El Camino Real -- DAR Marker No. 21, SH 21 at US 69, Alto TX - National Scenic Byways on Waymarking.com

This pink granite DAR marker was placed in 1918 as a statewide project by the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark the route of the Old San Antonio Road.

The marker is located in front of a store in downtown Alto, 1/2 block west of the SH 21 intersection with the US 69.

The marker reads as follows:

"KING'S HIGHWAY
CAMINO REAL
Old San Antonio Road

Marked by the
Daughters of the
American Revolution
and the State of Texas
A. D. 1918"

From the Texas Historical Commission: (visit link)

"History of State of Texas Historical Markers
The State of Texas first commemorated a historical site in 1856 by contributing to marking graves at the San Jacinto battleground. In 1858, the Legislature bought an existing Alamo monument, built in 1841 with stones gathered from the battle site. William Nangle and Joseph Cox of San Antonio designed the ten-foot high pyramid on a square pedestal to be portable, and it traveled to Houston, New Orleans and Austin. After the state acquired the monument it was moved to the Capitol, and ultimately destroyed in the 1881 fire that razed that building.

. . .

From 1915-18, the State of Texas and the Daughters of the American Revolution together placed 123 pink granite markers about every five miles along the King’s Highway, also known as Camino Real or Old San Antonio Road, the trail blazed in 1690 by Alonso de Leon. Surveyor V. N. Zively mapped the route through south, central and east Texas. Most of these markers are still intact."

The El Camino Real de los Tejas has been designated a National Historic Trail through the states of Texas and New Mexico. (visit link)

"From the Rio Grande to the Red River Valley
Come on a journey that will carry you through 300 years of Louisiana and Texas frontier settlement and development on a Spanish colonial "royal road" that originally extended to Mexico City, Mexico.

You are about to travel 2,500 miles, from Mission San Juan Bautista Guerrero, Mexico to Fort St. Jean Baptiste Nachitoches Parish, Louisiana."

Program: Other Website: [Web Link] Official Name: El Camino Real de los Tejas

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Date Logged Log   12/29/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it