For many Florida residents of visitors the number of roads called “Dixie Highway” or “Old Dixie Highway” might simply be highly confusing. The highway or at least the early concepts of the highway turn 100 this year, with 1916 having been the critical year for the creation of the road.

Carl Fisher’s vision for Dixie Highway is discussed extensively in the work, The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighway a highly-recommended book on the development of the highway system in the United States. Fisher was a visionary in the entire auto industry. Whether it was the creation of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the transcontinental Lincoln Highway, Dixie Highway or eventually the development of Miami Beach, Fisher was in the middle of much of the early stimulus for the auto industry and has played an underrated and underappreciated role in the growth of Florida. More on that another time.

Florida Memory also celebrated the anniversary of Dixie Highway this month and they’ve done description of the route and the history much more justice than I could. Check it out here.