Jefferson Davis Highway

The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway was a planned transcontinental highway in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s that began in Washington, D.C. and extended south and west to San Diego, California; it was named for Jefferson Davis, who, in addition to being the first and only President of the Confederate States of America was also a U.S. Congressman and Secretary of War. Because of unintended conflict between the National Auto Trail movement and the federal government, it is unclear whether the Jefferson Davis highway ever really existed in the complete form that its founders originally intended.

Old marker for Jefferson Davis Highway in Gretna, Louisiana.

Background

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 Memorial Highway, which was sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The UDC planned the formation of the Jefferson Davis as a road that would start in Washington, D.C. and travel through the southern states until its terminus at San Diego. More than ten years after the construction of the Jefferson Davis was begun, it was announced that it would be extended north out of San Diego and go the Canadian border.

End of the auto trails

In the mid-1920s, the disparate system of national auto trails had grown cumbersome, and the federal government imposed a numbering system on the nations's highways. Using a system of even numbers for east–west routes and odd numbers for north–south routes, the numbers were imposed on the auto trails. And rather than designate one number for each auto trail, different sections of each trail were given different numerical designations. However 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)

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' 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 U.S. 1, U.S. 15, U.S. 29, U.S. 61, U.S. 80, U.S. 90, U.S. 99, U.S. 190 and others. But today many of these numbered routes themselves are no longer extant, having been supplanted by the Interstate Highway System.

Remaining portions of the Jeff Davis

Although it may not be possible to view the entire length of the JDMH on a map today, many parts of it still exist, scattered across the country. Here is an incomplete listing of some of the places today where one can see pieces of the Jefferson Davis highway.

California

• The western terminus of the highway is identified by a monument on Horton Plaza, in downtown San Diego. The formal opening of the highway at this terminus was performed by President Warren Harding. Photographs of this event are available in the archives of the SAN DIEGO UNION and in the files of the San Diego Historical Society.

Virginia

• The Virginia General Assembly defined the Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia on March 17, 1922, as travelling from the District of Columbia at the 14th Street Bridge to the Commonwealth's border with North Carolina south of Clarksville, Virginia. This corridor was defined as U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 15 in 1926, although US Route 1 took a shorter route between south of McKenney and South Hill. (The Jefferson Davis Highway used what was then State Route 122 and State Route 12.) Much of U.S. Route 1 in Virginia still bears the name of "Jefferson Davis Highway".
• Virginia State Route 110 bears the name of "Jefferson Davis Highway" as it travels past The Pentagon in Arlington County between Rosslyn (near the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge) and U.S. Route 1 in Crystal City. This is a relatively recent extension to the original Jefferson Davis Highway. The extension was created as part of The Pentagon's road system during World War II.
• The original eastern terminus of the highway can still be found near the Virginia end of the 14th Street Bridge, which crosses the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The terminal marker was here until the 1960s, when it was moved to a nearby location for safety reasons.
• The northeastern section of the highway approximates the route of the older Washington and Alexandria Turnpike, which received its charter from the United States Congress in 1808. A street in Crystal City once designated as "Old Jefferson Davis Highway" parallels the east side of U.S. Route 1, part of which is the present Jefferson Davis Highway in the area. This street, which was the original route of the highway, now ends before reaching the 14th Street Bridge. On September 20, 2011, the Arlington County Board (see Arlington County, Virginia#Government) voted to change the name of the street to "Long Bridge Drive" after the chairman of the Board, who was originally from the northeastern part of the United States, stated: "I have a problem with 'Jefferson Davis' ... There are aspects of our history I'm not particularly interested in celebrating".
• Between City of Colonial Heights and City of Petersburg, the bridge on the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway which carries U.S. 1 and U.S. Route 301 across the Appomattox River was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge.
  • State Route 712 and U.S. Route 58 are still defined as the Jefferson Davis Highway.
• The Jefferson Davis Highway now uses the following business routes:

• U.S. Route 58 Business in Lawrenceville
• U.S. Route 58 Business in Boydton

• A highway marker in Henrico County is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Marker along U.S. Highway 278 in Crawfordville, GA.

North Carolina

• The Jefferson Davis Highway traverses 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. Designation of highway was approved on May 28, 1955.

South Carolina

• 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 near Augusta. Several monuments can be found along the route including in Camden and Aiken.

Georgia

• Highway markers can still be seen in certain spots along the old main transcontinental route through the state of Georgia.

• In the city of Crawfordville, in Taliaferro County along U.S. Highway 278 (Georgia State Route 12).
• In Walton County, also along U.S. Highway 278 (Georgia State Route 12), approximately 890 yards (810 m) from the Morgan County line.

• An auxiliary route through Georgia went south of the main route through Irwin County and Irwinville, where Davis was ultimately captured at the end of the Civil War. This route followed Georgia State Route 32 to the west of Irwinville, into neighboring Turner County, where today S.R. 32 retains the official name of "Jefferson Davis Highway".
• In LaGrange, a monument exists at the northeast corner of LaGrange College, which is within 1 mile (1.6 km) of Confederate Senator Benjamin Hill's National Historical Home.

Alabama

• In Alabama, the segment of U.S. Highway 80 from Selma, to Montgomery is the most famous part of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway today. On this road, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led the 1965 Voting Rights March that helped prompt Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. 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.

Louisiana

• In Louisiana, Jefferson Highway goes north out of New Orleans along US 61 and changes onto Louisiana Highway 73 near Prairieville, Louisiana. It continues along LA-73 into and across Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• In Baton Rouge, the highway follows Government Street to the levee and then north along the levee to Florida Street (U.S. 190 Business Route). The road continued west across the Mississippi River on a now closed ferry into Port Allen, Louisiana.
• In Port Allen, Jefferson Highway goes north to the northern end of the town. The highway then follows west along Louisiana Highway 986. The roadway later changes to Louisiana Highway 76 and follows that highway into the town of Rosedale, Louisiana.It continued up norhtward through the Town of Maringouin, Livonia Fordoche on LA Hwy 77. Then crossed the Atchafalaya River via ferry LA 10 in the City of Melville, LA.

Washington

• Highway 99 all through the State of Washington was Jefferson Davis Highway. The section near the western terminus is now Interstate 5. There is a peace arch near the Canadian border, and next to it, was a marker erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy noting that this was a portion of the Jefferson Davis National Highway. The name Jefferson Davis Highway was removed as well as the remaining marker at the northern terminus at Blaine, by action of the Washington State legislature, thereby removing any linkage of Highway 99 to Jefferson Davis. The marker formerly at the Peace Arch Park in Blaine and the marker formerly in Vancouver at the state-line of Washington and Oregon, are now both installed with an interpretive plaque in the Jefferson Davis Park alongside Interstate-5, just south of Ridgefield, Washington.

New Mexico

• Parts along I-10. There is a marker at a rest stop that indicates the highway and that the marker was paid for by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1955.

Controversy

In 1998 a marker of the "Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway" in Vancouver, Washington was removed by city officials. It was subsequently moved twice, and eventually was placed alongside Interstate 5 on private land purchased for the purpose of giving the marker a permanent home.

External links

• US DOT, Federal Highway Administration, official website
• Ends of historic US 99 (includes the Jefferson Davis Highway marker in Washington)
• Jefferson Davis Park (The new home of the Jefferson Davis Highway marker in Washington)