DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Central National Road. Now, back in 1844, the Republic of Texas had a problem. It needed a road.
Not just any road, mind you, but a road with a purpose bigger than most. The Central National Road was created that year to connect the Texas Republic with the United States. That was the whole ambition of it, written right into its reason for being.
The route began in Dallas and pushed north, bound for the Kiomatia Crossing on the Red River. Somebody had to lay that path out proper, and that somebody was Major George W. Stell.
He surveyed the route, and the specifications were exact. Thirty feet wide. Clear of tree stumps more than a foot high.
They weren't cutting corners on this one. This was meant to be a real road for a republic reaching toward something larger than itself. The route ran north of the land belonging to a man named John H.
Loring, about a mile east of what is now Ladonia. From there it came eastward and then made an abrupt north turn, right there at that spot, and pushed on to cross the Sulphur River at a crossing named for Isaac Lyday, a man who had come to that country back in 1836. Now here's the part that'll stop you a moment.
That road, created to stitch a republic to a nation, didn't vanish entirely. A small segment of it may still be seen, just skirting the Lyday Cemetery in the W. D.
Wehrmann, Jr. pasture, just east of FM 904, southwest of Dial. A republic's ambition, worn down to a trace in a pasture. But still there.
Still running.
What the marker says
Created 1844 to connect Texas Republic with the United States. Route began in Dallas, to go to Kiomatia Crossing on Red River. Surveyed by Maj. George W. Stell, road was to be 30' wide and clear of tree stumps more than a foot high. Route ran north of land of John H. Loring (1 mi. E of present Ladonia), coming eastward to make abrupt north turn here and push over Sulphur River at crossing named for Isaac Lyday, who came here in 1836. A small segment of the road may still be seen (1972) skirting Lyday Cemetery in the W. D. Wehrmann, Jr. pasture, just east of FM 904, southwest of Dial. (1972)