April 15, 1914, (dubbed Good Road Day) with 1,000 citizens and officials in overalls, Gov. Dunne, with a silver-plated shovel, dug the first shovel of earth beginning the first link on the Lincoln Highway in Illinois.  During the morning, work was largely ceremonial with speeches, parades and moving picture making.  After a noon-hour barbeque, compliments of Mooseheart, the real work began.  While men worked, ladies watched and applauded.  Soon the number of workers dwindled to 200 shovelers and 40 teams.  By nightfall, 200 pairs of blistered hands and 200 sore backs had produced 130 cubic yards of a sub-grade.  Crew foreman from the tri-cities included John Van Burton and James Kinney of Batavia; A. L. Carlisle and J. A. Fauntleroy of Geneva; and Bert Norris and F. E. Glenn of St. Charles.  Norton VanSicklen of St. Charles was overseer of all the work.

The day was so special Batavia factories, its post office and its schools closed so everyone could visit "Good Road Day."
Everyone who worked on the road that first day received a membership into the Hod Carriers and Common Laborers Union and a check for one penny signed by Gov. Dunne and drawn on the First National Black of Batavia. Mooseheart's construction crew, using state equipment, poured the 15-foot wide cement slab in front of the property during the following days. This was the first concrete highway in Illinois.  While construction was under way, people were detoured to East River Road (Route 25 today).