Old Spanish Trail (auto trail)
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Southern Borderland Trunckline The Highway of the Southern Borderlands | |
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| West end: | San Diego, California |
| East end: | St. Augustine, Florida |
| Highway system | |
The Old Spanish Trail (the OST) was an auto trail that once spanned the United States with a full 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of roadway from ocean to ocean. It crossed eight states and 67 counties along the southern border of the United States. Work on the auto highway began in 1915 at a meeting held at the Battle House Hotel in Mobile, Alabama; and, by the 1920s, the trail linked St. Augustine, Florida, to San Diego, California, with its center and headquarters in San Antonio, Texas.
The cities along the route shared a heritage of Spanish missions, forts, and colonies.
Future
Much of that trail still exists, and preparations have already begun for a decade-long Centennial Celebration to begin in 2019 and end with a 2029 motorcade grand finale from St. Augustine to San Diego. The present-day, all-volunteer Old Spanish Trail Centennial Celebration Association OST100 is collecting oral histories, travel logs and news articles related to the Old Spanish Trail in order to conserve the roadways, businesses and historic sites of the original Old Spanish Trail auto highway both physically and in the memory of the American people.
The current work of revitalization, historic preservation, public/private partnerships, restoration, and road enhancements, follows the lead of the original founders of the OST, who involved greatly diverse interests in building and beautifying the original roadway.
History details
The archives of the Old Spanish Trail Association are now held in Special Collections, Louis J. Blume Library St. Mary's University. Smaller archives are held at the St. Augustine Historical Society, Jacksonville University, and other archives along the original route.
Route
The OST largely follows what became, in 1927, U.S. Highway 90 in the east and U.S. Highway 80 in the west.
Texas Route
In eastern Texas the Old Spanish Trail can still be seen in many places. The trail runs alongside Interstate 10 through Orange and Vidor; when the trail reaches the Neches River, it merges with Interstate 10 crossing the Purple Heart Bridge, then detours through Downtown Beaumont. While in downtown the trail meets College Street and goes directly west from there to Liberty.
The trail enters Houston on Navigation and turns down Main Street, exiting the city as U.S. 90 ALT. On the way, it passes Rice University, University of Houston, and the Astrodome.
A portion of the trail remains as a segment of U. S. 290 west of Ozona, Texas in Crockett and Pecos Counties. This scenic loop includes the descent of Lancaster Hill, a crossing of the Pecos River at an old iron bridge, and passes through the small community of Sheffield before rejoining Interstate 10.
Florida Route
Throughout the Florida panhandle, the Old Spanish Trail follows either U.S. Route 90 or local streets that used to be part of US 90, many of which are designated as County Road 10A.
East of Marianna, it joins State Road 71 southbound until it branches off to the east on an unmarked road, and it remains as such until a the second segment of CR 10A joins it in Sneads. Between Quincy and Havana, it runs along SR 12, and then it turns south along U.S. 27 until it reaches CR 2196 between Tallahassee and Chaires, where it then turns northeast along former State Roads (SR) 154 and 158, returning to US 90 in Monticello[1] until it reaches US 1 and turns south towards St. Augustine.