A rare United Daughters of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway marker stands in front of an apartment complex at 6812 South Congress Avenue in Austin. In 1931, this spot was well out of Austin, bur located on State Highway No. 2, which was renamed and re-designated the US 81 in 1926. SH 2 was one of the original 26 highways designated in Texas in 1917 -- this was a major road.
The marker reads as follows:
"JEFFERSON DAVIS
HIGHWAY. NO. 2.
ERECTED BY THE
TEXAS DIVISION
UNITED DAUGHTERS
OF THE
CONFEDERACY.
1931"
Early 19-teens American highways were not the efficient Point A to Point B affairs we know today. Because there were no dedicated state or federal road funds to tap into OR government agencies to plan networks, early highways were built by private groups that built through towns willing to pay to have a leg of the road in their community. This gave rise to the early Auto Trails, whose purpose was to boost tourism and commerce between far-flung cities. Building an efficient transportation network was secondary to bringing in the new auto travelers who would spend money.
Some early examples of the Auto Trails linked to tourism and commerce: Glacier to Gulf Highway, Dixie Highway, Lincoln Highway, Old Spanish Trail, the King of Trails, and the Ozark Trail.
By the mid 19-teens it was becoming difficult to keep all these named Auto Trail routes straight, and governments saw the economic need for a modern paved road network. With no coherent national policy in place, states took it upon themselves to create new systems of identifying highways. By 1917, Texas had evaluated its road networks, and assigned numbers to its most-modern highway routes, while leaving the old Auto Trails names intact.
Eventually, Congress agreed that good roads were a national priority. In 1926 they enacted legislation creating the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Aid Project. Highways that had been named and/or numbered by states were now renumbered according to a coherent system administered by the Federal Government. Read more here: (
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The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway was an early American transcontinental highway route (called an Auto Trail) from Washington DC to San Diego, California sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who wanted a Southern transcontinental highway route named in his honor. Confusingly, the UDC also wanted to name other roads that passed places that were significant in his life after Davis, so there were several other Jefferson Davis Memorial Highways that were not connected to the transcontinental route as it had been first thought out.
The UDC marked the various routes with many different kinds of monuments which served to designate a particular part of road as part of the "Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway."
From a cached copy of an old Texas Division UDC webpage, Blasterz have been able to pull some more history of the UDC's efforts with respect to the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway in Texas, and explain why a UDC marker in Uvalde (along the US 90) refers to "Jefferson Davis Highway. Highway No. 3, while the same kind of marker in Austin (along the US 81) refers to "Jefferson Davis Highway No. 2": (
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"The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway was conceived in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C.). In that era, it was common for private organizations to identify a route, give it a name, and promote its use and improvement.
The route was announced in September 1913. After the U.D.C. conceived the highway and selected its route, it sought support from the States. However, in the early 1910s, most States had weak highway agencies. Some Southern States did not have a State highway agency before 1916-1917. Thus, the U.D.C. was free to promote its highway, including the placement of markers on trees and other objects facing the road. Over time, however, many States adopted the name officially and participated in placing Jefferson Davis Highway monuments along the road.
In 1920, maps showing complete proposed routes were printed, and a marker for mileposts, telephone posts, etc. was adopted - three horizontal stripes, red, white and red,six inches wide with the letters J.D.H. in black, four inches high, one above the other in the center of each stripe.
William P. Rogers Chapter in Victoria, Texas won the honor of being the first to use the official marker.
In 1921, the most practical work accomplished was completing definitely the proposed route so every State could have the highway officially designed by its legislature. In this year the greatest results were attained in Texas. A number of State Highways were designated by their legislature, The Texas Division of the Jefferson Davis National Highway.
In April 1925, the Texas State Highway Commission designated the highway from Orange to El Paso a link in the transcontinental highway known as the Jefferson Davis Highway. The dedication in 1927 of the boulder at Brownsville marking where Col. Jefferson Davis and his Mississippi troops landed in 1846 in the war with Mexico, was the brilliant success of the year.
. . .
At the Houston Convention held in 1928, the United Daughters of the Confederacy endorsed the Edwards Bill in Congress, that required the names as well as the numbers of memorial highways to be retained on maps and sign posts. The [UDC believed that the] names appeal to patriotism, pride of location, and are an inspiration to future generations and will forever preserve the tradition and sentiment connected with these highways, founded as memorials and dedicated to the history of our country.
When completed, beautified and its desirability and beauty made known, our highway will be the greatest memorial to President Davis and a great memorial to the United Daughters of the Confederacy as an organization, a far-flung banner calling unto the South to “March On, March On” and become what God and Nature planned her to be, in all respects the best section of our wonderful land.”
A new map of the highway was printed and put in a booklet on the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, that was recommended in 1920 by Miss West, and compiled by Mrs. Woodbury, printed and distributed at the Biloxi convention [of the UDC – BMB] in November, 1929.
Original Route* – SH 3 from Sabine River to Houston; SH 20 from Houston to Austin; SH 2 from Austin to San Antonio; SH 3 from San Antonio to Alpine; SH 54 from Alpine to Van Horn; SH 1 from Van Horn to El Paso.
*Note [by the UDC]: These highway designations have changed over the years.
Current Route: East to West -- Enters Texas near Orange on I-10/US90 to Houston; on US290 to Austin; on I-35 to San Antonio; on US90 to Alpine; on TX 118 to Fort Davis; on TX 17 to Marfa; on US90 to El Paso; crossing border with New Mexico at Anthony, Texas.
