Jeffery

The song linked at the top of the thread header was about the western legs of the Dixie Highway, between Louisville and Lexington. I think the route shifted on occasion, and then was replaced by US highways. In Dayton it was also called Dixie Drive, and there were/are two: North Dixie and South Dixie. Whatever Happened to the Dixie Highway @@@ Bonus pix: Vandalia village core at the intersection of US 40 and US 25, in the 1920s? (note early gas station): Same intersection today, roughly the same orientation (north is up) The world we have lost @@@@@ The closing quote was paraphrase of a longer poem, and here is that poem which clarifies the poets’ intention in reading a landscape. Wendell Berry is a Kentuckian, but spent time at Stanford on a writing fellowship, hence the reference to the Santa Clara Valley. From SABBATHS by Wendell Berry III. (Santa Clara Valley) I walked the deserted prospect of the modern mind where nothing lived or happened that had not been foreseen. What had been foreseen was the coming of the Stranger with Money. All that had been before had been destroyed: the salt marsh of unremembered time, the remembered homestead, orchard and pasture. A new earth had appeared in place of the old, made entirely according to plan. New palm trees stood all in a row, new pines all in a row, confined in cement to keep them from straying. New buildings, built to seal and preserve the inside against the outside, stood in the blatant outline of their purpose in the renounced light and air. Inside them were sealed cool people, the foreseen ones, who did not look or go in any way that they did not intend, waited upon by other people, trained in servility, who begged of the ones who had been foreseen: ‘Is everything all right, sir? Have you enjoyed your dinner, sir? Have a nice evening, sir.’ Here was no remembering of hands coming newly to the immortal work of hands, joining stone to stone, door to doorpost, man to woman. Outside, what had been foreseen was roaring in the air. Roads and buildings roared in their places on the scraped and chartered earth; the sky roared with the passage of those who had been foreseen toward destinations they foresaw, unhindered by any place between. The highest good of that place was the control of temperature and light. The next highest was to touch or know or say no fundamental or necessary thing. The next highest was to see no thing that had not been foreseen, to spare no comely thing that had grown comely on its own. Some small human understanding seemed to have arrayed itself there without limit, and to have cast its grid upon the sky, the stars, the rising and the setting sun. I could not see past it but to its ruin. I walked alone in that desert of unremitting purpose, feeling the despair of one who could no longer remember another valley where bodies and events took place and form not always foreseen by human, and the humans themselves followed ways not altogether in the light, where all the land had not yet been consumed by intention, or the people by their understanding, where still there was forgiveness in time, so that whatever had been destroyed might yet return. Around me as I walked were dogs barking in resentment against the coming of the unforeseen. And yet even there I was not beyond reminding, for I came upon a ditch where the old sea march, native to that place, had been confined below the sight of the only-foreseeing eye. What had been the overworld had become the underworld: the land risen from the sea by no human intention, the drawing in and out of the water, the pulse of the great sea itself confined in a narrow ditch. Where the Sabbath of that place kept itself in waiting, the herons of the night stood in their morning watch, and the herons of the day in silence stood by the living water in its strait. The coots and gallinules skulked in the reeds, the mother mallards and their little ones afloat on the seaward-sliding water to no purpose I had foreseen. The stilts were feeding in the shallows, and the killdeer treading with light feet the mud that was all ashine with the coming day. Volleys of swallows leapt in joyous flight out of the dark into the brightening air in eternal gratitude for life before time not foreseen, and the song of the song sparrow rang in its bush.

^ Yeah, the traffic circle, whats left of it, has been incoprated into an exit off I-75. It doesnt operate as a traffic circle, though. This wouldn't have been the southern terminus for long, because already in 1944 the ODOT regional office was planning a limited access expressway through Dayton, the northern end connecting at the traffic circle. According to "Interstate: Express Highway Politics 1941-1945"; ..."By December, 1943, engineers had blueprinted several expressway networks including one from Painesville to downtown Cleveland, another from Cincinnati to Lima"... ...so I'll bet this highway, the Dayton expessway plan of 1944, and the first stretch of the Mill Creek Expressway through Lockland were related to this planning, as was that northern extension shown in the later maps. It would be interesting to see what that 1943 plan looked like.

