Postcard image of Dixie Highway in St. Johns County, Florida. This section was previously part of the older John Anderson Highway.
Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of connected paved roads, rather than one single highway. It was constructed and expanded from 1915 to 1929.
The Dixie Highway was inspired by the example of the slightly earlier Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States. The prime booster of both projects was promoter and businessman Carl G. Fisher. It was overseen by the Dixie Highway Association and funded by a group of individuals, businesses, local governments, and states. In the early years, the U.S. federal government played little role, but from the early 1920s on it provided increasing funding until 1927. That year the Dixie Highway Association was disbanded and the highway was taken over by the federal government as part of the U.S. Route system, with some portions becoming state roads.
The route was marked by a red stripe with the white letters "DH", usually with a white stripe above and below. The logo was commonly painted on utility poles.
The Dixie Highway magazine, containing stories of road development from Michigan to Florida, c.1925
In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the highway followed what is now M-129 from Sault Ste. Marie to Pickford and then west to follow a short portion of former U.S. Route 2, replaced by Mackinac Trail. It crossed the Straits of Mackinac and then used what is now U.S. Route 23 and old U.S. Route 10 to Detroit. It still exists in Michigan as the name of a secondary road from Saginaw southeast to the county line (as an alternate route to Flint), from southeast Flint to northwest Pontiac, and from Flat Rock southwest to Monroe, ending at the state line. A short section of the Dixie Highway in northwest lower Michigan running north from Eastport in Antrim County to the village of Norwood in Charlevoix County is named Old Dixie Highway—U.S. Route 31 parallels this road to the east. In Ohio, it was old U.S. Route 25 to Cincinnati, current U.S. Route 25 and U.S. Route 25W to Knoxville, and U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 27 to Chattanooga. The eastern division took a more direct route than the western between Chattanooga and Atlanta, following the modern U.S. Route 41 all the way, but it followed a more circuitous path south of Atlanta. Traffic left Atlanta to the east on U.S. Route 278, following U.S. Route 441, Georgia State Route 24, a short section of U.S. Route 301, and Georgia State Route 21 to Savannah. There, the route turned south along the coast via U.S. Route 17 to Jacksonville and U.S. Route 1 to Miami. It is today (2016) a major street in towns and cities along the Florida East Coast.
The Central route was a short cutoff between the western division at Macon, Georgia, and the eastern route at Jacksonville, Florida, forming a shorter route to Miami than the western on its own; it followed U.S. Route 41, U.S. Route 341, U.S. Route 129, Georgia State Route 32, and U.S. Route 1.
The Carolina route cut the distance between Knoxville and Waynesboro, Georgia, on the eastern route. It is now U.S. Route 25W and U.S. Route 25, and passes through Asheville, Greenville, and Augusta on its way to the eastern route and Savannah.
History
The Dixie Highway, an idea of Carl G. Fisher of the Lincoln Highway Association, was organized in early December 1914 in Chattanooga.[2] On April 3, 1915, governors of the interested states met at Chattanooga, and each selected two commissioners to lay out the route from Chicago to Miami.[3] On May 22, 1915, the commission decided on a split route in order to serve more communities.
The route left Chicago to the south via Danville, Illinois, and turned east to Indianapolis, where it split. The west branch headed south through Tennessee via Louisville and Nashville to Chattanooga, Tennessee, while the east route went east from Indianapolis to Dayton, Ohio, before turning south via Cincinnati; Lexington, Kentucky; and Knoxville, Tennessee; to Chattanooga. Two alternate routes were included between Chattanooga and Atlanta, and again between Atlanta and Macon, Georgia. Finally, between Macon and Jacksonville, Florida, the west route went south to Tallahassee, Florida, before turning east, while the east route had yet to be defined in detail. From Jacksonville, the route followed the east coast south to Miami, along the John Anderson Highway.
