Old Wire Road

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The Old Wire Road was an old road in Missouri and Arkansas. Several local roads are still called this. It followed an old Native American route, the Great Osage Indian Trail across the Ozarks and became a road along a telegraph line from St. Louis, Missouri to Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was known as the "Wire Road" while the telegraph line was up, but when the line was later removed, it simply became known as the "Old Wire Road". From St. Louis to Springfield, Missouri, it became designated Route 14 (which, in turn, later became U.S. Route 66 and still later Interstate 44).

At Springfield, it turned southwest and passed through what is now Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. From the Battlefield, it passed through Republic and part of the road is the same general pathway as Route 37 to the Arkansas state line. It passed through Fayetteville, Arkansas on its way to Fort Smith.

It was used as part of the Trail of Tears and during the Civil War, Confederate soldiers often cut the lines.