On the Dixie, on the Dixie Bee Line, Going to rise and shine, I'm going to stay up to time, Rise and shine, I'm gwine to keep up to time, When I ride in that Henry of mine. : On the Dixie Beeline, by Uncle Dave Macon, 1926 This is a different Dixie Bee Line than Uncle Dave’s, the eastern route: ”The Strategic Network of Highways is composed of main roads connecting termini selected by the General Staff of the United States Amy is considered to be of chief importance in the mobilization of armies and supplies in times of war.” Looks a bit like one of those early “Reichsautobahn”, with the narrow lanes, landscaping, and what looks like concrete construction US 25, the eastern alignment of the Dixie Highway, was part of this strategic network, and was also the route of an Interregional Highway recommended in the 1941 Interregional Highway study. The stretch we see here, in the area in the red box below, was the first part built outside of Dayton, the ancestor of I-75. Why this stretch first? This mid-1941 traffic volume map provides a hint. It shows average daily traffic volume in the last peacetime year, before WWII-era gas rationing. One can already see that Southwest Ohio was seeing high volumes of traffic. The shaded areas show the high volumes heading out of Dayton to the north and south, roughly along the alignment of US 25. An inset providing detail for Dayton shows the northern segment of US 25 out of Dayton, between Dayton and US 40 and Vandalia (the location of the airport), had the highest daily volume coming into the city So the solution was to construct a 4 lane divided highway with limited access between US 40 and a point just north of Dayton, paralleling the old route of the Dixie Hwy (labled New Troy Pike) as shown by this 1945 county engineers map (new alignment in red) Why not improve the “old-road”, the old alignment?. This 1930 map gives a hint. The lower reaches, closer to the city, was already somewhat developed as a series of subdivisions. Apparently it was though best to bypass this with a new highway just to the east of the plats. But then there was the question on how to end the road at the southern reaches. The highway had to pass through existing development, like the Jensvold Plat shown above. And the only place with a break in development along the old-road Dixie Highway was Eagles Park, apparently a picnic grove owned by a local F.O.E. aerie. The above map shows it smaller than it really was. So highway was curved to the west to meet the New Troy Pike, intersecting with it and Wagner Ford Road. The intersection was developed as a traffic circle, one of the very few in the Midwest on a major highway. One can see the traffic circle and the highway in these 1950s-era aerials and topos. The treatment of the highway as quasi-limited access is also evident by the frontage roads as it passed between the pre-war plats, and the lack of interchanges at the intersections with selected east-west streets. The new highway was named the “Super-Highway”. “Super” for short, by the locals living in the surrounding plats. A modern marvel since wasn’t anything in Dayton like it. A close-up of the termination, showing how the highway passed through a plat and used the open land of Eagles Park …and an aerial from around 1946 or 1947. In the foreground, the old-road was widened from the traffic circle deeper into the city by the use of abandoned interurban railroad right-of-way for the southbound lanes (the line had private ROW and a frontage road for access, sort of like the original treatment of Far Hills in Oakwood) And a close up of the termination of the “Super-Highway”. The traffic circle was to be a well-known local landmark in the postwar era and was only recently (past 20, 25 years) removed. I think the large shelter or bandstand building in Eagles Park is still standing, as a flea market. The Northern Terminus of the Super Highway The Super ended at US 40 in Vandalia. Vandalia needs special treatment as it was probably a major generator of traffic for US 25 due to wartime development. This sketch map shows some of the major features: 1. Aero Products Division of GM. Built in 1940 and expanded in 1941. The small cluster of buildings to west at the airport was the original hangars and support things for the muncipal airport; Aero Products didn’t have airfield access. 2. US Army Airfield. With a railroad spur coming in from the north. This was an expansion of the old Dayton Muncipal Airport (which itself was improved in the 1930s). Parallel runways were added and a hangar/cantonment complex was built. A training squadron operated here during the war. 3. As part of the complex Northwest Airlines operated a Modification Center for the Army Air Force 4. Housing: Vandalia Homes as a war worker housing project and a new single-home plat, Airline Park, went under development. Vandalia village was already somewhat expanded due to 1910s and 1920s development generated by the interurban (three stops in Vandalia) and early auto-suburbia. During the 1920s trapshooters association had acquired property west of town for their competitions. The Dixie Highway divided highway ended here, but apparently the intersection was thought of as temporary, as a left turn ramp was built from eastbound US 40 to southbound Dixie Highway as the start of an interchange. So no cluster of gas stations or motels right on the intersection A better view of Vandalia during the late 1940s or very early 1950s, showing some very early postwar development, but the wartime features are still here. The curved southbound entrance ramp on to Dixie is also barely