Description: Taken April 16, 1937, this photograph shows the Dixie Highway in Montgomery County, Ohio. A note on the photograph's reverse reads "Dixie Highway. S. of W. Carrolton, Montgomery County (Rout. 25). View looking North on Dixie Highway. Showing Viaduct-Canal-Highway-and Interurban Track on left." Work on the construction of the Dixie Highway started in 1915, a conception of automobile producer Carl G. Fisher. The highway, made up of a connection of paved roads, stretches from the Straits of Mackinac, in Mackinac, Michigan to Miami, Florida. Divided into two sections, a western route makes stops in South Bend, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; and Atlanta, Georgia: while an eastern route makes stops in Detroit, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Jacksonville, Florida. In Ohio, Dixie Highway passes through Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati. The highway is now U.S. route 25 to Cincinnati. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F05_004_1
Subjects: Dixie Highway; Highways; Transportation; Public works; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: West Carrollton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)