The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
THE JACKSON HIGHWAY
By MAIZE rEREssA HOLDER

In these days 1t is not unusual to find woman forging ahead despite her femin- ism.
 Miss Alma Rittenberry of Birmingham, chairman of the Jackson highway, says the women of America who are the great est monument builders in the world, should apply their time and energy to- ward the construction of memorial high ways instead of bronze and marble stat ues. Many of her articles have been pub lished in magazines pointing out the i'm portanee and advantage of improving the old trails and public highways of this country.
 We have all heard about the Lincoln highway from New York to Philadelphia, over the old Lancaster pike (which was ter) on to Harrisburg. Chicago, across the Rockies to San Francisco. Eighteen months ago this great highway was hardly more than an imaginary line from New York to San Francisco. Now it is the longest transcontinental highway in tho world over which one can travel from coast to coast in safety and comfort, and the time will not be long distant when the Lincoln highway will be an ideal road from the Hudson river to San Francisco bay This ocean-to ocean highway, of which Mr. Joy of Detroit, president of the Packard Motor Car company, is chairman, will be the first to be built, and will be q great tribute to Abraham Lincoln. 1t was first planned by the Lincoln high way to have the committees secure the right of way first, the material, and sev- eral million dollars, and then have the government engineers to build.
 Other highways are being talked about. The Atlanta-New York highway, which comes down through Virginia, the Caro- linas and Georgia, is fast materializng. The Jackson highway, which was launched under the auspices of the Ala bama Daughters of 1872 in the spring of | 1911. of which Miss Rittenberry was made chairman, Is also destined to be a cer- tainty, and while Miss Rittenberry is much interested in good roads in general, she is directly concerned in the construc- ton of the proposed Jackson Memorial highway. and with her characteristic eff fectiveness she has made this great trans continental highway possible. This high way is planned through the richest terri tory in America: From Chicago to ln- dianapolis through Louisville; out of Louisville over the Lincoln way to Lincoln farm, down the old Louisville and Nashville pike to Mammoth Cave, ,n to Nashville, out to the Hermitage. The
 
 Jackson highway from Nashville to the Hermitage to be d large, broad boulevard. From Nashville 1t still follows the old Louisville and Nashville pike down through middle Tennessee to the Alabama line (when the Jackson Memorial bridge
 is builD crossing the river at Decatur to Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, on to New Orleans. This highway when built will be grand monument to "Old Hick- ory"
 At the Auto Salesmens convention which met in Indianapolis in November 1912 Miss Rittenberry. as chairman of the Jackson highway, was Invited to tell about the work and the chairman of the convention, Mir Will Riser, read some resolutions on the Jackson highway, which were indorsed by the convention
 The plan for the building of the Jackson highway is to have those counties. which the highway will cross, issue bonds for the working over of the old county tu h. bikes running north and south and con- meet these furnpilfes to form the high way. Thus the work will be done by the county and state. the roads being under the supervision of the highway commits toner's of the different states. Federal aid to help them in their project is not ob- ieo1cd to by the Daughters of 1872. but they think they will get the Jackson high way quicker by bond issues.
 Of the eight national highways pro- posed in Congress not one was to Jack son. and not one connected the lakes and gulf coming tn ough Louisville and Nash vile. So the Daughters of 1872 proposed to fill in the missing link, thereby mem- orializinR the name of Andrew Jackson.
 The Lakes to the Gulf Highway associa-