Dixie Highway
The
Dixie Highway was a
United States automobile highway first planned in
1914, to connect the
US Midwest with the
US South. It was part of the
National Auto Trail system, and grew out of an earlier
Miami to
Montreal highway. The final result is better understood as a small network of interconnected paved roads, rather than a single highway. It was constructed and expanded from
1915 to
1927.
The Dixie Highway was inspired by the example of the slightly earlier
Lincoln Highway. 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, and state governments. In the early years the
US Federal government played little role, but from the early
1920s on it provided increasing funding, until
1927 when the Dixie Highway Association was disbanded and the highway was taken over as part of
United States highway system, with some portions becoming state roads.
The route of the Dixie Highway was marked by a red stripe with the letters "DH" on it, usually with a white stripe above and below. This was commonly painted on
telephone and
telegraph poles along the route.
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Monuments like this, and even arches over the roadway, were put up by counties as they built sections of highways including the Dixie Highway. This one is on U.S. Route 1, the east mainline of the Dixie Highway, at the Brevard/Volusia county line, and was probably originally located about a mile to the east on the old road. |
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Southbound on the west mainline entering Osceola County; this is now Orange Avenue. |
The Dixie Highway had two main routes, both starting in
Miami, Florida in the south.
The
eastern division parallelled the
Atlantic Ocean north to
Savannah, Georgia, then went inland through
Augusta, Georgia,
Greenville, South Carolina and
Knoxville, Tennessee, north through
Lexington, Kentucky,
Toledo, Ohio,
Detroit, Michigan, and on to
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, with an extension into
Ontario, Canada. In general, this alignment is now the following roads:
*
U.S. Route 1,
Miami, FL to
Jacksonville, FL*
U.S. Route 17, Jacksonville to
Savannah, GA*
State Route 21,
State Route 24 and
U.S. Route 25, Savannah to
Augusta, GA*
U.S. Route 25, Augusta to
Newport, TN*
U.S. Route 25W, Newport to
Corbin, KY*
U.S. Route 25 and former US 25, Corbin to
Detroit, MI*Former
U.S. Route 10, Detroit to
Flint, MI*
U.S. Route 23, Flint to
Mackinaw City, MI*Former
U.S. Route 2,
St. Ignace, MI to
Sault Ste. Marie, MIThe
western division went inland through
Orlando and
Tallahassee, Florida, north through
Atlanta, Georgia,
Chattanooga, Tennessee, and
Indianapolis, Indiana to
Chicago, Illinois. In general, this alignment is now the following roads:
*
U.S. Route 41,
Miami, FL to
Punta Gorda, FL*
U.S. Route 17, Punta Gorda to
Orlando, FL*
U.S. Route 441, Orlando to
High Springs, FL*
U.S. Route 27, High Springs to
Tallahassee, FL*
U.S. Route 319, Tallahassee to
Thomasville, GA*
U.S. Route 19, Thomasville to
Americus, GA*
State Route 49, Americus to
Macon, GA*
U.S. Route 41, Macon to
Springfield, TN*
U.S. Route 431, Springfield to
Russellville, KY*
U.S. Route 68, Russellville to
Bowling Green, KY*
U.S. Route 31W, Bowling Green to
Louisville, KY*
U.S. Route 150, Louisville to
Paoli, IN*
State Road 37, Paoli to
Indianapolis, IN*
U.S. Route 136, Indianapolis to
Danville, IL*
Illinois Route 1, Danville to
Chicago, ILThe Dixie Highway also included a number of roads connecting the two branches, and numerous spurs.
By
1925 the Dixie Highway system had 5,786 miles of paved roads. In places it incorporated older local and county paved roads.
In rural areas, the paved portion was often just a single lane; when two vehicles needed to pass each other, one or both needed to pull partway onto the road's shoulder.
Much of the southern portion of the highway was paved with
brick from
Alabama.