The commission voted to invite Michigan to the project, and to extend a branch of the east route from Dayton north to Detroit via Toledo. It also studied a loop around Lake Michigan and a western route between Tallahassee and Miami.[4][5][6]
Within a week, Michigan agreed to construct a loop around the Lower Peninsula, passing via Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Indiana; Mackinaw City, Michigan; and Detroit.[7] Detroit became the northern end of the eastern division, with the old route to Indianapolis becoming a connecting link.[5]
In early April 1916, the commission approved the route between Macon and Jacksonville via Savannah, Georgia, and designated the more direct route via Waycross, Georgia, as the central division.[8] At the urging of locals,[9] the eastern division was realigned to a more direct path northwest from Milledgeville, Georgia, to Atlanta over the "Old Capitol Route", bypassing Macon. The old eastern division via McDonough, Jackson, and Macon was removed from the system in early July 1916.[10]
By early 1917, the western division had been modified in Florida to go southeast from Tallahassee via Kissimmee and Bartow to the eastern division at Jupiter;[11] the old Tallahassee–Jacksonville route became another connection.[5] The Carolina division, connecting to the eastern division at Knoxville, Tennessee, and Waynesboro, Georgia, was approved in mid-May 1918.[12] By mid-1919, a short piece on Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Sault Ste. Marie, became part of the eastern division of the highway, which was extended north from Detroit to Mackinaw City and across the Straits of Mackinac.[13]
Construction of various sections was done by convict laborers.[14][15]
Much of the eastern route—and all the Carolina route—became U.S. Route 25. Then the primary eastern route (Knoxville to Macon) was largely paralleled and in some sections replaced by Interstate 75, which runs from Miami to Sault Ste. Marie. Large portions of the former US 25 in western Ohio became known (after Interstate 75's completion in that area in 1963) by various names, including County Road 25A, Dixie Drive, Dixie Highway, Cincinnati-Dayton Road, and, through Dayton, Patterson Boulevard and Keowee Street. A four-lane portion runs between Cygnet and Toledo, through Bowling Green, as Ohio State Route 25. In Michigan, M-25 from Port Huron to Bay City incorporates the segment of old US 25 that Interstates 75 and 94 did not supplant as a through route. The eastern portion from Jacksonville south was largely replaced with U.S. Route 1.
The portion of the western route from Nashville, Tennessee, north to Louisville, Kentucky is now U.S. Highway 31W. In most of the cities it traverses in Kentucky, it is still referred to as "Dixie Highway" or "Dixie Avenue". The western route generally follows the present-day route of US 150, Indiana SR 37, and Indiana SR 67 from Louisville to Indianapolis. From Nashville to Indianapolis, the route parallels Interstate 65. Portions of this stretch were originally parts of the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike, which began construction in the 1830s.
U.S. Route 1 is named Dixie Highway from the national southern terminus of Interstate 95 in Miami to the Overseas Highway in Key Largo, Florida. The name "Dixie Highway" persists in various locations along its route where the main flow of long-distance traffic has been rerouted to more modern highways and the old Dixie Highway remains as a local road. In some south Florida cities, Dixie Highway (or sometimes Old Dixie Highway) parallels "Federal Highway" (U.S. Route 1), sometimes just a block away. In Tennessee, the name lives on in Dixie Lee Junction (where Dixie Highway and Lee Highway intersected). In western North Carolina, seven bronze plaques on granite pillars were placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the late 1920s to mark the route (which today follows US 25) of the Dixie Highway and honor General Robert E. Lee. These markers could be found in the towns of Hot Springs, Marshall, Asheville, Fletcher, and Hendersonville, and on the South Carolina and Tennessee state lines; an eighth monument of identical type can be found on US 25 in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. Two additional monuments could be found in Franklin, Ohio at the intersection of the Old Dixie Highway and Hamilton-Middletown Road, and near Bradfordville, Florida, on US 319. Markers in Hot Springs, Marshall, and Tuxedo were stolen.[17][18] Markers in Asheville and Franklin were removed by local governments.[19][20] In 2022 Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher returned the marker in front of the church to the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[21] The name Dixie Highway is also still commonly used in portions of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, such as in the Waterford area, where it is a major thoroughfare known as U.S. Route 24.
