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Commissioner Pearson
In The News . . .
Fri, 07 Aug 2009
Logan County has a piece of history, which only seven other places in the United States possess.
“The Ozark Trails, the stated 'father' of the Mother Road, played an early role promoting east-west highways and future U.S. 66 in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
“Today evidence of the Ozark Trails network is rare, and limited to a handful of pre-Route 66 road segments and seven concrete pyramids.” --Taken from the website, Drive the Old Spanish Trail.
Wealthy lawyer, author and real estate developer, William “Coin” Harvey, was the developer of the Ozark Trails. In 1918 he implemented a plan to build twelve lofty monuments at important junctions on the Ozark Trails main line. His idea was to do this in order to stand apart from the other “named” trails networks of the times. This proved so popular that communities along the mainline, as well as various branches, soon wanted to be identified with this status symbol, and as a result at least four dozen were built, and probably many more. By 1919, a standard design was being used. It consisted of a tall, tapered concrete shaft resting on a square base and illuminated by five lights. On two or more sides were painted the names and distances of towns along the Ozark Trails. They employed a green-and-white color scheme, with a green “OT” between two green stripes painted against a white background.
One of these monuments was built in Langston, probably in 1922, in the middle of the intersection of Washington Blvd. and Logan Rd.
This Langston monument also had the distinction of being built on the Indian Meridian line. This was a line surveyed in 1870 by E. N. Darling. It stretched from Texas to Kansas. Lands to the east of the line were designated as Indian Lands and everything west was unassigned lands.
The Ozark Trails monuments lost their significance and delegated to history when in 1926 the federal government established a new system of U.S. highways, using a standard technique to number and mark them.
The Langston monument is one of only seven still in existence. Although it has been neglected, it has survived in better condition than many of the other six. Some of the others have been moved from their original locations and at least one of them has been reconstructed to a shorter height.
Several people in the Langston area have taken an interest in restoring the monument to its former glory. Included in this group of people is Langston’s mayor, Dr. Blayne Hinds and the Langston City council. Grant Administrator, Janetta Chapple has applied for, and received a Rural Economic Action Plan grant of $50,000. The Langston Economic Development Authority has also contributed $11,000.
Logan County Commissioner, Michael Pearson, is in total support of preserving this piece of Logan county history, and hopes to start later this month with the process of paving the roads leading up to the monument.
Look on the “Photo” page for a picture of the monument.