Central National Road

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm going off what the official marker says, so let's let the record speak. Now, picture the Republic of Texas in its early days. Not a state yet.

A whole republic, young and restless and hungry for roads. Settlers and pioneers pouring in from the United States, crossing the Red River up in northwest Red River County; that was the door. Step through it, and you were in Texas.

On the north side of that crossing sat the terminus of a U.S. Military Highway, like the republic was picking up right where the Union left off. But there was a problem.

A republic needs to move. Goods, people, ambition; all of it needs somewhere to go. So in 1844, the Congress of the Republic of Texas appointed a commission to lay out a road.

Not a trail. A road. One that would connect that Red River crossing all the way down to the Trinity River in central Dallas County.

They handed the surveying work to a man named George W. Stell, born in 1793, who would live until 1870. And Stell did not cut corners; though he cut plenty of tree stumps.

The specifications written into this road were something. One hundred and thirty miles. Thirty feet wide.

Bridges at least fifteen feet across. And every tree stump along that corridor cut down to within twelve inches of the ground. This was not a suggestion.

This was a republic laying down law in the dirt. Congress named it the Central National Road. It threaded south through Lamar, Fannin, Hunt, Collin, and Rockwall counties before it reached its terminus in Dallas.

And here is where the story gets bigger than one road. Because waiting right there in Dallas (about a thousand feet north-northwest of that terminus) was the Preston Road. Now, the Preston Road had been opened back in 1840 by a group of Texas soldiers under Colonel William G.

Cooke, born 1808, died 1847. Cooke's road already ran between the Red River and Austin. So when the Central National Road came down and crossed it, something clicked into place.

Two roads. One intersection. And suddenly, north Texas and south Texas had a spine connecting them; giving pioneers a way to reach all areas of the Republic that simply hadn't existed before.

Some roads get built. Some roads get built at the right moment, in the right place, and they change what a place can become. The Central National Road, one hundred and thirty miles of thirty-foot-wide ambition, was that kind of road.

What the marker says

During the early days of the Republic of Texas, settlers and pioneers coming from the United States entered Texas by crossing the Red River in northwest Red River County. On the north side of that crossing was the terminum of a U.S. Military Highway. In 1844, the Congress of the Republic of Texas appointed a commission to lay out a road connecting the crossing on the Red River to the Trinity River in central Dallas County. Surveyed by George W. Stell (1793-1870), the 130-mile road was to be thirty feet wide, with bridges at least fifteen feet wide, and all tree stumps cut within twelve inches of the ground. Congress named the new route the Central National Road. Passing through Lamar, Fannin, Hunt, Collin, and Rockwall counties, the road's terminus in Dallas intersected with the Preston Road (1,000 NNW), which had been opened in 1840 by a group of Texas soldiers under Col. William G. Cooke (1808-1847) to connect the Red River and Austin. The Central National Road, via its intersection in Dallas with the Preston-Austin Road, connected north and south Texas, creating greater access for pioneers to settle in all areas of the Republic. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 Incise on base: Sponsored by Thomas J. Rusk Chapter of the Sons of the Republic of Texas