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Before Route 66 became an American road-trip icon, Michigan motorists were already following another ambitious highway south.
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we trace the history of the Dixie Highway, a sprawling early automobile route that linked Michigan with Florida beginning in 1915. Its eastern and western divisions crossed the Lower Peninsula, passed through communities such as Detroit, Waterford and Mackinaw City, and helped usher in a new era of tourism, roadside businesses and long-distance driving.
We look at Carl G. Fisher’s role in promoting the route, Michigan’s push to become part of the system, the rough conditions early motorists faced, and the stone monument that once marked the highway at Mackinaw City.
We also explain how the Dixie Highway predated Route 66 by more than a decade and how much of its route was later absorbed into numbered highways such as U.S. 31. Historic maps, postcards and photographs reveal a time when a “highway” could still mean dirt, gravel and uncertainty.
This is the story of the road that pointed south — from the Great Lakes toward Miami — and helped change how Americans traveled. Follow End of the Road in Michigan for more stories from Michigan’s past.
The End of the Road in Michigan is a production of
Thumbwind Publications