Dixie Highway retains its name running south from Chicago through the towns of Posen, Harvey, and Homewood to the town of Chicago Heights. Here it joins Illinois Route 1, which runs contiguous with the old Dixie Highway's original course.
Monuments like this, and even arches over the roadway, were put up by cities and counties as they built sections of highways including the Dixie Highway.
In Indiana, the only portion of the Highway that retains its name is located in southwestern Bedford,[22][unreliable source?] although Roseland names its section Dixie Way.[23]Indiana State Road 37 in southern Indiana and US 31 in northern Indiana were once part of the Dixie Highway system.[22] A detailed 1915 map of the Dixie Highway route through Indiana and other states was generated by the National Highways Association.[24][25] At least a portion of the Dixie Highway in Indiana was paved with brick,[26][27] although some portions used continuous concrete (meaning no expansion joints).[28] The state has not forgotten the crucial part that entrepreneur and native son Carl G. Fisher played in the development of the Dixie Highway nor the importance of the Dixie Highway itself.[29][30]
In some cities and towns, Dixie Highway is the north–south axis of the street numbering system. Also, the route of Dixie Highway generally parallels the coast, often running diagonally instead of straight north and south, causing irregularities in the numbering system.
The Dixie Highway-Hastings, Espanola and Bunnell Road (also known as County Road 13 or the Old Brick Road) is a historic section of Old Dixie Highway in Florida. It is located roughly between Espanola (in Flagler County) and CR 204 southeast of Hastings near Flagler Estates (in St. Johns County). This is one of the few extant portions of the original brick Dixie Highway left in Florida. On April 20, 2005, it was added to the U.S.National Register of Historic Places. Maitland, Florida, is also home to a brick section of the Dixie Highway stretching around Lake Lily.
A segment of Dixie Highway remains as an arterial street in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The name is mired in controversy due to its antebellum connotation, which some say glorifies the nation's racist history of slavery, and "upholds the history of the Confederacy".[32] A portion of US1 named Dixie Highway in Coral Gables, Florida, has been given the historical designation of "Harriet Tubman Highway" on brown designation signs, but any changes to the official road name requires state approval.[33]
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from State Road 826 and SR 924 on the Hialeah–Miami Lakes border to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Canadian border. It is the second-longest north–south Interstate Highway and the seventh-longest Interstate Highway overall.
U.S. Route 27 (US 27) is a north–south United States Highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 (I-69) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. From Miami it goes up the center of Florida, then west to Tallahassee, Florida, and north through such cities and towns as Columbus, Georgia; Rome, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Oxford, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana; and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It once extended north through Lansing, Michigan, to Cheboygan, Mackinaw City, and for about three years even as far as St. Ignace. US 27 was first signed in 1926, replacing what had been the eastern route of the Dixie Highway in many states.
Southern Airways was a regional airline in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with North Central Airlines to become Republic Airlines. Southern's corporate headquarters were in Birmingham, with operations headquartered at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, near Atlanta.
U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, was US 94. The highway's southern terminus is in the Brickell neighborhood of Downtown Miami at an intersection with Brickell Avenue (US 1), and its northern terminus is east of Copper Harbor, Michigan, at a modest cul-de-sac near Fort Wilkins Historic State Park at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. US 41 closely parallels Interstate 75 (I-75) from Naples, Florida, all the way through Georgia to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since been extended. It was formerly part of the major highway known as the Dixie Highway. The highway's southern terminus is in Jacksonville, Florida, at US 1/US 17. The northern terminus is at Interstate 75 (I-75) in Mackinaw City, Michigan.
U.S. Route 441 (US 441) is a 939-mile-long (1,511 km) auxiliary route of U.S. Route 41. It extends from US 41 in Miami, Florida to US 25W in Rocky Top, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 travels through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The highway acts as a connector between several major urban areas, including Miami, Orlando, Ocala, Gainesville, Athens, and Knoxville. It also crosses the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where it meets the southwestern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and where no trucks or other commercial traffic are allowed.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.