Florida
The following State Road numbers were assigned to the Dixie Highway in
1923; for information about old alignments, see those pages:
Western division*
SR 27 from
Miami to
Fort Myers*
SR 5 from
Ft. Myers to
Punta Gorda*
SR 86 (assigned in
1927) from
Punta Gorda to
Arcadia*
SR 2 from
Arcadia to
High Springs*
SR 5A (assigned in
1925) from
High Springs to
Perry*
SR 19 from
Perry to
Tallahassee*
SR 10 from
Tallahassee to
GeorgiaEastern division*
SR 205 (assigned in
1931) from
Flamingo to
Florida City*
SR 4A (assigned in
1925) from
Florida City to
Miami*
SR 4 from
Miami to
Jacksonville*
SR 3 from
Jacksonville to
GeorgiaSouth Florida Connector*
SR 18 from
Arcadia to
Lake Annie*
SR 8 from
Lake Annie to
Okeechobee*
SR 29 (assigned
1925) from
Okeechobee to south of
Okeechobee*
SR 194 (assigned
1931, formerly
Conners Highway) from south of
Okeechobee to
Twenty Mile Bend*
SR 25 from
Twenty Mile Bend to
West Palm BeachCentral Florida Connector*
SR 24 from
Kissimmee to
Melbourne East Florida Connector*
SR 3 from
Orlando to
East Palatka*
SR 14 from
East Palatka to
HastingsNorth Florida Connector*
SR 1 from east of
Tallahassee to
JacksonvilleSouth Georgia Connector*
SR 4 from
Jacksonville to
GeorgiaTampa-St. Petersburg Loop*
SR 17 from
Haines City to
Dellwood*
SR 73 (assigned
1927 and
1931) from
Dellwood to
St. Petersburg*
SR 15 from
St. Petersburg to
Brooksville*
SR 5 from
Brooksville to
Juliette*
SR 16 from
Juliette to
OcalaIllinois
The "western route" of Dixie Highway goes through downstate Illinois and enters the
Chicagoland Area as it passes through
Beecher , IL. From here it follows the Vincennes Trail north and splits into the
Bishop Ford Freeway (formally
Calumet Expressway) and Chicago Road (named because it is the main road through
Chicago Heights) The Dixie Highway follows Chicago Road through
Crete,
Steger,
South Chicago Heights, (at which point it meets up with the
Sauk Trail.
As It continues north, It has a junction with
Lincoln Highway (
US 30). This is commonly known as the "
Crossroads of America", because it is the interestection of America's first two transnational highways. This intersection also helped Cities such as
Chicago Heights thrive in it's early days. Approximately two blocks after this interesection, Dixie Highway splits from Chicago Road and continues north through
Flossmoor and
Homewood. At the north end of
Homewood's downtown, the road turns and goes under the
Illinois Central Railroad tracks, which now Carries both the
Metra Electric Line and
Amtrak trains. The road continues north through
East Hazel Crest and past the
Markham Rail Yards and under the
Tri-State Tollway.
Past the tollway, the road enters
Hazel Crest,
Markham and then
Harvey, in which the street honorably named after actor Tom Dressen, a native of the town and graduate of
Thornton High School. As the road continues, creating a border between the towns of
Dixmoor and
Posen, it's name changes to
Western Avenue.
When the road enters Blue Island, it splits into two streets, (Western and Gregory), and realigns itself into one when it reaches Burr Oak Avenue. The road then enters the city of
Chicago. Through Chicago, Western Avenue is a major boulevard, which continues north through the city to the town of Evanston, which is where the Dixie Highway ends.
The eastern route Dixie Highway mostly became
U.S. Highway 25. In the late
20th century, the route was largely paralleled and in some sections replaced by
Interstate 75, which starts in
Miami, Florida and ends in
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. A large portion of the former U.S. 25 in western Ohio ultimately ended up in 1963(after Interstate 75's local completion) as a county highway still affectionately referred to as "25-A" by local residents in Miami,Shelby,Auglaize and Allen counties. Dayton and Montgomery County residents call it "Dixie Drive" and its called "Cin-Day Rd." in Cincinnati's northern suburbs.A four lane portion runs through Bowling Green between Cygnet and Toledo as State Route Expressway 25 and in Michigan as "M 25" running through Detroit and ending in Bay City.
The eastern portion from
Jacksonville, Florida 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
U.S. Highway 31 from Louisville to Indianapolis. From Nashville to Indianapolis, the route parallels
Interstate 65.
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 some of these cities and towns, Dixie Highway is the north-south axis of the street numbering system, although its diagonal route (not quite straight north-south) makes it not quite the best choice for this use; furthermore, the extension of development westward means that the northwest and southwest quadrants of the grid defined in this manner are generally much larger than the northeast and southeast ones which are constrained by the
Atlantic Ocean.
*
National Auto Trail*
United States highway*
Dixie Highway on us-highways.com*
1923 map of the Dixie Highway system
