Lee Highway facts for kids
The Lee Highway was a national auto trail in the United States, connecting New York City and San Francisco, California, via the South and Southwest. After receiving a letter on January 15, 1919, from Dr. Samuel Myrtle Johnson of Roswell, New Mexico, David Carlisle Humphreys of Lexington, Virginia, put out a call for a meeting in Roanoke, Virginia, to form a new national highway association. On December 3, 1919, five hundred men from five states met in Roanoke to officially form the Lee Highway Association. The auto trail was named after Robert E. Lee.
From the memoirs of Katherine Johnson Balcomb (April 3, 1894 — February 2, 1980), published in The Balcomb Family Tree Book:
Promoting a coast-to-coast highway across the southern tier of states as a memorial to General Robert E. Lee was considered by my father [Samuel Myrtle Johnson] as his crowning achievement. As the number and speed of automobiles increased, there arose a demand for good roads to run them on. Cities along logical routes for highways banded together to promote construction of roads to come through their towns. The first transcontinental highway that was thus promoted was conceived as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln and ran through the northern states. Father's concept was a companion highway that would start at Washington, run south and then west to the Pacific coast. He organized The Lee Highway Association and set about selling the idea to the cities along its logical routing. The idea, of course, had a great appeal in the South and he was able to induce prominent men to serve in the Association. The first president was Claudius Houston, Tennessee, undersecretary to Herbert Hoover. Cordell Hull, later to become Secretary of State, served on the board and later as president of the Association. Father had the title of Director General and received a good salary and liberal expense money.
Routing
The route of the Lee Highway is now roughly designated by the following routes:
- US 1: New York to Washington, D.C.
- US 29: Key Bridge from Washington to Rosslyn, Virginia, traversing Arlington County where it carries the name Lee Highway.
- US 29: through the City of Falls Church where it carries the names North Washington Street and South Washington Street.
- US 29: bearing the name Lee Highway in Fairfax County to its intersection with US 50/Arlington Boulevard in Fairfax City.
- US 50: bearing the name Fairfax Boulevard within Fairfax City (formerly Lee Highway).
- US 29: bearing the name Lee Highway from the intersection with Main Street in Fairfax City to Warrenton, Virginia.
- US 211: Warrenton to New Market, Virginia
- US 11: New Market to Bristol, Virginia
- US 11W: Bristol to Knoxville, Tennessee
- US 11: Knoxville to Chattanooga, Tennessee
- US 72: Chattanooga to Corinth, Mississippi
- US 45, Corinth to Selmer, Tennessee
- US 64, Selmer to Memphis, Tennessee
- US 70, Memphis to Alamogordo, New Mexico
- US 54, Alamogordo to El Paso, Texas
- US 180, El Paso to Las Cruces, New Mexico
- US 70, Las Cruces to Globe, Arizona
- US 60, Globe to Phoenix, Arizona
- Arizona SR 85 (former US 80) and Old US 80, Phoenix to Gila Bend, Arizona
- I-8 (former US 80), Gila Bend to San Diego, California
- I-5 (former US 101), San Diego to Los Angeles, California
- US 101, Los Angeles to San Francisco, California
Present day name usage
Much of the original route is still known by the name "Lee Highway". The following cities and areas of the U.S. (listed from East to West) still have roads that use the name:
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This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- Virginia
- The Lee Highway was defined by the General Assembly on March 20, 1922, to run from the District of Columbia at the Francis Scott Key Bridge to Bristol at the border with Tennessee. This was defined as U.S. Route 211 and U.S. Route 11 in 1926; US 211 northeast of Warrenton is now U.S. Route 29. It now uses the following business routes:
- U.S. Route 29 Business and U.S. Route 211 Business in Warrenton
- U.S. Route 211 Business in Washington
- U.S. Route 211 Business in Luray
- U.S. Route 11 Business in Staunton
- U.S. Route 11 Business in Lexington
- The portion of US 11 known as Apperson Drive in Salem, Virginia, and Brandon Avenue SW in Roanoke, Virginia, is also commonly called Lee Highway. Other sections of US 11 in the Roanoke Valley are not typically referred to as Lee Highway. In the county of Botetourt, US 11 transitions from Williamson Road to Lee Highway and is thus named at least until Buchanan, Virginia
- The Lee Highway was defined by the General Assembly on March 20, 1922, to run from the District of Columbia at the Francis Scott Key Bridge to Bristol at the border with Tennessee. This was defined as U.S. Route 211 and U.S. Route 11 in 1926; US 211 northeast of Warrenton is now U.S. Route 29. It now uses the following business routes:
- Tennessee
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Florence, Alabama
- Corinth, Mississippi
