Ozark Trail Replica - Stroud, OK
Posted by: hamquilter
N 35° 44.933 W 096° 39.315
14S E 712013 N 3958631
This is a replica of an Ozark Trail obelisk which once stood in downtown Stroud.
Waymark Code: WM12ZZK
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 08/17/2020
Views: 0
This obelisk stands on the southwest corner of Main Street (Route 66) and N. 2nd Avenue. Constructed of concrete, it stands approximately 21 ft. high. It is a replica of an original Ozark Trail obelisk which still stands west of Stroud, between Stroud and Davenport. It was moved to that location from where it originally stood at the intersection of Highways 66 and 99 in downtown Stroud. The number of original obelisks on the Trail is unknown, but only seven remain today - one near Langston, OK and the one west of Stroud. Four remain in Texas and one in New Mexico.
The Ozark Trail was in operation from 1915 to 1926, when automobile travel began in earnest and there were no suitable roadways across the area. Unlike the Interstate system of today, the Ozark Trail sections of roads were built by the local communities they ran through, and when approved, were linked to form the Trail. Eventually in 1926, Route 66 took over many of the Ozark Trail roads.
As the location of this replica is on Route 66, one side of the obelisk shows the distances to major cities along the Route. On the original obelisks, travel distances and directions was shown also. The story of the Ozark Trail locally is engraved on a bronze plaque on the side of the obelisk: