At one time, the West Michigan Pike was the northern extension of the Dixie Highway.
A 1915 Pamphlet was printed called "Maps, Routes and Tourist Directions of the West Michigan Pike: Lake Shore All the Way." The President of the association was Mr. Wm. H. Loutie of Grand Haven. The pamphlet is reprinted in its entirety at www.beachtowns.org.
I could not find any more information on William H. Loutie.
Lots of detailed driving instructions in that era before standardized signage. Interesting ads as well.
Well Worth Checking Out. --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.
2 comments:
Very cool. When I first saw this post I thought the road must be at least similar to what Robert Droz calls the Dixie Highway Northern Connector. Then I looked at the beachtowns.org website (Incidentally, there should be an 's' in the address.) and thought differently since the website gave the impression that the road ran only from Ludington south. Then I went to the West Michigan Pike section of the website and my thinking snapped right back to the DH. The front cover of that 1915 guide actually calls it the "Northern Link of the Dixie Highway. However, the routes do differ. The DH of 1923 moves away from the lake at Grand Rapids while the 1915 WMP stays lakeside and actually curves into Chicago. Maybe the DH moved or maybe it's because the beachtowns paid for the guide.
That is one interesting pamphlet. I'm going to read it more closely.
I'd never heard of the WMP before coming across the article.
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