Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway | |
Route information | |
Existed | 1913–present |
Major junctions | |
East end | Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. |
West end | San Diego, California, U.S. |
Location | |
Country | United States |
States | Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California |
Highway system | |
The Jefferson Davis Highway, also known as the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, [1] was a transcontinental highway in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s that began in Arlington County, Virginia, and extended south and west to San Diego, California; it was named for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, United States senator, and Secretary of War. Because of unintended conflict between the National Auto Trail movement and the federal government, it is unclear whether it ever really existed in the complete form that its United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) founders originally intended. [2]
In the first quarter of the 20th century, as the automobile gained in popularity, a system of roads began to develop informally through the actions of private interests. These were known as auto trails. They existed without the support or coordination of the federal government, although in some states, the state governments participated in their planning and development. The first of these National Auto Trails was the Lincoln Highway, which was first announced as a project in 1912.
With the need for new roads being so significant, dozens of new auto trails were begun in the decade following. One such roadway was the Jefferson Davis Highway, which was sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). The UDC planned the formation of the Jefferson Davis as a road that would start in Arlington, Virginia, and travel through the southern states until its terminus at San Diego, California. More than ten years after the route-planning and marking of the Jefferson Davis on existing roadways was begun, it was announced that it would be extended north out of San Diego and go to the Canada–US border. [3]
By the mid-1920s, the informal system of national auto trails had grown cumbersome, and the federal government imposed a numbering system on the nation's highways, using even numbers for east–west routes and odd numbers for north–south routes. Rather than using a single number for each auto trail, sections of each trail were given different numerical designations. The UDC petitioned the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads to designate the Jefferson Davis as a national highway with a single number. The Bureau's reply casts doubt on whether or not the JDMH ever really existed as a transcontinental highway:
A careful search has been made in our extensive map file in the Bureau of Public Roads and three maps showing the Jefferson Davis highways have been located, but the routes on these maps are themselves different and neither route is approximately that described by you, so that I am somewhat at a loss as to just what route your constituents are interested in. For instance, there is the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway which extends from Miami, Florida to Los Angeles (but not to San Francisco); and there is another Jefferson Davis Highway shown on the Rand-McNally maps which extends from Fairview, Kentucky the site of the Jefferson Davis monument, by a very circuitous route to New Orleans, but I find no route whatever bearing the name Jefferson Davis extending from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco. [emphasis added] [2]
This problem may well have been the fault of the UDC themselves. In addition to the planned transcontinental route, they also designated an auxiliary route running from Kentucky to Mississippi, as well as another that ran through Georgia. These ancillary routes were intended to commemorate important venues in Davis's life, but they also contributed to the confusion of the federal government in trying to locate exactly where the Jefferson Davis highway traveled. What is known is that when numbered highways came into existence, the Jefferson Davis National Highway was split among US Route 1, US 15, US 29, US 61, US 80, US 90, US 99, US 190 and others. These numbered routes have been supplanted by the Interstate Highway System.
Although it may not be possible to view the entire length of the highway on a map today, many parts of it still exist, scattered across the country. This is an incomplete listing (from East to West) of some of the places today where one can see pieces of the Jefferson Davis highway.
The Virginia General Assembly defined the Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia on March 17, 1922, as traveling from Arlington County at the 14th Street Bridge to Virginia's border with North Carolina, south of Clarksville. Most of this corridor was defined as US 1 and US 15 in 1926, although US 1 took a shorter route between south of McKenney and South Hill, [4] with the Jefferson Davis Highway instead following current State Route 712 and U.S. Route 58, as well as U.S. Route 58 Business in Lawrenceville and Boydton. [5] Additionally, Virginia State Route 110 became part of the Jefferson Davis Highway when it was constructed in 1964, thus creating an continuous route from Alexandria to Rosslyn. [6]
The highway's original eastern terminus marker was located at the Virginia end of the 14th Street Bridge, which crosses the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The marker was there until the 1960s, when it was moved to a nearby location for safety reasons as it was a traffic hazard. [2] The Falling Creek and Proctor Creek highway markers in Chesterfield County, Brook Road Marker in Henrico County, Ashland Marker in Hanover County, and Elliott Grays Marker and Maury Street Marker in Richmond, Virginia are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [7]
Several jurisdictions in Northern Virginia changed the road's name to Richmond Highway: Fairfax County around 1970, [8] Alexandria in January 2019, [9] Arlington in May 2019, [10] Prince William County in November 2020, [11] and Stafford County in 2021 with signs replaced starting in 2022. [12] By 2022, two portions of U.S. 1 remained designated as Jefferson Davis Highway: between and including Fredericksburg and Caroline County, and from southern Richmond through Chesterfield County.
