National Old Trails Road – Legends of America
So, you’re thinking about a road trip, huh? Maybe you’re bored with the same old interstates and want to see some real Americana. Well, let me tell you about a road that’s practically dripping with history: The National Old Trails Road. Think of it as a super-early version of Route 66, but with even more stories baked in.
This wasn’t just some highway someone dreamed up overnight. It was a patchwork of old wagon trails, pioneer routes, and even parts of the legendary Santa Fe Trail. We’re talking about a road that stretches all the way from Baltimore, Maryland, on the East Coast, to Los Angeles, California, on the West. That’s a serious haul! It even had branches that snaked up to New York City and down to San Francisco. Talk about options!
Officially, the National Old Trails Road came into being in 1912, becoming a key player in the National Auto Trail System. Clocking in at a whopping 3,096 miles, it was designed to link up a bunch of existing historic routes. By 1926, much of the eastern part of the road, starting from Colorado, got swallowed up by U.S. 40 and, of course, the iconic Route 66.
The Dream of a Coast-to-Coast Road
The idea of a highway that spanned the entire country had been floating around since the 1890s. Picture this: General Roy Stone, who was in charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Road Inquiry (yes, that was a thing!), suggested linking up all the existing roads. He envisioned an "Atlantic and a Pacific Coastline, joined by a continental highway from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco." Ambitious, right?
Back then, the League of American Wheelmen Bulletin and Good Roads magazine (again, very cool names!) quoted General Stone calling it "The Great Road of America." He said it would "inspire the entire Nation" and reminded everyone that the idea wasn’t new. He connected it back to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and others who championed the National Road, which was a big deal in its own right, stretching through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, all the way to the Mississippi River.
After General Stone, Martin Dodge took over and also jumped on the transcontinental highway bandwagon in 1899.
Naming Roads and Forming Clubs
It wasn’t long before people started thinking about naming these long-distance roads and forming associations to get them built. In 1902, the Jefferson Memorial Road Association started pushing for a "memorial road" from Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello, to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. A proper tribute, indeed!
That same year, on March 4th, a bunch of car clubs got together in Chicago, Illinois, to form the American Automobile Association (AAA). You know, the folks who rescue you when you lock your keys in the car. Anyway, one of the first things they did was consider a transcontinental road from New York to California. But they had a slightly different idea than General Stone. They wanted a route that went north out of New York City, hugging the Hudson River and the Great Lakes, passing through cities like Albany and Buffalo in New York, Erie in Pennsylvania, Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, Chicago in Illinois, and then heading west through Omaha, Nebraska; Denver, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Sacramento, California. Quite a detour!
To push this idea, the New York-Chicago Road Association was created on June 17, 1902, with the goal of improving the road between those two cities.
A Coast-to-Coast "Appian Way"?
In 1905, James W. Abbott, a Special Agent with the U.S. Office of Public Road Inquiries, told a big roads convention in Portland, Oregon, that they needed "one or more good through wagon roads from the Atlantic to San Francisco and to the Northwest."
A year later, Good Roads magazine (still love that name!) ran an article about building an "American Appian Way." This was a fancy way of saying a really good road, like the famous Roman one. The plan was to start in Washington, D.C., follow the old National Pike through the Appalachian Mountains, cross the Ohio River, and go through the Midwest to St. Louis, Missouri. Then, it would split into two routes: one going through Montana to Puget Sound, and the other heading through Denver and Salt Lake City over the Rockies and Sierras to San Francisco. Talk about a grand vision!
Missouri’s Road Trip Ambitions
Around 1907, the Governor of Missouri, Joseph W. Folk, got interested in building a macadam highway (a type of early paved road) across the state. The State Board of Agriculture came up with three possible routes.
- Northern Route: Through St. Charles, Louisiana (yes, there’s a Louisiana in Missouri!), Bowling Green, Mexico, Moberly, and Liberty.
- Central Route: Through Columbia, crossing the Missouri River at Arrow Rock on the way to Kansas City. This one used parts of Boon’s Lick Road and the Santa Fe Trail.
- Southern Route: Pretty much what is now U.S. 50.
Instead of picking just one, the State Board and the Governor went wild and designated all three routes. This was meant to encourage local groups to get involved, but it didn’t really work. The whole idea got put on hold for a few years.
The National Old Trails Road Emerges
Fast forward to the 1910s, and you’ve got local organizations, chambers of commerce, and road advocates all over the country picking roads to improve and giving them names. The National Old Trails Road was one of the first, growing out of two things in Missouri: the push for a St. Louis to Kansas City highway and the Daughters of the American Revolution wanting to mark the Santa Fe Trail.
