The DH Signs
By February 1915, “Dependable Highways” magazine was reporting a new name, “Dixie Highway to signalize fifty years of peace.” By that time, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida were on board. Chattanooga was enthused about the potential auto trail. Intervening communities were starting to compete to be on the route. Miami started to push for a southern extension from Jacksonville.
By May 1915, “The Road-Maker” magazine was reporting on the April formative meeting of the “Dixie Highway Association”. Ohio was added to the states planning a connection to the Dixie Highway via Cincinnati. President Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram of congratulations to the gathering.
The competition for inclusion along the Dixie Highway was so strong that instead of a single “Dixie Highway”, a “Dixie Highway System” was born. As reported in “The Road-Maker” magazine for July 1915, Michigan was added to the highway association, bringing te highway north to Mackinac City. Fierce rivalries between boosters of the Louisville – Nashville and Cincinnati – Lexington - Knoxville routes were both appeased. Florida now had a connection through Tallahassee as well as the planned route from Macon to Jacksonville.
By December 1915, “Southern Good Roads” magazine was reporting the slogan of the Dixie Highway association was “We all live on the same street.” The first sign was announced, a blue bale of cotton with the words “Dixie Highway” on it. These signs were to be posted in 1916. Markers were to be placed at all county lines and at places of historical interest.
The cotton bale sign proved to be too complex for everyday usage and few examples survive. The more common and famous sign was white-red-white with a white “DH” on the red band, or a band of red bisecting a white sign horizontally.
Tri-banded trail signs were the most common and prolific. They could be painted on telephone poles and were far cheaper to produce than more complex symbols for route identification.
Source: Whatever Happened to the Dixie Highway?
