Beginning more than a century ago, the Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution (MSSDAR) has installed and dedicated 75 historic trail markers across the state of Missouri. Discover the location and history of these historic trails by choosing a trail link below. Each link contains physical addresses for marker locations, photos, and historical information to assist you in your adventure. Click on the icons below to begin!

Santa Fe Trail Markers
Boone's Lick Road Trail Markers
El Camino Real Trail Markers
Daniel Boone Trail Markers

Missouri Daughters began making plans to mark significant locations along the Santa Fe Trail as early as 1907, and by 1908, Elizabeth Gentry of the Kansas City Chapter, NSDAR, had sent a letter and a map to the Kansas City Star newspaper suggesting a highway which would cross the state following the Santa Fe Trail and the Boone’s Lick Road. In 1909 the Daughters secured an appropriation of $3,000 from the Missouri state legislature to place historic markers along the trail, but unfortunately, the money was never disbursed due to a lack of funds in the state treasury. Despite the lack of state funding, the progress of placing rose granite monuments at key sites along the Santa Fe Trail continued through the support of generous Daughters. On August 31, 1912, the large bronze plaque signifying the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail was dedicated at Old Franklin in a formal ceremony. The Missouri Daughters continued their trail marking efforts by dedicating the Boone’s Lick Road markers in 1913; the El Camino Real in 1915 - 1917, and the Daniel Boone markers in 2010.

Through these new interactive maps, you can visit each monument in person or virtually,  discover the history of each place, and learn about the efforts by MSSDAR to preserve Missouri’s past.

Ongoing scholarship offers a deeper understanding of each historic location, and we will continue to update the narrative relating to the significance of each marker.

Bibliography

  • Boone’s Lick Road Association.  https://booneslickroad.org/
  • Kamper, Ken. Correspondence with Lemira Parks. 2008-2010.
  • Medlicot, Carol and Micheal Heffernan. 'Autograph of a Nation': The Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Old Trails Road, 1910-1927. National Identities 6, no. 3 (November 2004), 233-260.
  • Missouri State Park Board, State Historical Survey and Planning Office (1971). Foundations from the Past: Missouri's Historic Preservation Program. Columbia, Missouri: State Historical Survey and Planning Office.
  • Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Milestones in Missouri’s Past. 1988.  Revised 2000.

 

 

  • Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Missouri State History of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Kansas City, Missouri.  Smith-Grieves Company, Printers. (1929).
  • Missouri State Society Daughters of the American Revolution. News Letter. 1918-1925.
  • Penn, Steve. “Honoring a Historic Woman.” Kansas City Star.  30 November 2004.
  • Proceedings of the Annual Conference of Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution. (1910-1921).
  • Santa Fe Trail Association. http://www.santafetrail.org/