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Home/New Orleans/Jefferson Highway
granite monument with metal sign commemorating Jefferson Highway

Jefferson Highway

A granite monument on St. Charles Avenue in downtown New Orleans takes you back more than a century to a time when automobile travel was new and roads were few. The Jefferson Highway could take motorists from Winnipeg, Canada to Bourbon Street. The route was called the Pine to Palms Highway.

downtown street with traffic signal and parked cars in front of 2 story red brick building
Front Street in downtown Natchitoches, LA, part of the Old Jefferson Highway

“The Jefferson Highway is actually older than Route 66,” and most other numbered highways, according to Arlene Gould, of the Jefferson Highway Association. The multi-state group formed more than a decade ago to bring attention back to the old transcontinental route. Gould recently retired from the Natchitoches Convention and Visitors Bureau. Natchitoches is located along the old route. She searched old photographs at the nearby Northwestern Louisiana University Library. “Here’s an old picture of Jefferson Street and it’s still a dirt road,” she commented. The photograph shows a horse and wagon stopped in front of one of the old downtown buildings that is still standing in Natchitoches.

old bkack and white picture of buildings with model T cars.
Front Street in Natchitoches in the early days of the Jefferson Highway.

jefferson highway promotes travel

Gould explains that the early highway was created to help farmers get their goods to market and also to encourage automobile tourism at a time when the Model T was new. “It kind of opened the doors for people from the North to get to the South…. and see and do things,” she said.

old black and white photo with vintage car and billboards along Jefferson Highway
Billboards along the Jefferson Highway near Baton Rouge, LA.

a meeting in New Orleans

The original Jefferson Highway Association, with representatives of states along the proposed route, met in New Orleans in November, 1915. Roger Bell, who is president of the new association, explained that the meeting was contentious, as cities argued why they should be part of the route. “They say it got so heated, they called it the second Battle of New Orleans,” Bell said. He added, “It was thought to be a huge economic benefit to have people traveling and staying in their communities, just like we try to do today.” The meeting ended with the selection of “cardinal” cities along the proposed road. It was up to the communities to connect the dots.

Cities along the Jefferson Highway from Winnipeg to New Orleans.

Athe jefferson highway on tv

Watch this Heart of Louisiana feature on the Jefferson Highway.

The Louisiana part of the highway

I drove the old road using a web-based map created by the Jefferson Highway Association (click here to see the map). The route is occasionally named ‘Jefferson’ in some communities. But it is largely without any identifying markers. The JH signs that were originally painted on utility poles are long gone. State and federal highways were given new numbers, and the old Jefferson faded away. Many towns that were once located along the popular route are now bypassed by four-lane highways and interstates. The drive from New Orleans to the Texas state line west of Shreveport lasted more than 12 hours. The return trip on interstates and 4-lane highways took less than half the time.

two story old blue house with white railings and posts with white roof along highway
An early hotel in the town of Marthaville, LA, along the Jefferson Highway.

the road less traveled

Tourist organizations across Louisiana and other states are reinstalling the classic “JH” signs along the old route. Bell explained, “it’s just amazing the things that we find along this route.” It’s part of a promotional effort to draw tourists back to smaller towns to discover the history and culture along a great American highway.

Jefferson Highway route through Louisiana.
Entering Louisiana on the Jefferson Highway from Texas.

seen along the Jefferson Highway

steamboat Natchez on river in New Orleans blowing steam whistle

Steamboat Natchez

    white bunkie louisiana water tower and trees with blue sky

    Bunkie

      USS Kidd Destroyer ship in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

      USS Kidd

        Written by:
        Dave McNamara
        Published on:
        November 6, 2024
        Thoughts:
        4 Comments

        Categories: Featured, New Orleans

        Reader Interactions

        Comments

        1. Ron Harrist

          November 6, 2024 at 10:57 pm

          Where can I get a copy of the Jefferson Highway map. I would like to possibly drive the route. Thanks

          Reply
          • Dave McNamara

            November 8, 2024 at 4:22 pm

            Hi Ron, I don’t know if there is a printed map available. But I used this online map that worked for me following a complicated route. Good luck! https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1kDNFO6G72Zs6uYHw8OoQTF-x5ALIx4xe&ll=40.65593902854445%2C-93.71547855&z=5

            Reply
        2. Ron Harrist

          November 6, 2024 at 10:58 pm

          Thanks for sharing. This sounds like a great experience for myself and my wife.

          Reply
        3. Kim Bradberry torres

          November 11, 2024 at 11:01 am

          I wish they would make Jefferson hwy a historical route to take fix it up we still have a lot of good things along Jefferson hwy Ochsner hospital old neighborhood bars my moma family lived along Jefferson hwy in Jefferson. Great place. They should develop it into a great route again. Put more buisnesses restaurants hotels boutiques police station fire department mall a lot of people go to Ochsner hospital from all over the world. Thanks for sharing that. I remember when I was young we walk to Dairy Queen get ice creams now it’s gone. Frost top use to be there now it’s shut down. I would love to see Jefferson hwy develop up. Starting in Jefferson and work up the route. Hire Sidney Torres to develop it he would be great at that.

          Reply

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