On February 3, 2021, the Virginia House of Delegates voted to rename all remaining portions of Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia to Emancipation Highway beginning on January 1, 2022. [13] The bill was approved by the State Senate on February 25, 2021, and signed into law by Governor Ralph Northam. [14] [15] In response to the law, many localities voted to rename their portions of Jefferson Davis Highway over the course of 2021. [16] Any portions whose names remained unchanged were legally renamed Emancipation Highway on January 1, 2022, [17] although this only applied to Fredericksburg. [18] [19]
The Jefferson Davis Highway originally traversed through the state for 162 miles (261 km). Starting at the Virginia state line along US 15 to Sanford; then on US 1 from Sanford to the South Carolina state line. Its designation is unofficial since the North Carolina State Highway Commission, a preceding agency of what is now the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), had denied the request on at least two occasions. However, US 1 through Lee County is officially called Jefferson Davis Highway; it was designated in 1959 by county resolution at the request of the UDC. [20]
The Jefferson Davis Highway traverses through the state for 170 miles (270 km). Starting at the North Carolina state line, it follows US 1 to the Georgia state line in Augusta. Several monuments can be found along the route including in Camden and Aiken. [21]
In Alabama, the segment of US 80 from Selma to Montgomery is the most famous part of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway today. On this road, Martin Luther King Jr. led the March 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches that helped prompt Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in August. This road also extends through eastern Montgomery and today is known as the Atlanta Highway, although interstate I-85 has replaced the route to Atlanta.
In Biloxi, located at 2244 Beach Boulevard in front of Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis. It is located on the coastline overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. There is also a marker in Moss Point, at 12400 US-90 at a long neglected turnout at the state line with Alabama.
The original alignment of the main route traversed from Sabine River to El Paso, via Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Alpine and Van Horn. This routing today would predominantly be along US 90, with US 290 and I-35 connecting Austin. A coastal spur, branching from Houston to Brownsville, travels along US 59 and US 77. At least 18 markers are still in existence across the state. [23] TXDOT did not officially adopt the Jefferson Davis Highway name on any of its state highways. Several of the highway markers have been removed from public property and relocated, including in San Antonio [24] and San Marcos, [25] with the City of Elgin voting to remove marker there as well. [26]
Parts along I-10 were signed as Jefferson Davis Highway; however, markers were removed by DOT. "Officials of the state Department of Transportation now believe they have removed the last remaining memorials to Confederate President Jefferson Davis from Interstate 10 rest areas in New Mexico." [27]
In 1961, the Arizona State Government passed legislation, officially designating the entire route of U.S. Route 80 in Arizona as the Jefferson Davis Highway. Some monuments displaying the name of the highway still remain along the segments of the old route (such as a roadside marker on U.S. Route 60 near Gold Canyon). The validity of the designation present day is debatable, as US 80 is no longer an active highway in Arizona. [28] However, the Route 80 designation still exists within Arizona in other forms. One segment of US 80 still exists in the form of Arizona State Route 80. [29] Most of former US 80 in Arizona is also signed and designated as Historic US 80. [30]
The western terminus of the highway was identified by a Jefferson Davis plaque at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego. [31] The formal opening of the highway at this terminus was officiated by President Warren Harding. (Photographs of this event are available in the archives of the San Diego Union-Tribune and in the files of the San Diego Historical Society.)[ citation needed ]
Markers were also placed in the California municipalities of Bakersfield, Fort Tejon, Hornbrook, and Winterhaven. [32]
The Jefferson Davis monument at Horton Plaza was removed on August 16, 2017, in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in Virginia. [33] The marker in Hornbrook was removed by protesters during the George Floyd protests in June 2020. [34]
On August 17, 2017, the Jefferson Davis Highway road-side marker beside U.S. Route 60 near Gold Canyon was "tarred and feathered", [35] presumably in response to the Unite the Right rally the previous weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.[ citation needed ] The marker is a remnant of when U.S. Route 80 previously existed over the same roadway, which was designated as the Jefferson Davis Highway by the Arizona state legislature in 1961. In response to the controversy, the Arizona Department of Transportation stated the Jefferson Davis Highway "no longer exists" within the state as US 80 was decommissioned and removed from Arizona in 1989, suggesting ADOT does not recognize the current State Route 80 as being the same highway. [28]
On June 30, 2020, the United Daughters of the Confederacy requested state officials to return the monument marker in addition to another Confederate monument outside the State Capitol. [36] [37]
