When you're on the highway and it says that Nashville is 37 miles away, it means you are 37 miles from this marker, which notes, "Distances on state highways measured from this point." TDOT placed this marker at Bicentennial Mall State Park when it opened in 1996.
The original Zero Milestone was placed om May 12, 1924 at the corner of Union Street and Sixth Ave. in Downtown. Later it was relocated in front of the highway department's new building on Charlotte Ave. Later, a new TDOT building was built and this multi-ton stone was misplaced. The new zero milestone seen here was added to the park after an extensive search for the original yielded no results.
Thanks for this post. I can't believe the original 1924 milestone was lost. Unbelievable. I have a photo of it taken during the dedication if you're interested in posting it here. One question: Where exactly was the prior DOT office located on Charlotte? I'm doing research on all the zero milestones located around the country and am mapping as many as I can locate.
ReplyDeleteThe TDOT Headquarters was located at 6th @ Charlotte. The building has been replaced with what is now the Rachel Jackson Building, if you look at Google Maps. The State Capitol is across the street, so it made for a good central location.
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