OLD SPANISH TRAIL

Before romanticizing the idea of a 500-year-old trail blazed across America by Spanish conquistadors, know that the Old Spanish Trail (OST) was an early 20th-century creation to popularize automobile traffic in the region.

Indeed, the name, Old Spanish Trail, instills romantic visions of Spanish explorers, Spanish missions, and areas of Spanish culture located along its course.  Before that name was accepted, prior considerations were Orange Groves to Orange Groves Trail and Playgrounds to Playgrounds Trail.  The six main locations of cultural interest were St Augustine, New Orleans, San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson, and San Diego.  All but New Orleans were of Spanish origin.  The French settled in La Nouvelle-Orléans in 1718, but ceded all of Louisiana to the Spanish in 1763.  Nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture dates from the Spanish period.

Like the Lincoln and Dixie Highways beforehand, committees were formed to help push the project through.  The Old Spanish Trail Association (OSTA) was established and among its goals was to enlist the enthusiasm and political clout of business owners, towns, counties, and states that would commercially benefit from the building of the highway.

TO BE CONTINUED...