visible. A wartime aerial from the military, showing Aero Products, the army airfield, and the new heavy-duty dual runway. The other runways were built in the mid 1930s. (this is a photo of a photo as it was hanging on the wall of the Vandalia Historical Society) Aero Products was started by a Dayton inventor who designed a better propellor. He sold to GM, who built the plant here in 1940 and expanded it in 1941. The photo is from either 1940 or 1941, and the aircraft overhead is a Transcontinental & Western (TWA) passenger plane. TWA had some of the first scheduled air service into Dayton after the runway improvements of the 1930s. Aero Products published an employee newsletter, really a small magazine, called Aeropinion. The 1940s issues are all available in the Dayton library, and most of them have, on the cover, a man and his machine (and a short bio piece on both). In this case we have a woman. Instead of Rosie the Riveter Dayton had “Millie the Machinist”: Millie and probably quite a few of the Aero Products people probably had to drive (or carpool or take a bus) into Dayton as there just wasn’t enough housing in Vandalia. One can imagine traffic became a real issue after wartime rationing ended. By the late 1940s planning must have really kicked off for the interregional highways as this 1948 county throroughfare plan shows Dixie Highway connected on the north & south to extensions Interestingly, this plan shows a divided highway US 40 as the east-west interregional (on the map but off this image are grade-separated interchanges at various locations). This would have been a bit like the old US 66 in Illinois or parts of US 31 in Indiana. Vandalia in 1952, moving into the suburban era. One can see the southbound ramp, the outlines of the proposed interchange, and a proposed truck terminal (#8) just to the west of the expanded Airline Park plat, along the proposed northern extension of the four-lane. Aero Products has been joined by another factory (#16), Standard-Thomson Corporation. A number of the expansions shown here hadn’t been built yet, with streets platted but not opened. By 1956 the era of postwar suburbia was in full-swing. The Interstate Highway Act was passed that year, and construction got underway very quickly on what was to become I-75 north of US 40. This mosaic of two Soil & Water Conservation Service aerials shows the new highway under construction north of Vandalia. One wonders if the engineering was already done by ODOT since the construction happened so fast. Everything ready to go, just add money. One can also see the expanding postwar plats around old Vandalia. In a way this mass produced housing was foreshadowed by wartime developments, the need to get a lot of people quickly under roof. In this enlargement, some features. A big one was the disappearance of Vandalia Homes as the new plats replaced the need for multi-family wartime housing. The Vandalia Homes site became a mishmash of things, including Vandalia city hall. Aero Products was sold by GM around this time (getting out of the prop business at the dawn of the jet age), and the plant was converted into an Inland Auto Parts operation, later Delphi, doubling in size and expanding toward I-75 until finally closing. The 1940-41 front part shown here was torn down very recently. One can also see the interchange at what is now Northwoods Boulevard. This was to serve the airport as well as Aero Products, since the terminal was on the east side of the field at that time. In 1962 a new terminal (the core of the modern terminal complex) would open on the west side, with access from US 40. The Army Airfield remained in military use after the war. An Air National Guard fighter squadron was stationed here into the 1950s. Eventually the cantonment area and hangars were demolished. For more airport history & pix click here After the advent of the interstate era the “Super Highway” was not that super anymore, since it still had at-grade intersections. This was to be the case until the very early 1970s, when the stretch between I-75 and the traffic circle exit was finally turned into a true limited access highway with grade separated interchanges. In the 1950s the mid-section of pre-interstate Dixie Highway (now re-designated I-75) was still a lot like it was in the 1940s, with not much development along the highway itself…. …though one sees’ some wartime or early postwar development to the south, at Marianne Country Estates. This was a deep-lot farmette development which appears more oriented to the “Super” than it does to surrounding roads, as are the scattered frontage road plats. The fate of Marianne Country Estates would be worth its own post. The northmost pre-war plats are visible, too (Harrison Terrace and Dixie Heights). A close up of the area, showing an early motel. The aerial dates from the 1960s, demonstrating that this area was not seeing much freeway oriented development at all. Development would accelerate starting in the 1970s. The area in the red box, enlarged. The two trees in the median in the 1943-44 pic are still there... ...today: ”I walked the deserted prospect of the modern mind - where nothing lived or happened that had not been foreseen. What had been foreseen was the coming of the Stranger with Money. All that had been before had been destroyed: A new earth had appeared in place of the old, made entirely according to plan. Some small human understanding seemed to have arrayed itself there without limit, and to have cast its grid upon the sky, the stars, the rising and the setting sun. I could not see past it but to its ruin.” ---Wendell Berry

