Dixie Lee Junction, Tennessee

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Dixie Lee Junction, Tennessee
Dixie Lee Junction
Dixie-lee-junction-tn1.jpg
The intersection of US 70 and US 11 at Dixie Lee Junction
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Dixie Lee Junction
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Dixie Lee Junction
Coordinates: 35°51′37″N84°13′33″W / 35.86028°N 84.22583°W / 35.86028; -84.22583 Coordinates: 35°51′37″N84°13′33″W / 35.86028°N 84.22583°W / 35.86028; -84.22583
Country United States
State Tennessee
County Loudon
Elevation
[1]
988 ft (301 m)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
37772
Area code(s) 865
GNIS feature ID1282515 [1]

Dixie Lee Junction is an unincorporated community in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States, situated at the intersection of U.S. Route 70 (US 70) and U.S. Route 11 (US 11). [2] The community is named for its historical location at the junction of the eastern leg of the Dixie Highway (which followed US 70 through the region) and the Lee Highway (which followed US 11). [3] From the advent of automobile travel in the late 1920s until the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the late 1950s and 1960s, these two highways were major cross-country routes, and Dixie Lee Junction developed as a "last chance" stopover for tourists traveling southward from Knoxville. While the completion of the interstates drew away most of the cross-country traffic, the US 70/US 11 intersection still serves a strategic role as the western end of the four-lane Kingston Pike, a major commercial thoroughfare in western Knox County. [3]

The Dixie Lee Junction community lies adjacent to the town of Farragut, with the Knox-Loudon county line (which runs perpendicular to Kingston Pike) being the technical boundary between the two communities. US 70 approaches Dixie Lee Junction from Kingston to the west, and US 11 approaches from Lenoir City to the southwest. The merged highways then continue eastward for 20 miles (32 km) through Farragut and Knoxville. Two major interstate highways, Interstate 40 (I-40) and I-75, merge just northwest of Dixie Lee Junction.

The Dixie Highway was conceived in 1914 to provide a convenient route from the Midwestern United States to Florida. Its eastern section entered downtown Knoxville via Broadway before veering westward along Cumberland Avenue and out into West Knoxville along Kingston Pike. [3] The Lee Highway, which connected New York and San Francisco, entered Knoxville from Bean Station to the northeast, and merged with the Dixie Highway in downtown Knoxville. [3]

Knoxville lay along the Dixie Highway roughly halfway between the Midwestern states and Florida, and thus made a convenient place for Florida-bound tourists to stop for the night. Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Kingston Pike was lined with motor courts and motels, and restaurants with oddly-shaped buildings and flashy signs designed to catch the attention of passers-by. [3] Businesses in Dixie Lee Junction during this period consisted of "last-chance" ventures that provided food, fuel, and other supplies before south-bound drivers entered a predominantly-rural stretch of the highway en route to Chattanooga. [3]

Arts and culture

Ronnie James Dio's band Elf released a song "Dixie Lee Junction" about the community on their 1972 album Elf.

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Knoxville, Tennessee City and county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, United States

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Farragut, Tennessee Town in Tennessee, United States

Farragut is a suburban town located in Knox and Loudon counties in the State of Tennessee, United States. The town's population was 23,506 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. The town is named in honor of Union Admiral David Farragut, who was born just east of Farragut at Campbell's Station in 1801, and fought in the American Civil War.

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Tennessee State Route 1 State highway in Tennessee, United States

State Route 1, known as the Memphis to Bristol Highway, is a 538.8-mile-long (867.1 km) mostly-unsigned state highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches all the way from the Arkansas state line at Memphis in the southwest corner of the state to Bristol in the northeast part. Most of the route travels concurrently with U.S. Route 70 and US 11W. It is the longest highway of any kind in the state of Tennessee. The route is signed as both in the state of Tennessee, a Primary and Secondary Highway

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U.S. Route 11E is a divided highway of US 11 in the U.S. states of Tennessee and Virginia. The U.S. Highway, which is complemented by US 11W to the north and west, runs 120.9 miles (194.6 km) from US 11, US 11W, and US 70 in Knoxville, Tennessee north and east to US 11, US 11W, US 19, and US 421 in Bristol, Virginia. US 11E connects Knoxville and the twin cities of Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee with the East Tennessee communities of Morristown, Greeneville, and Johnson City. The U.S. Highway runs concurrently with US 70 and US 25W east of Knoxville, US 321 from Greeneville and Johnson City, and both US 19W and US 19 between Johnson City and Bristol. US 11E also has an unsigned concurrency with Tennessee State Route 34 for almost all of its course in Tennessee.

