St. Charles Rock Road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Charles Rock Road is the current name of what was the first road to traverse present-day St. Louis County, Missouri between St. Louis and St. Charles. For most of its length it is also known as Route 180.
Its present-day origin is in Wellston, starting at Salzman Avenue where Martin Luther King Drive ends. It proceeds northwest past several cemeteries, crosses under I-170 within St. John, then continues through Breckenridge Hills and St. Ann. As it enters Bridgeton, it crosses under I-70 and then I-270. From I-270 it continues northwest towards the banks of the Missouri River, ending opposite St. Charles at Missouri Bottom Road.
[edit] History
In the 1760s, St. Louis (on the Mississippi River and St. Charles (on the Missouri) were the two major European settlements in the lower Missouri River Valley. A path between the two came to be known as King’s Highway, a name used in colonial times by the Spanish and then the French for many frequently used roads. The southeastern end of the road became known as St. Charles Street.
In 1819, St. Charles Road was established as a post road and stagecoach road; by 1837 it became a turnpike. The road furnished access to the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail for the many westbound wagon trains that were outfitted in St. Louis.
After passage of the Missouri Plank Road Law in 1851, it became an oak plank road. In 1865, St. Charles Road was rebuilt with macadam and renamed St. Charles Rock Road. In 1921, it became the first concrete state highway in St. Louis County.
In 1953, St. Charles Rock Road was completed as a divided two-lane highway along much of its length.
A major influence in the route's location today was construction of an electric interurban railway, the St. Louis, St. Charles and Western, west from Wellston and Hodiamont, in stages, to St. Charles. From Wellston to the current location of Lindbergh Road the line ran in a straight shot while to road meandered around St. John and Breckendrige Hills. Eventually the road was relocated to adjoin the streetcar line, which ran to its north. Many portions of the original road are now side streets in the area. Running west, streetcar line diverged from the Rock Road at the present location of Lindbergh and headed northeast for Bridgeton. Past the junction with Natural Bridge Road the Rock Road swung south, then west, to follow Fee Fee Creek into St. Charles. The route was winding, the creek prone to flooding but the land acquisition was easiest along the Creek. When the interurban line stopped running in the 1930s, the Road Rock was reconstructed on the railroad right-of-way for a direct shot into St. Charles. The former route was named Old St. Charles Rock Road, now Boenker Road. Today, a portion of the streetcar right-of-way, complete with poles, has survived intact on the south side of the Rock Road just east of Earth City Expressway.
[edit] External links and references
- History from an entry in the 1970s-era History of St. Louis Neighborhoods
- The St. Charles Road and the Gateway to the Santa Fe Trail
- Route 180
- History of St. Louis and St. John,
