With the resurrection of Route 66, more people are researching the history of other historic roads. According to the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Mike Conlin is researching the original path of the Jefferson Highway.
I’m not familiar with that highway, but it sounds intriguing:
The highway was an early cross-country connector, built in the years around 1920 between New Orleans to Winnipeg, Manitoba. That was a time when automobiles were building in popularity. Nicknamed the Pine to Palm Highway, it crossed Louisiana to Shreveport and still carries the Jefferson Highway name in places but merges with newer thoroughfares elsewhere.
For the first time last year, during a short-lived public debate about renaming it Jefferson Boulevard, Conlin started paying closer attention to the road. As a Canadian who lives in Metairie, he felt a connection between his current country and his first home.
“I thought this was really cool,” he said. “This highway went all the way from here to Canada, and nobody heard of it.”
Conlin has started a Web site, jeffersonhighway.com, and wants to eventually publish maps of the old road. He’s consulting with historians and other Jefferson Highway buffs to trace the entire route to Canada.
Route 66 content: The Jefferson Highway merges with the Mother Road from Vinita, Okla., to Carthage, Mo., but appears to bypass Kansas.
That’s good. I’m interested in all historic highways like Route 66, Highway 50, the Jefferson Highway, and the Dixie Highway.
There’s enough room for all of them.
Thanks for the recognition of my project for the Jefferson Highway. There is a lot of history here and I am having a great time working on resurrecting it. Some of the Jefferson Highway buffs are getting together in Carthage, MO on November 12, 2008. Who knows maybe this is the beginning of a new Jefferson Highway Association.
Mike Conlin