♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Continue west on the byway to Belle Plaine, a once bustling travel hub where railways, bus routes and the historic Lincoln Highway converged.

Today, hints of the roadway's past remain in the form of Preston's Station, an original Lincoln Highway landmark that opened in 1912.

♪♪ [Mary Preston] My great-grandfather bought it in 1923 for $100.

[Kohlsdorf] Since then, the station has been passed down through generations of the Preston family.

♪♪ [Mary Preston] As time went on there was milk sold, cigarettes sold, pop, candy, potato chips.

This was one of the first you might call it a Kwik Star or Casey's.

I loved coming in here because I love the smell.

I can smell the oil, I can smell the gas.

It is as I remember it growing up.

[Kohlsdorf] Mary Preston has made it her mission to preserve the station and the family legacy it holds.

[Mary Preston] If we don't protect the past, if we're not caregivers of the past, this is all going to be gone.

This building itself, if the walls could talk, oh my God the stories that would be told.

[George Preston] A lot of people stopped through here because at one time this this was the only highway there was and when we started this place the roads were mud and the filling stations were mostly on the road.

Now, my filling station used to sit closer to the road back in them days and the people pulled in that way.

[Mary Preston] Grandpa was a promoter of the Lincoln Highway.

He grew up on the Lincoln Highway.

[George Preston] We was practically the only filling station in the state of Iowa with a driveway.

Years ago, they didn't have driveways in filling stations.

They had curb service and things like that.

[Mary Preston] We open our doors to anybody who stops.

We share our story.

We want to get the word out.

My great-grandfather was brought to Belle Plaine for a reason.

He was brought to Belle Plaine for an impact.

Through four generations we have made an impact in Belle Plaine and we're going to continue to do that.

It's here, we're not going any place.

It's in my blood.

It's what I was meant to do in life.

♪♪