Old San Antonio Road
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The Old San Antonio Road (sometimes called El Camino Real, Kings Highway, Camino Arriba, or Lower Presidio Road) is a historic roadway located in Texas and Louisiana, United States. Its Texas terminus is at Paso de Francia at the Rio Grande in Maverick County; its northern terminus is at Natchitoches, Louisiana. The road continues from Texas, through Monclova to Mexico City.
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Route
The Old San Antonio Road mostly parallels Louisiana State Highway 6 for the entirety of its route through that state. At Texas, the road follows Texas State Highway 21 to Midway, Texas, follows Texas State Highway OSR around Bryan and College Station, and back to Highway 21 to San Marcos. South of San Marcos to San Antonio, the road follows various local, county and Farm to Market Roads. South of San Antonio, the road is now mostly on private property, with only very few segments on isolated publicly accessible county roads.
History
In 1690, Spanish explorer Alonso De León crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico on his way to East Texas to establish missions, effectively blazing the Old San Antonio Road. While many smaller Indian routes on the San Antonio Road had existed much earlier, this was the first time they were all connected into one route.
During the time that Texas was a Spanish, then Mexican, state, the road was used as a major thoroughfare between Mexico City and the entire state of Texas. With independence, however, trade between Mexico and Texas waned, while trade with the United States began to increase. By the 1870s, with the coming of the railroad, the roadway between San Antonio and Mexico had all but disappeared. The Camino Arriba, however, was a vital link to the United States, and continues to be used to the present day as Texas State Highway 21.
The Old San Antonio Road was not a single road but a network of trails with different routes at different times. The trail's path was dictated by things as diverse as weather and indian threats.
Preservation
Kings_hwy_marker.jpg
In 1915, the State of Texas and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) funded a project to place pink granite markers at approximately 5 mile intervals along the route of the Old San Antonio Road. V.N. Zively, a professional surveyor, mapped the routing in 1915 and 1916, and placed an oak post at each marker site. Inscribed granite markers were installed later and the Texas DAR presented the markers to the State of Texas in a ceremony in San Antonio on March 2, 1918. (See List of Old San Antonio Road DAR Markers)
The State of Texas took this routing and marked the remaining county roads as Texas Highway OSR. Originally, the whole route from the Sabine River to San Marcos carried this designation, but it has since been pulled back to a short "bypass" around Bryan. Most of the granite markers still exist, but in South Texas have been moved by ranchers when needed.
1929, the Texas legislature designated the Zivley version of the Old San Antonio Road one of the historic trails of Texas. Later research by the Old San Antonio Road Preservation Commission determined that the Zively route is just one of no fewer than five different main routes that were used at various times.
On October 18, 2004, President Bush signed a bill designating The El Camino Real de Los Tejas, of which the Old San Antonio Road is part of, a National Historic Trail. The Texas Legislature is considering a bill that would give the Texas Historical Commission authority to oversee the development and administration of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail in conjunction with the National Park Service.
Length
Major cities along the route
- Natchitoches, Louisiana
- Many, Louisiana
- Nacogdoches, Texas
- Crockett, Texas
- Caldwell, Texas
- Bastrop, Texas
- San Marcos, Texas
- New Braunfels, Texas
- San Antonio, Texas
- Cotulla, Texas
External link
- Old San Antonio Road DAR Marker Information Site (http://www.texandesigns.com/kingshwy/)
References
- "Old San Antonio Road". The Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/OO/exo4.html). Retrieved May 17, 2005.