U.S. Route 31W is the westernmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Route 31 from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky. At one time, it split with U.S. Route 31E at Sellersburg, Indiana, crossing into nearby Louisville via the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge. Tennessee State Route 41 is its unsigned companion route in Tennessee.

State Route 2 is a 197-mile-long (317 km) west–to–east state highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It begins in Murfreesboro, in Rutherford County, and ends near Farragut in Loudon County. The route is both a primary and secondary route.

Tennessee State Route 332

State Route 332 is a west to east secondary highway in Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee.

Concord is an unincorporated community in Knox County, Tennessee, United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, the Concord Village Historic District. The United States Geographic Names Information System classifies Concord as a populated place. It is located in western Knox County, east of Farragut and west of Knoxville. Mail destined for Concord is now addressed to Concord, Knoxville, or Farragut.

Kingston Pike United States historic place

Kingston Pike is a highway in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, that connects Downtown Knoxville with West Knoxville, Farragut, and other communities in the western part of the county. The road follows a merged stretch of U.S. Route 11 (US 11) and US 70. From its initial construction in the 1790s until the development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s, Kingston Pike was the main traffic artery in western Knox County, and an important section of several cross-country highways. The road is now a major commercial corridor, containing hundreds of stores, restaurants, and other retail establishments.

State Route 131 is a south-to-north highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee that is 68.8-mile (110.7 km) long. It is designated as a secondary route.

State Route 158 is a west-to-east highway in the city of Knoxville in the U.S. state of Tennessee.

U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in the U.S. state of Tennessee travels from the Georgia state line in Chattanooga to Knoxville, where it then splits into US 11E and US 11W. These two highways then travel to the Virginia state line near Kingsport and Bristol. During its length, it shares concurrencies with SR 2 and SR 38.

U.S. Route 41 (US 41) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to Copper Harbor, Michigan. In Tennessee, the highway is paralleled by Interstate 24 all the way from Georgia to Kentucky, and I-24 has largely supplanted US-41 as a major highway, especially for large and heavy vehicles, such as tractor-trailer trucks and buses.

West Knoxville is a section of Knoxville, Tennessee, US. It west of the city's downtown area. It stretches from Sequoyah Hills on the east to the city's border with Farragut on the west. West Knoxville is concentrated around Kingston Pike (US-70/US-11), and along with Sequoyah Hills includes the neighborhoods of Lyons View, Forest Hills, Bearden, West Hills, Westmoreland Heights, Cedar Bluff, and Ebenezer.

Bearden, Knoxville Neighborhood of Knoxville in Tennessee, United States

Bearden, also known as Bearden Village, is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, located along Kingston Pike in West Knoxville. Developed primarily as an agrarian community in the 19th century, this neighborhood now lies at the heart of one of Knoxville's major commercial corridors. Named for former Knoxville mayor and Tennessee state legislator, Marcus De Lafayette Bearden (1830–1885), the community was annexed by Knoxville in 1962.

State Route 33 is a primary and secondary route in East Tennessee. It runs 176 miles, from the Georgia state line in Polk County, northeast to the Virginia state line north of Kyles Ford in Hancock County. South of Maryville, SR 33 is a "hidden" route which shares a concurrency with US 411.

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Dixie Lee Junction
  2. "Dixie Lee Junction". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jack Neely, "Down the Dixie Lee Highway." From the Shadow Side: And Other Stories of Knoxville, Tennessee (Tellico Books, 2003), pp. 125-139.