Sprawl is caused to some degree by new household formation, which is always going on. Inner cities could capture more of this, maybe. The outmigration issue is a bit more complex, as there could be stable population, but a lot of outmigration for young adults, say 18-35 or 20-40 cohorts. So one could have an aging population and somewhat high birthrate, but the people born would leave the area as young adults. This would have economic consequences as young adults are also the cohort that start families and buy houses, so less of a market for consumer goods if this cohort is leaving.

The funny thing about GM, though a car company, is they developed that ubiquitous Diesel engine exterior design in the 1930s, already. They built the big "Electro-Motive Division" plant in LaGrange, Illinois to build them. And their man in Dayton, Charles Kettering, had a hand in designing the engine itself. Im not sure about that tri-level dome car design...whether it went into production? The publicity is interesting, the way they treat fluorescent lighting as a new concept. I think it was introduced in the 1930s, too?

The coffeeshop in the corner building w. the awnings recently closed.

Akron and Middletown also had impressive growth early last century.

…in 1947: In 2009, there are no trains in Dayton, very few GM employees, and ”tomorrow” is questionable.

Question mark because I’m not sure. They could also be from the very early postwar era. These are just south of that big supply depot I posted on last weekend Old topo map showing the structures in question Comparing modern aeriels with surviving structures shaded The large plant just south of Kemper Road looks like it might be war-era, with the clerestory windows and central steam plant, barely visible in the birdseye Series of plants along Cin-Day Road, not sure if all of them survive. Two that might. One looks a bit like the Battleship Building in Columbus; early metal building with steel sash, and moderne head-shed I guess this represents the extension of the Mill Creek Valley industrial zone north of the Lockland/Reading area (though I think there were some 19th century paper factories further north along the canal in the Port Union/Rialto area

That island for the Privae Fair monument is one of the best bits of urban design in the region. It's small, but very well thought out. Kudos to whoever the architect and landscape architect were.

There might have been a steam dummy up to there at one time in the past, and the usage stuck when the line was electrified or the interurban replaced it. Interesting Cincy had a longer distance trolly route (or interurban) as late as 1950. This still went all the way to Hamilton or ended at College Hill or Mnt Healthy?

Why do you end the line at Westchester? Why not Union Centre? Im thinking the challenge would be to integrate rapid transit into low density development areas like Union Centre.

Why dont you extend the Kings Mills line to Lebanon (i especially think this would make sense) and the West Chester line to Mason? It seems your cutting the system short on the northern reaches. By doing that you could set up an opportunity for TOD/neo trad infill in older town centers..even incorporate mixed use into the station design.