On November 6, 2020, an article from The News & Observer indicated that NCDOT was in the process of removing Jefferson Davis highway signs and markers along state-owned right-of-way. The process started in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. The article also mentions how Wikipedia was incorrect in identifying the Jefferson Davis Highway as an official designation by the State, approved on May 28, 1955; the reference used, North Carolina Memorial Highways and other Named Facilities, published by NCDOT was in fact incorrect. [20] [38]
The northeastern Virginia section of the highway approximated the route of the older Washington and Alexandria Turnpike, which received its charter from the United States Congress in 1808. [39] A street in Crystal City once designated as "Old Jefferson Davis Highway" parallels the east side of US 1, [40] part of which was known as Jefferson Davis Highway in the area until 2019. [41] This street, which was the original route of the highway, now ends before reaching the 14th Street Bridge. [40] [42]
In 2011, the Arlington County Board voted to change the name of the street to "Long Bridge Drive" after the board's chairman stated: "I have a problem with 'Jefferson Davis' ... There are aspects of our history I'm not particularly interested in celebrating". However, the name of the county's section of Jefferson Davis Highway itself, a portion of U.S. 1 that only the Virginia General Assembly could legally rename in 2011, remained unchanged. [43] [44]
In 2012, the Virginia General Assembly changed its statute, granting Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) the authority to change the name of a primary highway, such as Jefferson Davis Highway, that the General Assembly had originally named. [45] In February 2016, Virginia Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Bourne issued an advisory opinion that the City of Alexandria had the legal authority to change the name of the portion of Jefferson Davis Highway that was within the city's jurisdiction. [46]
In September 2016, the Alexandria City Council voted unanimously to change the name of the city's portion of the highway, but did not take a vote on a new name for the road. [47] In June 2018, the city council voted unanimously to change the road's name to Richmond Highway, the name already used in adjacent Fairfax County. [48]
In its 2016 legislative package, the Arlington County Board asked the Virginia General Assembly to rename the portion of Jefferson Davis Highway that was within the county. [49] [50] [51] [52] However, no member of Arlington's legislative delegation offered any such legislation during the 2016 session of the General Assembly. [53]
In 2019, Arlington County finally succeeded in changing the name of the portion of the highway within the county after Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring concluded that, in accordance with the 2012 change in the Commonwealth's statute, the CTB had the authority to change the highway's name within the county. The Arlington County Board then voted unanimously on April 25 to approve a resolution that asked the CTB to rename to Richmond Highway the 2.56-mile portion of Jefferson Davis Highway that lay within the county's borders. [45] After receiving a letter of support from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, the CTB voted on May 15 to change to Richmond Highway the name of the portions of U.S. Route 1 and Virginia State Route 110 within Arlington County that at the time bore the name of Jefferson Davis Highway. [41] [54]
On February 3, 2021, the Virginia House of Delegates voted to rename all remaining portions of Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia to Emancipation Highway beginning on January 1, 2022. [13] The bill was approved by the State Senate on February 25, 2021, and signed into law by Governor Northam a month later. [14] [15] As of January 1, 2022, all remaining portions of Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia have been renamed. [17]
In 1939, the Washington State Legislature proposed naming U.S. Route 99 as the "Jefferson Davis Highway", making it the final component of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, [55] but it was never made official. [56]
In 1998, officials of the city of Vancouver removed a marker of the Jefferson Davis Highway and placed it in a cemetery shed in an action that several years later became controversial. [57] The marker was subsequently moved twice, and eventually was placed alongside Interstate 5 on private land (Jefferson Davis Park) purchased for the purpose of giving the marker a permanent home. [58] [59]
The marker stone in Blaine, Washington, was removed in 2002 through the efforts of State Representative Hans Dunshee and city officials, and after it was discovered that the highway was never officially designated by the state to memorialize Davis. [56] Both markers now rest in the Sons of Confederate Veterans-owned Jefferson Davis Park near Ridgefield, adjacent to I-5. [60] In 2002, the Washington House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that would have removed Davis's name from the road. However, a committee of the state's senate subsequently killed the proposal. [61] [62]
In March 2016, the Washington State Legislature unanimously passed a joint memorial that asked the state transportation commission to designate what was left of old U.S. Route 99, Washington State Route 99, "William P. Stewart Memorial Highway" to honor an African-American volunteer during the Civil War who later became a pioneer of the town and city of Snohomish. [63] [64] [65] In May 2016, the transportation commission agreed to the renaming. [66] [67]
The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a 25-mile-long (40 km) limited-access parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). It is located almost entirely in Northern Virginia, except for a short portion of the parkway northwest of the Arlington Memorial Bridge that passes over Columbia Island in Washington, D.C.