Southern Route: from Houston on US 59 to Victoria; on US 77 to Brownsville."
The Federal Highway Administration also has a nice history of the Jefferson Davis highway here: (
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Texas was ahead of the Federal Government in renumbering the confusing Auto Trails with numbers. Texas assigned numbers to the Trails in 1917. For example, the Bankhead Highway became known as Texas Highway 1, then in 1926 was renumbered under the federal system into US 67, US 80, and others.
Similarly, Texas State Highway 2 in 1926 became US 81 along much of its length. More on State Highway 2 in 1917 is here: (
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"History
State Highway 2, or SH 2, is a deleted Texas highway.
SH 2 was one of the original twenty-six state highways proposed in 1917, overlaid on top of the Meridian Highway and Gulf Division Highway. From 1919 the routing mostly followed present day Interstate 44 (I-44) from Oklahoma to Wichita Falls, and U.S. Highway 287 (US 287) to Fort Worth. It continued on, routed along present day I-35W and I-35 to Waco. From here, the road divided into two branches, both signed as State Highway 2.
The western branch followed the Meridian Highway from Waco, roughly following I-35 through Austin and San Antonio, and terminating in Laredo.
The eastern branch followed the Gulf Division Highway from Waco, routed along present day State Highway 6 through Bryan to Hempstead and into Houston. From there the routing follows US 75 into Galveston.
In 1926, US 81 was routed over SH 2 from Oklahoma to Laredo, while the Gulf Division branch was given a newly rerouted State Highway 6 number (cancelling the Eastern SH 2) from Waco to Houston. The remainder from Houston to Galveston was US 75. While the western routes were marked concurrently, by 1939, SH 2 was deleted in favor of US 81.
Spur routes
The route had numerous spurs and alternate routings during its lifetime.
For the initial 1917 Texas routing proposal, while the main route continued southwest from Cleburne to Meridian, and then southeast to Waco, State Highway 2-A ran southeast from Cleburne to Hillsboro, where it met State Highway 6. By 1919, the routing of SH 2A remained similar, except the split from the main route happened at Burleson, travelling southeast through Alvarado to HIllsboro. In 1926, the main route of SH 2 had been rerouted over 2A section from Burlseon to Itasca, while SH 2A was reassigned to the old alignment of SH 2 from Burlseon to Cleburne and to the old alignment of SH 2E. The SH 2A designation was deleted in 1939 and was replaced by portions of SH 174, SH 171, and SH 291 (now FM 2719).
In 1922, new spur routes were formed off of the main SH 2:
State Highway 2-B was a spur in McLennan County running from Riesel northeast to Mart. By 1933 it was renumbered as SH 164.
State Highway 2-C was a more direct route through central Texas betweel Temple and Round Rock, bypassing Taylor to the west. By 1926, the main route of SH 2 had been rerouted over it, with SH 2-C being reassigned to the old route of SH 2. By 1933, it was transferred to SH 95 and SH 43 (now US 79).
State Highway 2-D was a spur route in north Texas branching off the main route at Bowie and travelling north through Ringgold and crossing into Oklahoma. By 1926, the main route of SH 2 had been rerouted over it, with the old route of SH 2 transferred to SH 50 (now US 380), SH 5 (now US 287), and SH 30 (now US 277).
State Highway 2-E was a short connector route between Cleburne and Itasca, connecting the main route and SH 2A. By 1926, SH 2E was reassigned to SH 2A.
State Highway 2-F was a planned spur routing splitting from the main route in Taylor and travelling south to Elgin. By 1926 the route had been transferred to SH 95."
In 1926 the 250+ Auto Trails surrendered their names in favor of numbers. The Auto Trails frequently found themselves split between multiple numbered US highways, and the Jefferson Davis Highway was no exception. That process is explained here: (
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From Wikipedia: (
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"When numbered highways came into existence, the Jefferson Davis National Highway was split among US 1, US 15, US 29, US 61, US 80, US 90, US 99, US 190 and others.. . .
. . .
Texas
The original alignment of the main route traversed from Sabine River to El Paso, via Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Alpine and Van Horn. This routing today would predominantly be along US 90, with US 290 and I-35 connecting Austin. A coastal spur, branching from Houston to Brownsville, travels along US 59 and US 77. At least 20 markers are still in existence across the state."
And all of that explains what we see on the waymarked sign of history, which is a relic of a private organization's 1913 Auto Trail (The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway), caught in the early attempts to standardize and rationalize a road network (Texas Highway 3).
In 2015 the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway became a political issue, especially in Virginia where the name of the highway is in common usage: (
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Blasterz recall reading somewhere that the co-designation of the US 90 as the Jefferson Davis Memorial highway had been quietly dropped by the Texas Department of Transportation in the 1990s, but now we cannot find that source. We did find where the Jefferson Davis Highway was designated a Memorial Highway by the Texas Highway Department minute order in 1930: (
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"Texas Memorial Highway System
Transportation Code
Chapter 225. State Highway Names
Subchapter A. State Highway Names In General
. . .
Jefferson Davis National Highway
Limits – SH 3 from Sabine River to Houston; SH 20 from Houston to Austin; SH 2 from Austin to San Antonio; SH 3 from San Antonio to Alpine; SH 54 from Alpine to Van Horn; SH 1 from Van Horn to El Paso. Designated by M/O 2705, 03/19/30"