M-53 (Michigan Highway) - Memorial Highway Designations

Memorial Highway Designations

The freeway and expressway sections of M-53 are officially known as the Christopher Columbus Freeway as a nod to Macomb County's large Italian American population. This designation was approved by the Michigan Legislature in 1978. The remainder has been named Van Dyke Avenue or Van Dyke Road. That name honors James A. Van Dyke, a prominent attorney in Detroit in the 19th century. Van Dyke was the prosecutor for Wayne County, as well as both city attorney and mayor of Detroit. The street through Detroit was named in his honor, and as the highway was extended northward, the name was carried with it.

The last name applied to M-53 is the Earle Memorial Highway, named in honor of Horatio Earle, Michigan's first State Highway Commissioner. Earle was instrumental in the early Good Roads Movement in the state and the creation of the Michigan State Highway Department, which is now MDOT. When the original legislation creating a highway agency was declared unconstitutional in 1903, he kept the job in an unofficial capacity until the Legislature could rectify the situation. Earle designated that the first mile of state reward road in The Thumb, and residents formed a group to lobby to have the road named in his honor. The State Highway Commissioner Murray Van Wagoner designated M-53 in Earle's memory in April 1939, and the Legislature legislation two years later honoring him, but not officially naming the road. That was corrected in 2001 when the statutes naming various highways in the state were consolidated, and M-53 was officially designated the Earle Memorial Highway.