Butterfield Overland Mail Route Fayetteville Segments Historic District

The Butterfield Overland Mail Route Fayetteville Segments Historic District is an area of 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) in Lake Fayetteville Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas which preserves an original routing of the Butterfield Overland Mail route through Northwest Arkansas. The trail and surrounding area became listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2009 and is being explored as an addition to the National Historic Trails System upon signing of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009.[2]

Butterfield Overland Mail Route Fayetteville Segments Historic District
LocationWest of AR 265 in Lake Fayetteville Park, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Area2.5 acres (1.0 ha)
NRHP reference No.09000456[1]
Added to NRHPJune 18, 2009

History
Main article: Butterfield Overland Mail

The Butterfield Overland Mail route was a stagecoach route chosen to be snow-free unlike the more northern but shorter routes in place at the time.[2] It ran from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California beginning in 1858. Fayetteville was located between the major stops at Tipton, Missouri and Fort Smith, Arkansas and the city grew significantly during the trail's operation. This segment overlapped a formerly well-traveled Native American removal route from Springfield, Missouri to Fayetteville from the 1830s.[3] John Butterfield built a hotel and several barns in Fayetteville for his travelers to utilize before continuing north to Fitzgerald Station in Shiloh, Mudtown, Cross Hollows, Callahan's tavern and Missouri.[4]

Preservation
The 3000 block of Old Wire Road (Arkansas Highway 265) in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Today, the route has been partially preserved as Arkansas Highway 265 in Northwest Arkansas and (partially) as Old Wire Road in Fayetteville. The route is designated with historic markers through Fayetteville, including an original stone along present-day College Avenue (U.S. Route 71B) in front of the Former Washington County Courthouse. This NRPH segment is not designated AR 265 and runs through Lake Fayetteville Park as a dirt path.

In south Washington County, Arkansas another NRHP-listed segment exists along Bugscuffle Road.[4]

A study to include the Butterfield Trail as a National Historic Trail was commissioned in the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 upon the request of Representative John Bozeman as a nationally significant piece of history of trade and commerce in America.[2]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Butterfield Overland Mail Route Study to Begin As Obama Signs Bill Into Law (PDF). Fayetteville, Arkansas: Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission. 2009-03-31. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  3. "The Pea Ridge National Military Park Site: Interpretive Contexts". American Native Press Archives. Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  4. "Butterfield Overland Mail Route Fayetteville Segments Historic District". Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
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