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20-521: The Old San Antonio Road is considered a part of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail . Louisiana Highway 6 mostly runs alongside the Old San Antonio Road for the entirety of its route through that state from Natchitoches to west of Many . State Highway 21 follows the old road to Midway , Texas, then State Highway OSR (for Old San Antonio Road) follows it around Bryan and College Station , and back to Highway 21 to

40-658: A bill designating The El Camino Real de Los Tejas , of which the Old San Antonio Road is part, 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 . El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail The El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail

60-640: A yearlong observance in 1991 of the 300th anniversary of the road and encourage tourism along the route. The member agencies of the commission—The Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Department of Commerce—promoted the road and constructed a series of information panels to be placed along the route. The commission ceased operations in July, 1993. On October 18, 2004, President Bush signed

80-785: Is a list of granite markers placed by the Texas Society Daughters of the American Revolution that designate one of the main routes of the Old San Antonio Road through Texas as surveyed in 1915 and placed in 1918. There were never any markers numbered 103-107 because of a numbering error by the surveyor. As of October 2015, 110 of the 123 markers have been documented. This includes 106 that have been documented since 2013 and 4 more that were documented circa 1995 and are known or assumed to still exist. 13 markers have never been documented. Most of

100-603: Is a national historic trail covering the U.S. section of El Camino Real de Los Tejas , a thoroughfare from the 18th-century Spanish colonial era in Spanish Texas , instrumental in the settlement, development, and history of Texas. The National Park Service designated El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail as a unit in the National Trails System in 2004. The modern highways Texas 21 (along with Texas OSR ) and Louisiana 6 roughly follow

120-682: The Gaines-Pendleton Bridge in 1937. After crossing the river, the trail went through the Neutral Strip and Many, Louisiana , before ending at Natchitoches in modern Louisiana. The trail has a 2,500-mile length. For centuries, the Native Americans had used the trail routes for trading between the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert regions and essentially created the road. El Camino Real de Los Tejas

140-743: The Texas legislature designated the Zivley version of the Old San Antonio Road as 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. In 1989, the Texas Legislature created the Old San Antonio Road Preservation Commission to coordinate

160-650: The United States began to increase. The old route from San Antonio to Louisiana, now called the Camino Arriba , was still a vital link for Texans to the United States. During the 1860s, the old road had a brief revival as a supply line from the Texas interior to the Confederacy , and for the flow of cotton to Mexico as a means to circumvent the ever-tightening Union blockade . After the Civil War ,

180-518: The course of the road while bringing relief supplies from Monclova. 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 Native American threats. During the time that Texas was a Spanish, then Mexican, state, the road was used as a major thoroughfare between Mexico City and East Texas . With Texas independence, however, trade between Mexico and Texas waned, while Mexico's trade with

200-647: The eastern outskirts of San Marcos . South of San Marcos, the road follows the Old Bastrop Road until it intersects with I-35 . The road leaves the Interstate at New Braunfels and follows Solms road, then Nacogdoches Road, then Mission Road through San Antonio . South of San Antonio, the road follows Old Pleasanton Road, then varying local and county roads and merges with State Highway 97 to Cotulla . The road crosses private property and then follows Farm to Market Road 133 to Catarina . After Catarina,

220-572: The first governor of Spanish Texas, in an effort to make better connections to the Spanish missions in East Texas. San Antonio de Bexar , founded in 1718, was the first of many communities built as way stations on the trail. After Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821, immigrants from the American colonies invited to Texas used the corridor to travel to their settlements. A section of

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240-677: The modern Texas border), San Antonio , and Nacogdoches , before reaching the Louisiana border at the Sabine River . The river crossing was a ferry, in use since around 1795, as the Chabanan Ferry. James Taylor Gaines purchased the ferry in 1819, and it became known as the Gaines Ferry . Gaines sold the ferry in 1843 and at some point it began to be called Pendleton's Ferry. The ferry remained in service until being replaced by

260-604: The name Camino Arriba faded and the road was called the Old San Antonio Road. By the 1870s, with the coming of the railroad , the roadway between San Antonio and Mexico had all but disappeared. It was then called the Lower Presidio Road. 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 (8.0 km) intervals along

280-446: The original route of the trail. Alonso de León , Spanish governor of Coahuila , established the corridor for what became El Camino Real de Tierra Afuera in multiple expeditions to East Texas between 1686 and 1690 to find and destroy a French fort near Lavaca Bay , established by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle on what de León considered to be Spanish lands. The route was refined in 1691-1692 by Domingo Terán de los Ríos ,

300-476: The road called Camino Arriba by the Spanish became known as the Old San Antonio Road . The growth of towns such as Austin , Galveston , and Houston not on the original route, along with the building of railroads, changed the direction of travel and trade and the use of El Camino Real de los Tejas diminished. The historic trail ran from the capitol and central Viceroyalty of New Spain —present day Mexico City —winding through Saltillo , Monterrey , Laredo (on

320-499: The road is on private property. In 1690, Spanish explorer Alonso de León , following various Indian and buffalo trails, crossed the Rio Grande on his way to East Texas to establish missions , effectively blazing the Old San Antonio Road. In 1691, Domingo Terán de los Ríos took additional missionaries to East Texas following much the same course as traveled by De León. In 1693, Gregorio de Salinas Varona further defined

340-545: 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. The State of Texas took this routing and marked the remaining county roads as State Highway OSR . Originally,

360-528: The whole route from the Sabine River to San Marcos carried this designation, but it has since been reduced to a short bypass around Bryan . As of February 2006, all but nine of the 123 markers were surviving, but many were moved from their original locations as the route of the road was straightened by new highway construction. In deep South Texas , many of the markers are now on private ranches. ( See List of Old San Antonio Road DAR Markers . ) In 1929,

380-608: Was commissioned to make the study. A few years later, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed granite milestones every 5 miles along the route to mark it. In October 2004, President George W. Bush signed into law El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail. The National Park Service started planning for El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail in 2006 with a comprehensive management plan. 30°18′03″N 97°44′06″W  /  30.30077°N 97.73510°W  / 30.30077; -97.73510 List of Old San Antonio Road DAR Markers Following

400-462: Was first followed and marked by Spanish explorers and missionaries in the 1700s. It was one of several named El Camino Real , or "Royal Road", that connected the Spanish possessions in North America with Mexico City. Interest in the road revived in the early 20th century. In 1915, the Texas Legislature appropriated $ 5,000 to survey and mark the route, and professional surveyor V. N. Zivley

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