"Drivin' the Dixie: Automobile Tourism in the South"

October 1998 - Chattanooga, Tennessee

What is the Dixie Highway?

The following will appear in the forthcoming Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, Carroll Van West, et. al., eds. (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Society, 1998). $50.00, hardcover. Used with permission.

Constructed between 1915 and 1927, the Dixie Highway was part of the new road system built in response to the growing number of motorists during the early decades of the twentieth century. The highway extended from Ontario, Canada south 5,706 miles to Miami, Florida. The Dixie Highway Association was the driving force behind the development of the Dixie Highway. Highway associations, like the Dixie Highway Association and the well-known Lincoln Highway Association which connected San Francisco to New York, were formed by motor enthusiasts and/or entrepreneurs to launch the construction of roads that would connect cities to each other.

The idea for the Dixie Highway came from Carl Graham Fisher, a native Indianan, entrepreneur, and land speculator. Involved in the early stages of the Lincoln Highway, Fisher was experienced in promoting roads. By 1914, he and Michigan businessman W.S. Gilbreath had gained enough support for this north-south highway that they brought the idea to the American Road Congress annual meeting in Atlanta.

Governor Tom C. Rye of Tennessee and Indiana Governor Ralston called an organizational meeting of the Dixie Highway Association for April 3, 1915 in Chattanooga. Over 5,000 people attended this first meeting including governors from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

Chattanooga citizens and especially the Chattanooga Automobile Club provided immense support for the highway and the association from the beginning. The Chattanooga Automobile Club, newly formed in 1914, was an enthusiastic supporter of the project and remained closely associated with the Dixie Highway Association throughout its history. Five local members of the Chattanooga Automobile Club and eight other men pledged $1000 each for the formation of the Dixie Highway Association.

The purpose of the Dixie Highway Association was to construct a permanent highway from a point on the Lincoln Highway near Chicago through Chattanooga to Miami which was eventually extended north to Ontario, Canada. Both the eastern and western divisions of the highway went through Tennessee with the western route heading south from Springfield through Nashville, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Tullahoma, Winchester, Cowan, and Monteagle to Chattanooga. The eastern division went south from Cumberland Gap through Knoxville, Rockwood, and Dayton to Chattanooga.

The Dixie Highway Association headquarters were located in the Patten Hotel in Chattanooga, roughly the halfway point of the highway, and the incorporators, who were delegated to create a charter for the Association, were all from Chattanooga. These prominent businessmen became the biggest proponents of the highway in Tennessee.

Judge Michael M. Allison from Chattanooga was elected to serve as president of the Dixie Highway Association, after C.E. James, a Chattanooga builder declined to serve. Allison remained an extremely active president throughout the life of the Dixie Highway.

Tennessee played an important role in the Dixie Highway Association until it disbanded in 1927 after the road was completed. The Dixie Highway Magazine was published out of Chattanooga and featured prominently the city and region in its articles and advertisements. Ironically, however, Monteagle Mountain in Marion County, just outside of Chattanooga, was the last link in the highway to be finished and was considered a nationwide concern because it was a crucial part in linking the North with the South.

Leslie N. Sharp
October 1996

Suggested Readings

Carver, Martha, "Driving the Dixie: The Development of the Dixie Highway Corridor," SCA Journal 13:1.

Preston, Howard L. Dirt Roads to Dixie: Accessibility and Modernization in the South, 1885-1935. Knoxville: University Press, 1991.

Sharp, Leslie N. "Down South to Dixie: The Development of the Dixie Highway from Nashville to Chattanooga, 1915-1940." M.A. Thesis, Middle Tennessee State University, 1993.