Newspapers like the Kansas City Star and Kansas City Post kept the idea alive, and history buffs wanted to make sure that the roads used by Daniel Boone and other pioneers were actually usable as a state highway. This got the Santa Fe Trail and Boone’s Lick Road Association, the Kansas City Historical Society, the Missouri Historical Society, and the Daughters of the American Revolution all fired up.
The idea of a transcontinental highway was gaining steam. A big roads congress in Chicago endorsed a route from New York City to Kansas City, then along the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California.
Competing Visions and Political Maneuvering
In 1911, someone introduced a bill to create a National Interstate Highways and Good Roads Commission to build seven national highways radiating from Washington, D.C. This included a road from Washington, D.C. to Seattle, Washington (the Lincoln National Interstate Highway), and two roads to California (the Jefferson National Interstate Highway to northern California and the Grant National Interstate Highway to southern California).
Since everyone thought a transcontinental highway was inevitable, states started trying to influence the route within their borders.
Around the same time, the Tri-State Road Convention was held in Phoenix, Arizona, with delegates from Arizona, California, and New Mexico. They wanted to make sure they had a say in where the federal government would put the highway.
One of the big issues was the route between Phoenix and Los Angeles. People in San Diego had been fighting for years to get the highway to go through their city. Early traffic went through San Diego and Yuma across the Imperial Valley. San Diego didn’t want to be left out, so they pushed for a route that would eventually become U.S. 80. Los Angeles wanted a route that followed the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks from Yuma to San Bernardino via the Salton Sea.
The National Old Trails Road Association is Born
In 1912, Good Roads magazine described the western part of the route as starting in Raton, New Mexico, and going through Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Yuma, Arizona, before heading west to Los Angeles.
In April 1912, the National Old Trails Road Association was formed in Kansas City, Missouri, to promote the highway from Baltimore to Los Angeles.
At the first convention, the Daughters of the American Revolution emphasized that the route should follow historic trails, not just any good road. They wanted to honor the pioneers who had blazed the way west.
The convention decided to use the Cumberland Road, the Cross-State Highway through Missouri, the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, and then the "most historic and scenic route" to the Pacific Coast.
From Wagon Trails to Automobiles
Just like the National Road had faded away with the rise of railroads, it came back with the invention of the automobile. As "motor touring" became popular, there was a need for better roads. Many old wagon and coach roads, like the National Road, were turned into paved roads for cars.
In 1914, the Automobile Club of Southern California put up signs along its route from Los Angeles to Kansas City and made maps to encourage people to use the road. But the route was still being debated until 1917, especially the western part.
The Federal Highway Act of 1921 created a program to help states build a connected system of highways. By the mid-1920s, the highway numbering system was in place, and U.S. Route 40 was created from the old National Road.
With more cars on U.S. Route 40, new businesses popped up to serve travelers. Hotels, motels, restaurants, and diners replaced the old stage taverns and wagon stands. Service stations replaced the livery stables and blacksmith shops. Some old buildings from the National Road era were turned into restaurants, tourist homes, antique shops, and museums.
Harry Truman’s Road Trip
In 1926, Harry S. Truman, who would later become President, became the president of the National Old Trails Road Association. He would drive the road from coast to coast, meeting with members to discuss improvements.
One of Truman’s big accomplishments was working with the Daughters of the American Revolution to put up "Madonna of the Trail" statues in the 12 states along the road. These statues, designed by Arlene Nichols Moss, honor the pioneer mothers who traveled in covered wagons.
Even though the road was improved, parts of the West were still difficult to drive on in 1926. That year, the section west of Las Vegas, New Mexico, to Los Angeles, California, became U.S. Highway 66, as did Manchester Road in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Interstate Era and Legacy
The federal government passed legislation in 1956 to build the Interstate Highway System.
Construction on Interstate 40 began in the late 1960s and was finished through the desert in 1973. This new highway was more efficient and didn’t follow Route 66 as closely in the Mojave Desert.
After Route 66 was decommissioned in eastern California in 1985, some parts of the road were renamed "National Trails Highway." The section between Barstow and Victorville follows almost the same route as the 1925 realignment.
So, there you have it. The National Old Trails Road: a road with a past, a road that helped shape America, and a road that’s still waiting to be explored. Ditch the interstate and hit the old trails!