So, the Dixie Bee Highway (Road or Bee Line)evidently was one of the named roads that existed before the codification of numbered highways in 1926. No doubt the Dixie came from the Dixie Highway which was aligned with it for some of the way.
Doing an address search, I came across Dixie Bee Roads in Danville, Illinois, and Covington, Indiana (to the east of Danville) and also found one in Sullivan, Indiana (south of Terre Haute).
The Dixie Highway went east from Danville to Covington so perhaps that would account for the Dixie Bee in Covington.
There is also a bluegrass band called the Dixie Bee-Liners founded in New York City in 2002 who do a lot of road songs. I wasn't able to find out if they took their name from the road in question.
A Very Confusing Road. --RoadDog
RoadDog's RoadLog Blog: Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.
The Shamrock Court Motel in Sullivan, Missouri. It can be yours for $125,000. Lots of possibilities. Actually, now you're too late. Missouri's Roamin' Rich bought it.
5 comments:
I can confirm that the Dixie Bee Road between Covington and Veedersburg, IN is the Dixie Highway. I am not sure if it is also the Dixie Bee Highway as I cannot find any routing info for this highway. Maybe there are some maps for the Dixie Bee Highway from the National Assoc. of Highways (1915-1924) but I have never seen these. Old and new US 41 run through the east side of Veedersburg. The Dixie Highway between Danville, IL and Indianapolis, IN generally follows what became US 136, with Dixie Bee Rd. in Covington being an early alignment. This whole area is very interesting, and I continue to research it for an upcoming driving guide for the Dixie Highway in Indiana.
ypsi-slim
I look forward to seeing it. The Dixie is sadly an overlooked named road.
Bur, I've gotten interested in this Dixie Bee Line, Road or Highway.
Was it just another name for the Dixie Highway? Or a name for the Chicago-Vincennes Highway?
Yes - the Dixie Bee Highway was certainly an early named highway, and separate from the Dixie Highway. I just don't know much about the routing. Probably all those currently named segments you found were part of it. Maybe someone will come up with a map.
The Dixie Bee is an alternate route to the Dixie Highway (hence the B) designation, however the main way it is indicated is as the Dixie Bee
It was developed as a more direct route to the South for the people of Chicago.---the different variations of the Dixie sent it making long Easterly shot toward Eastern Indiana and Ohio.
These made for a longer trip. There is some references Made in the history of Evansville, Indiana of getting the designation and how they were going to build bridges to support this much straighter line (which probably gave people the Bee line image that entered into the name)
This route sped up the trip from Chicago to Nashville considerably. Uncle Dave Macon made this route famous in the song "Dixie Bee Line."
The route goes to Miami following closely the current US 41.
About 10 years late to this party. Not sure if you have ever found the exact route of the Dixie Bee Line. I am trying to decipher it currently.
I have found enough newspaper articles from that era to understand the general route, Danville-Terre Haute-Vincennes-Evansville-Hopkinsville-Springfield, TN where it joined the Dixie. There were numerous meetings in Evansville, spearheaded by Evansville mayor Benjamin Bosse. A lot of political fighting between Clarksville, TN and Springfield for the route.
I have the route pretty well down from Haubstadt, IN through Evansville to the site of the Henderson Ferry.
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