and it sat right beside the rails, with the 1910 NCO Depot, designed by architect Frederic DeLongchamps in the Renaissance Revival style, among its landmarks.

Auto Camps, Motor Courts, and Motel Row

Early motorists camped, and towns competed for them. A municipal Deer Park auto camp opened in 1919 on Prater Way in Sparks, the Fourth Street corridor's eastern continuation. Along the corridor, the Coney Island Auto Camp and the Twin City Service Station both opened in 1924, and the Reno Auto Court followed on Toano Street in 1928, according to the 4th & Prater timeline. Reno Junior High School also opened on East 4th Street in 1924, a reminder that this was a neighborhood as well as a highway.

The 1930s brought more courts between Reno and Sparks, helped when Nevada legalized gambling and six-week divorce in 1931. The classic motels came a little later. The state's draft nomination lists the Farris Motel (1946), the Hi-Way 40 Motor Court (1948), the Sandman Motel (1950), and the Lucky Motel (1954), several with the signage and U-shaped or L-shaped plans that defined the “motel row” look. Neon, as KUNR noted, was how motels tried to catch drivers passing by. Beer was part of the street too: Reno Brewing Company opened in 1903 and was Nevada's largest brewery by 1907.

U.S. 40 and the Reno Arch

In 1926 the new U.S. numbered highway system replaced the named auto trails with numbers. The FHWA reports that the Lincoln Highway was divided among several routes, including U.S. 30 and, across Donner Pass in California, U.S. 40. Through Reno, the City's survey and the draft nomination both say the road became U.S. 40 in 1926. Source conflict: the 4th & Prater timeline lists the renumbering under 1928, the same year the Lincoln Highway Association set concrete markers on September 1 (Wikipedia says about 2,400; the 4th & Prater timeline says about 2,500). We use 1926 for the numbering and treat the marker count as approximate.

That same autumn, on October 23, 1926, Reno raised its first arch over Virginia Street at Commercial Row, per Wikipedia. The Reno Historical site puts its cost at $5,500. It advertised the Nevada Transcontinental Highways Exposition, held July 25 to August 1, 1927, which celebrated the completion of the Lincoln and Victory Highways. Note that the 4th & Prater timeline lists the arch's “first permanent version” under 1927, which differs from the 1926 date given by Wikipedia and the Reno Historical site.

The Biggest Little City

The arch proved popular enough that the city decided to keep it. In 1929 Reno held a public contest for a slogan to replace the exposition name and dates. The winner was G. A. Burns of Sacramento, who received $100 for “Reno, the Biggest Little City in the World.” The Reno Historical site gives March 14, 1929 for the award, while Wikipedia says the slogan debuted on June 25, 1929 — the gap may reflect selection versus unveiling, but the sources do not say.

The first arch was replaced in 1963 by a larger one, moved to Idlewild Park, and later stored. It was reassembled for the 1994 film Cobb and, since 1995, has stood on Lake Street near the Truckee River. The current arch dates to 1987. If you enjoy standing where the history happened, we're also heading to the Reno Antique Faire, where local history is always part of the conversation.

Bypassed and Reborn

Interstate 80 changed everything. The City of Reno's survey says the interstate's 1974 completion bypassed the Fourth Street corridor to the north, and the draft nomination uses 1974 as the end of the period of significance (KUNR describes the bypass more loosely as occurring in the 1970s). Casino resorts offered more amenities than roadside courts, and many motels drifted into long-term housing or were demolished.

Preservation interest has grown. The City engaged Kautz Environmental Consultants, whose summer 2024 report evaluated a potential East 4th Street historic district for the National Register of Historic Places. The state's draft nomination counts 136 resources, 95 of them (74 percent) contributing, with a period of significance from 1900 to 1974. We have not confirmed final listing, so treat the draft as a draft. Meanwhile, the street is reviving: a craft-brewery district has gathered on East 4th Street, where Reno Brewing opened in 1903, and adaptive reuse includes the 2018 conversion of the Coach Inn into studio apartments.

At a Glance: The Lincoln Highway in Reno

• The Lincoln Highway Association was organized in 1913; the highway ran 3,389 miles from New York to San Francisco and was named for Abraham Lincoln.
• In Reno, the route ran along East 4th Street (and through downtown on Virginia Street), with the first local sign painted in April 1914.
• Auto camps, service stations, and later motels such as the Farris (1946) and the Hi-Way 40 (1948) lined the corridor.
• The 1926 U.S. numbering system folded the road into U.S. 40; sources disagree on whether Reno signs changed in 1926 or 1928.
• The Reno Arch went up on October 23, 1926, and the 1929 contest produced “The Biggest Little City in the World.”
• Interstate 80's 1974 completion bypassed the street; a 2024 city survey evaluated a potential historic district, and breweries are returning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where exactly did the Lincoln Highway run through Reno?

Sources describe it along East 4th Street and through downtown on Virginia Street, but the path through Reno and Sparks shifted over time. The most consistent segment was East 4th Street from Virginia Street to what is now Galletti Way.

What happened to the Lincoln Highway in 1926?

The new national numbering system split it among several routes. Through Reno it became U.S. 40, which the Victory Highway also used. Some local timelines list the renumbering as 1928, so cite your source.

Who came up with “The Biggest Little City in the World”?

G. A. Burns of Sacramento won a $100 prize in the city's 1929 slogan contest. Sources differ on whether to date it from the award (March 14, 1929) or the debut (June 25, 1929).

What roadside antiques are worth collecting?

Collectors look for period road maps and Lincoln Highway guides, motel keys and postcards, gas-station and cafe memorabilia, neon and enamel signs, and mid-century lighting and furniture. Reproductions of signs are widespread, so check wear, hardware, and construction before buying.

Conclusion

The Lincoln Highway began as a promotional dream and ended up shaping a street. Fourth Street's courts, cafes, garages, and motels, and the arch that still greets visitors, are the physical record of how Reno learned to welcome travelers, and the corridor is only now being appreciated as the historic district it was all along.

To bring a piece of that road-trip era home, explore our curated collection at The Eclection — chosen not for their shine, but for the craftsmanship and history they carry.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study of Reno's highway history, these non-commercial sources are reliable starting points:

• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — the 4th & Prater project's Lincoln Highway era timeline for Reno and Sparks.
• Federal Highway Administration — the agency's history of the Lincoln Highway.
• City of Reno Historic Preservation — the East 4th Street Historic Survey and Inventory.