The traffic at the Monroe AND Middletown interchanges are a mess. I noticed the traffic backing up onto the interstate this weekend when I was making a run down to Jungle Jims. As for the SPUI, looking at Shermans pix. I dont see the benefit. I still would drive through two lights to get past that interchange, except for some reason the traffic shifts to the left as it goes under the overpass.

What's sad is that the older commercial buildings have been torn down for parking lots and that dreary Neils building. I think they must have torn down some houses when they built this, too (not to mention reorienting the entrance to Calvary Cemetary). But heres an interesting thought. That pix is from 1943-44. Only 3 or 4 years earlier there was commuter rail service on that route (the northbound lanes) as this was still being operated as a rapid transit line to Moraine as the Dayton & Sububran Railway, a sucessor to the old C&LE.

...I think of Lake Shore Drive/Outer Drive up in Chicago, with the art deco detailng.

The pix with the smokestacks and factories. The Sanborns from the early 1930s say these were a paper mill and an absestos roofing factory. Both fairly large. Incidentally the Sanborns lable the canal ROW as a "proposed rapid transit line"(!). Now I know about the Cincy subway, but I thought it swung east to Norwood, eventually to loop back into the basin. Was there a planned extension north up the Mill Creek Valley? That would have been real sweet, serving Elmwood Place, Carthage, Hartwell, Lockland and maybe even further north (to Hamilton or Sharonville?). Or maybe the idea was to reroute the C&LE into Cincy via the canal ROW as grade-seperated rapid transit route into the city, the way the Milwaulkee inteurban was routed into downtown Milwaulkee.

Wow, great series. Folks dont get how vast this complex is. It had to cover a lot of area due to safety issues, so there is a big chunk of the landscape taken for the plant. It just goes on and on. That housing is interesting...didnt know about the on-base stuff. There was...actually still is...some war worker housing in adjacent Charlestown. They also built a fourlane highway from Jeffersonville to it. "Jeff" has its own massive military complex the old Quartermaster Depot, oldest part (still standing too!) from 1867-1870s. But it became huge during WWII. The Louisville area really benefited from the New Deal/WWII era. Probably due to Alben Barkley as a key Senator and FDR supporter (later Trumans' VP). Every US highway heading out of town was turned into a four lane divided highway via the WPA. Then, during the war: Bomber factory and airfield (later to become the civil aviation airport and International Harvester) Westinghouse Torpedo Plant (and associated housing) Medical Supply Depot Nichols Army Hospital Rubbertown synethetic rubber/petrochemical complex ....those are the big ones. And of course Fort Knox.

^ I agree. In Sacramento's case this means a lot of infill contstruction in their "Old City" vs the ongoing abandonment and demolition we see here in Ohio.

Yes, around 1941 there was something called the National Interregional Highway Committee that recommended the replacement of US 25. Then in 1941 the Defense Hwy Act of 1941 appropriated money to do studies (and construction) . I think the ostensible purpose was defense roads, but they were also studying the interregional system. And a study I've read on the Dayton stretch of US 25 (from 1944) mentioned that it would "in conjunction with other reports will present a study of the interregional highway connecting Cincinnati and Toledo". So I'm wondering if these defense plant access roads were built with the larger system in mind, not just for plant access (it also seems that the interregional concept, at least in Ohio, might not at first been totally limited access the way the interstates ended up being). Just speculation on my part.

^ Magyar. I dont think hes posted here for quite awhile. BTW, do you all think this highway was built or sited with an eye on the planned "interregional network" ?

These are just center city populations. They dont mean much.

Where is Memorial Hall at? I might want to attend this.

This would be where St Rita's is at? BTW, great intel on the highway. Where did you find this out at?

^ Yes, this was from a .ppt by the Butler & Warren County port authorities. I didn't know the date on it. But I thought it was interesting as an example of the two counties working together on something. I'm still doing research on this, but I can tell you that the idea of commercial/industrial along I-75 goes pretty far back. I'll be posting more on this over time as I need to get some sources via Ohiolink. What you are describing re the county comission calls to mind the I-675 story from 1970s Dayton, local power structure forcing their agenda.