Virginia State Route 110 (SR 110) is a primary state highway in Arlington, Virginia. Known as the Richmond Highway, the state highway runs 2.41 miles (3.88 km) from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and Interstate 395 (I-395) in Crystal City north to I-66 in the Rosslyn neighborhood. SR 110 is a four- to six-lane freeway that parallels the Potomac River, providing a connection between several of Arlington's urban villages and major landmarks, including the Pentagon, which is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, and the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. The highway also provides access to SR 27, an east–west freeway between the Pentagon and the cemetery, and the George Washington Parkway that parallels the Potomac River. SR 110 is a part of the National Highway System for its entire length.
The Lee Highway was a national auto trail in the United States, connecting New York City and San Francisco, California, via the South and Southwest.
The Pentagon road network is a system of highways, mostly freeways, built by the United States federal government in the early 1940s to serve the Pentagon in northern Virginia. The roads, transferred to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1964, are now largely state highways. The main part of the network is the Mixing Bowl at Interstate 395 and Route 27, named because it had major weaving issues with traffic "mixing" between the two roads before it was rebuilt in the early 1970s.
U.S. Route 50 is a transcontinental highway which stretches from Ocean City, Maryland to West Sacramento, California. In the U.S. state of Virginia, US 50 extends 86 miles (138 km) from the border with Washington, D.C. at a Potomac River crossing at Rosslyn in Arlington County to the West Virginia state line near Gore in Frederick County.
Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States include public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Many monuments and memorials have been or will be removed under great controversy. Part of the commemoration of the American Civil War, these symbols include monuments and statues, flags, holidays and other observances, and the names of schools, roads, parks, bridges, buildings, counties, cities, lakes, dams, military bases, and other public structures. In a December 2018 special report, Smithsonian Magazine stated, "over the past ten years, taxpayers have directed at least $40 million to Confederate monuments—statues, homes, parks, museums, libraries, and cemeteries—and to Confederate heritage organizations."
Appomattox is a bronze statue commemorating soldiers from Alexandria, Virginia, who had died while fighting for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The memorial was located in the center of the intersection of South Washington Street and Prince Street in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria.
The Confederate Memorial was a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States, that commemorated members of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America who died during the American Civil War. Authorized in March 1906, former Confederate soldier and sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel was commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in November 1910 to design the memorial. It was unveiled by President Woodrow Wilson on June 4, 1914, the 106th anniversary of the birth of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America.
Elliott Grays Marker-Jefferson Davis Highway is a historic route marker located on U.S. Route 1, or Jefferson Davis Highway, in Richmond, Virginia. It was erected in 1929, by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It is one of 16 erected in Virginia along the Jefferson Davis Highway between 1927 and 1947. The marker is an inscribed granite slab with smooth flat faces and rough-cut edges. It measures 47 inches tall, 25 inches wide and 12 inches thick. The stone is engraved with the text "Jefferson Davis Highway This tree marks the site of Battery 17 of the inner defenses of Richmond, 1862-65, and is planted in soil taken from battlefields A memorial to Confederate Soldiers by the Elliott Grays Chapter U.D.C. 1929."
There are more than 160 Confederate monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America and associated figures that have been removed from public spaces in the United States, all but five of which have been since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn down by protestors.
Jefferson Davis Park is a private park located outside Ridgefield, Washington, in the southwestern portion of the state. The granite markers of the unofficial Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway are at the center of the park surrounded by Confederate flags. Operated by the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the park commemorates Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America.
7. Renaming Jefferson Davis Highway: Work with General Assembly and the community toward renaming the Arlington portion of Jefferson Davis Highway in a way that is respectful to all who live and work along it.
Another granite marker proclaiming the road's designation as the Jefferson Davis Highway was erected at the time in Vancouver, Wash., at the highway's southern terminus. It was quietly removed by city officials four years ago and now rests in a cemetery shed there, but publicity over the bill has brought its mothballing to light and stirred a contentious debate there about whether it should be restored.