Origin of the term "Dixie"

Submitted for the LAGenWeb Archives by Frances Ball Turner, Jan. 1998.



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Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives

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From the History of Louisiana by Chambers

Vol. I, pg. 584

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The Old Citizens Bank of New Orleans stood for many years on Toulouse

Street between Royal and Chartres.  In the financially troublous times of

the late 1830s, when panic was in evidence everywhere and "wild-cat banks"

played havoc with the prosperity of the country, the Citizens Bank won fame

for the stability of its notes and bills that readily passed current

everywhere.  Its ten-dollar note bore upon its back the French word for ten

-- Dix.  Hence, these banknotes throughout the West were familiarly referred

to as Dixies.  The transition to Dixie, as applied to the land from which

these notes came, was naturally made.  The South has been "Dixie" ever

since.



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Frances (Ball) Turner

Vancouver, WA



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