Interstate 75 (I-75) in the US state of Georgia travels north–south along the U.S. Route 41 (US 41) corridor in the central part of the state, traveling through the cities of Valdosta, Macon, and Atlanta. It is also designated—but not signed—as State Route 401 (SR 401).
The Union Station built in 1930 in Atlanta was the smaller of two principal train stations in downtown, Terminal Station being the other. It was the third "union station" or "union depot", succeeding the 1853 station, burned in mid-November 1864 when Federal forces left Atlanta for the March to the Sea, and the 1871 station.
The Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, from 1931 until 1960, when it became merged with the Atlantic Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company, thereby forming the Southern Division of The Greyhound Corporation, called also the Southern Greyhound Lines.
The Teche Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, from 1934 until 1954, when it was merged into the Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company.
The Atlantic Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Charleston, West Virginia, USA, from 1931 until 1960, when it became merged with the Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company, thus forming the Southern Division of The Greyhound Corporation, which division became called also the Southern Greyhound Lines (GL).
U.S. Route 41 (US 41) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In the U.S. state of Georgia it travels 387 miles (623 km) from the Florida state line southeast of Lake Park to the Tennessee state line south of East Ridge, Tennessee. Within the state, US 41 is paralleled by Interstate 75 (I-75) all the way from Florida to Tennessee, and I-75 has largely supplanted US 41 as a major highway. Due to this, the majority of the highway is not part of the National Highway System.
Several special routes of U.S. Route 41 exist, including three in Wisconsin. In order from south to north they are as follows.
The Dixie Flagler was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) between Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. It began in 1939 as the Henry M. Flagler, a regional service between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida; the FEC renamed it and extended it to Chicago a year later. It was one of the few Chicago to Florida trains that passed through Atlanta. As an overnight streamliner it was part of the every-third-day pool shared by the City of Miami and South Wind. It was renamed Dixieland in 1954 and discontinued altogether in 1957.
The Dixie Flyer was a premier named passenger train that operated from 1892 to 1965 via the "Dixie Route" from Chicago and St. Louis via Evansville, Nashville, and Atlanta to Florida. However, the train continued until 1969 as an Atlanta to Florida operation, run solely by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line. The Flyer's route varied in early years, but by about 1920 was set as follows:
The following television stations operate on virtual channel 45 in the United States:
Chattanooga Union Station, more commonly known as the Union Depot in Chattanooga, constructed between 1857-1859, served as a train car shed in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Located at Broad and Ninth Streets, the station was one of two major railroad terminals in the city, the other being the Southern Railway's Terminal Station.
The Southland was a night train between Chicago, Illinois and different points in western and eastern Florida from 1915 to 1957. In the early years it was called the New Southland. It was distinctive among Midwest to Florida trains as its western branch was the only all-season mid-20th-century long-distance train passing from Georgia to Florida bypassing the usual passenger train hub of Jacksonville Union Station. The main operator was the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and pooling partners were the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and to lesser extent, the Wabash Railroad and the Florida East Coast Railway. For southeast bound -but not northwest bound- trips to Norfolk, Virginia, some coaches in 1946 diverged at Cincinnati along a Norfolk and Western Railway route. Northwest bound, travelers could switch trains at Cincinnati for heading towards Chicago.
The Marietta depot is a former freight and passenger stop in Marietta, Georgia. It was originally built in 1864 for the Western and Atlantic Railroad, a railroad between Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia. That railroad was absorbed by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. In turn, the latter railroad was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1957.
References
↑ The Dixie Highway. Dixie Highway Association. December 1923. p.10. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
Ingram, Tammy (2014). Dixie Highway: Road Building and the Making of the Modern South, 1900-1930. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN9781469615523.
Ramsay, Lisa R. & Vaughn, Tammy L. (2011). Tennessee's Dixie Highway. Postcard History. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN9780738587691.
External links
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