Old Spanish Trail brought car traffic to Orange

More than a century ago when long automobile road trips were rare, Orange leaders joined a unique group of business and civic leaders to build one of the first transcontinental paved highways through the U.S., the Old Spanish Trail.

The Old Spanish Train Association formed in 1915 when the businessmen met in Mobile, Alabama, to begin the private effort to make a paved roadway for motoring traffic. Members paid $100 a month, or $3,115 in 2024 money, with the dues going to construction of the highway, which eventually went across the Southern U.S. from Pensacola, Florida, to San Diego, California.

The highway went through Orange and on to Beaumont. Orange leaders were such an important part of the project that the Association had its annual meeting here in 1921.

"The route quickly assumed a leading role in Texas' emergency highway system in part, because it traveled not only some of the state's most important nodes of military installations and industrial centers, but also some o the state's best known tourist destinations, parks, and recreational centers," the Texas Historical Commission reports on its information about the highway.

When the Old Spanish Trail Association was formed, the Model T Ford was only seven years old. The car was designed so the average middle-class American could afford an automobile and first sold in 1908. The Model T had a maximum speed of 30 mph, if the road was good. The condition of the roads was the problem for travel.

The leaders of the Old Spanish Trail Association knew that a paved highway would bring travelers through and help local businesses. Orange was also a center of local industry in Texas with its lumber mills, shipyards, paper mill, box factory, and rice mill. Orange at the time had a population of 9,212 and the local OST officials were W.E. Lea, who served as the national group's vice president, plus F.P. Dearborn.

The Texas Historical Commission said the highway was part of a nationwide "good roads movement." Eventually, the federal and state governments helped with the road, which became U.S. 90. Interstate 10 today still follows some of the same routes.

The Old Spanish Trail name was given because it was supposed to be a route where the Spanish conquistadors and explorers traveled. It is not to be confused with cattle trail in the Western U.S. that was also called the Old Spanish Trail.

The 1923 "Rand McNally Automobile Road Book" described the Old Spanish Trail as showing off "the riches of history, legend, sentiment and natural beauty."

The highway westbound crossed the Sabine River and went down Green Avenue, which at the time was one Orange's most prestigious residential street, lined with mansions and middle-class homes, plus the new ornate First Presbyterian and First Baptist church buildings. Within a few years, many of those houses were demolished to make room for full service gasoline stations and cafes to draw travelers.

Green Avenue at the time ended at 15th Street. The Old Spanish Trail turned northbound on 15th Street and then went a few blocks before turning west on Park Avenue, a route that lasted until the early 1970s, when the Texas Department of Transportation widened 16th Street and cut it through from Park to Green.

The Old Spanish Trail traveled along Park past what is now Shangri La Gardens and across Adams Bayou. Eventually it became U.S. Highway 90 and parts of it still run through Orange County. That road was the Old Spanish Trail, an early coast-to-coast automobile highway that went straight through Orange on Green Avenue, then down Park Avenue at 16th Street.

The 1923 Rand McNally book also reports "and through the road are members of the Old Spanish Trail Association who will find pleasure in making your acquaintance."

Tourist camps in Orange had tables, benches, ovens, toilets, shower baths and running water. The locations of the camps were not listed, but they had to be on or near the trail, which went through what is now the city of Pinehurst.

Information on Orange for the traveler included Sabine Battery Co., 103 Seventh St.; Gomez Cafe, Fifth and Main streets; and W.B. Roan Auto Co., Division and Sixth streets a building that a couple of years later became Farmers Mercantile, a business on Division Avenue at Sixth Street that still stands today.

The brochure also included a message to "vote for the highway amendment" on Election Day in Texas, July 28, 1923. "This amendment is necessary to the continuance of Federal Aid to Texas and for the proper construction and maintenance of the state and interstate highways planned in the interest of the people." The amount was not listed.

San Antonio became the headquarters for the Old Spanish Trail Association and met regularly at the Gunter Hotel there. The highway was touted as the "shortest transcontinental route in the U.S." because it was shorter than the Lincoln Highway that went through the middle of the country.

Orange became known as of the last "bottlenecks" of the highway because in the early days, motorists had to cross the Sabine River by ferry. When a bridge was built at the end of Green Avenue, its dedication in 1927 was considered so important to the state and nation that Texas Governor Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson came to the celebration.

That bridge was demolished after Interstate 10 and a bigger bridge across the Sabine were opened about 1960. A concrete barrier at the eastern end of Green Avenue at the river where the bridge used to be now stops travelers. Some modern-day explorers have found a granite marker in the wetlands for the old bridge, but the metal plaque is missing.

By the time construction ended, the Old Spanish Trail traveled through eight state and 67 counties for 2,750 miles.

"The sense of pride that Texans have enjoyed and appreciated" about the Old Spanish Trail still lives today, the Texas Historical Commission writes. "The enduring quality of the name Old Spanish Trail" has led to the term still being used in cities along its route, including Beaumont, Houston, and San Antonio.

Current reports of the Old Spanish Trail online say the Texas beginning is in Beaumont because Orange does not claim it and has no signage.

However, the Old Spanish Trail Centennial group did not forget Orange. The Covid pandemic of 2020 and business shutdown led to the group planning an Orange centennial celebration of the 1921 meeting to be held in 2022 instead. The group worked with the Orange County Historical Commission and planned three days of history events and an parade of old cars. Unfortunately, another outbreak of Covid caused the event to be canceled.