Like almost all the small Texas towns along the Old Spanish Trail, that part of the OST through the town of Junction itself is known locally as Main Street.
However, there was another community of Junction that was ALSO located on the OST: a community of Hispanic residents isolated by the kind of overt and systematic racial prejudice and segregation that existed in cities throughout America.
In 1922, the OST was routed through Little Mexico on what is today the present-day FM 2169. The OST (and later the I-10) impacted but did not destroy the "Little Mexico" community northeast of Junction.
A state historic marker at the site of the Little Mexico Cemetery in Northeast Junction reads as follows:
"LITTLE MEXICO (NORTHEAST JUNCTION)
Northeast Junction, commonly known as Little Mexico, is a “Latin American” community that is separated by the Llano River from the main portion of Junction. In the late 1920s an automobile route called the Old Spanish Trail was established with Junction near the halfway point between Florida and California. A portion of present-day FM 2169 was created from the route.
On September 1, 1922, Alberto Martinez and Romauldo Sanchez purchased land from Oren C. Reid. Along with additional land from Antonio Medina, this neighborhood became part of Junction in 1927. On November 13, 1945 Julian Pompa presented the city with an area of lots and accompanying streets located east of the Old Spanish Trail.
Little Mexico did not receive amenities from the city until after World War II continuing into 1984. School buses did not serve Little Mexico and students walked several miles crossing the South Llano River Bridge to attend school. Two churches located in Junction, St. Theresa Catholic Church and the Mexican Baptist Mission, served the Hispanic community, but in 1968 the Mission was razed for construction of Interstate Highway 10. Early Hispanic residents did not have a cemetery and most were buried on area ranches. In 1920 land for a cemetery was purchased From Tomas Perez. George Willis was among those who collected the money to pay for the land. His wife, Julia Valdez Willis, was the first to be buried at the new cemetery named Campo Santo. Two veterans from World War I are buried in the cemetery along with veterans from World War II, the Korean Conflict and Vietnam. Even though development of Interstate Highway 10 displaced many residents, the community continues to thrive and preserve its unique history and culture. (2009)
Marker is property of the State of Texas"
In the Anglo part of Junction, the former OST through town was (as of 1969) designated State Highway Loop 481. Wikipedia shows 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 OST. Loop 481 was designated in 1969. (
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The history of the Old Spanish Trail is as varied as the areas it crosses on its journey from Jacksonville FL to San Diego CA. In Texas, the OST has had many routes, but by 1921 a predominantly southern route from Orange to San Antonio to El Paso had been formalized. Source: The Development of Highways in Texas:
A Historic Context of the Bankhead Highway and Other Historic Named Highways, by the Texas Historical Commission
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"The Old Spanish Trail largely overlapped with the “Southern National Highway,” as the route was named by the Texas Highway Commission in 1917. At that time, the agency formally incorporated the roadway as SH 3 in the new state highway system. (See Figure 183.) However, the route marked by the Old Spanish Trail Association included a wideranging variety of alignments other than SH 3; the most notable was the SH 27 alignments travelling through Kerrville, Sonora, and Junction en route to Fort Stockton.
Regardless of the name or designation used, the route quickly assumed a leading role in the state’s emerging highway system, in part, because it traveled to not only some of the state’s most important nodes of military installations (San Antonio) and industrial centers (the oil refineries in Houston and the Gold Triangle areas of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange), but also some of the state’s best known tourist destinations, parks, and recreational centers, such as the Alamo and Balmorrhea State Park."
By 1926, when the US Federal Highway System converted the old names Auto Tour Routes into a numbered system of US Highways, the OST was well established. At this time, parts of the OST in Texas were co-designated US 90, US 90Alt, US 87, US 80 and US 290.
The OST that passed through Junction as on Main Street was part of the US 290 alignment from the Hill Country west to near Balmorhea.
When the I-10 was completed in Texas, the all that part of US 290 west of its junction with I-10 (at the Kimble county line 25 miles southeast of Junction) was redesignated as state highway loops or scenic roads (like SH 290 between Sheffield and Ozona).