Like almost all the small Texas towns along the Old Spanish Trail, that part of the OST as it passes through Junction is named "Main Street."
As of 1969, the entire route of the former OST through Junction (including Main Street) was redesignated State Loop 481 to serve as a business route for the reroute of the US 290 north of town (preparing for the day to come where the US 290 would become the I-10).
Wikipedia proves that Texas SL 481 was formerly co-signed as US 83 and US 290. The US 83 came in from the south and joined US 290 east of Junction, where the two roads headed west through town. North of town, US 83 diverged from US 290, and continued north to the Oklahoma border.
US 290 entered Junction from the east, joined with US 83 and left US 83 to continue west to El Paso. Therefore, SL 481 is clearly the former route of the Old Spanish Trail. (
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The Kimble County courthouse was completed in 1929 at 501 Main St. in downtown Junction, part of the Old Spanish Trail Auto Route from Florida to California.
As a commemoration of the Centennial of Texas statehood, the Texas State Highway department commissioned pink granite blocks with bronze plates on top and bronze medallions on the front. 254 of these markers were designated county markers, and contained short facts about the organization dates, namesakes, and sometimes important events that took place in each county. One of these category of markers was placed in each Texas county, either at the county line, at the county courthouse, or in the newly-conceived roadside parks (we know them today as rest areas).
The Kimble County marker was placed on the northwest corner of the Kimble County courthouse grounds, along the Old Spanish Trail in Junction. Every traveler along the OST who passed by here would have seen this distinctive block of pink granite with the Centennial bronze logo in the center.
In 2016 it's still a lot of fun to seek these Centennial markers out, the 1936 they were brand-new and part of an important commemoration of Texas history.
Many of the pink granite blocks had their bronze plates replaced in the 1960s/1970s with more accurate or complete information, or to remove disparaging adjectives about Native tribes that were accepted in the 1930s but were recognized by he 1960s as being negative and hurtful.
It is a lot of fun to see a rare 1936 Centennial marker with its original bronze plate intact. All of these true relics of the Centennial marker program did not need any revisions to text to reflect changing attitudes.
The Centennial marker at the Kimble County courthouse had its plate replaced in 1973, but it was not moved, so it is still in the same place that OST travelers would have seen it had they been driving by in 1936 and for the next 40 years.
Blasterz have seen a lot of these markers, and we are 100% certain that the last paragraph of the current Kimble County Centennial marker contains the almost complete verbiage that was on the 1936 plaque, and is what would have informed OST travelers back in the day.
The marker reads as follows:
"Jumano and Apache Indians inhabited region when Spanish explorers traveled across it in the 17th and 18th centuries, and were displaced by the Comanche tribe by the mid-19th century. Area was under military jurisdiction of Forts Terrett (1852-54) and McKavett (1852-59, 1868-83), which were aided in defense by the Texas Rangers.
County created from Bexar County, 1858, named for George C. Kimble (1810?-1836), who died defending the Alamo. Organized in 1876, with the county seat first at Kimbleville, then Junction in 1877. Haven for lawless element until the Rangers restored peace in 1880s. Ranching is primary industry, producing wool and mohair.
Erected by the State of Texas - 1973"