Preston Trail, later known as the Old Preston Road, was a road created by the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

in 1841 from

Preston, Texas Preston, also known as Preston Bend, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located on the Red River in Grayson County, Texas, United States. It grew in the 19th century at the intersection of several military and trade roads a ...

on the Red River south to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. This road closely followed an existing trail that led across the area that had been used for centuries. This road was a main transportation artery from

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas surrounding Austin and roughly bordered by San Saba to Bryan and San Marcos to Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part of the Texas Hill Country and corresponds to a ph ...

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wor ...

in the latter half of the 19th century. Today, Texas State Highway 289 follows near this former road.

History

Ancient trail

The Preston Trail followed an ancient Indian trail extending from Mexico through central Texas to what is now

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

and even on to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

where the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Indians lived. Parts of this old trail became known as the

Chihuahua Trail The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro ( en, Royal Road of the Interior Land), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico, USA, that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was ...

. Extending northwards from Cedar Springs to the Red River, the Old Preston Road crossed very few streams. It followed a geographic spine of topography that still exists today where rainwater draining to the west flows into the Elm Fork of the Trinity River and rainwater draining to the east flows into the East Fork of the Trinity River until the rivers merge downstream of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Road

The route of the Preston Trail followed the earlier cattle trail that came to be known as the

Texas Road The Texas Road, also known as the Shawnee Trail, Sedalia Trail, or Kansas Trail, was a major trade and emigrant route to Texas across Indian Territory (later Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri). Established during the Mexican War by emigrants rushin ...

(also known as the Shawnee Trail). The Texas Road was in use in the early 1840s.

Military road

Preston Trail became part of the first official Texas military road in 1839. In the autumn that year,

Albert Sidney Johnston Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) served as a general in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, figh ...

(who was at that time the Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas) sent soldiers under the command of Colonel

William Gordon Cooke William Gordon Cooke (March 26, 1803 – December 24, 1847) was a New Orleans druggist from Virginia, who volunteered for service in the Texas Revolution; fighting at Béxar and San Jacinto, he rose to the rank of major in the Texian Army. In th ...

to build a road from the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...

to the Red River and establish frontier forts to protect settlers from Indian attacks. In 1840, 23-year-old William Gilwater Preston was the commanding officer of a unit of Republic of Texas soldiers stationed at the newly founded Fort Preston near Preston, Texas, on the Red River. These soldiers were responsible for building a road from Preston to Austin, Texas. The road was surveyed in 1840. The Preston Trail extended from its southern terminus in Austin northwards to Cedar Springs (now part of downtown Dallas). From that point, it was known as Preston Road. Preston Road extended about further northwards from the Trinity River at Dallas through

, Collin and Grayson Counties to the town of Preston, where it joined Texas Road. Texas Road then crossed the Red River as it headed north toward Missouri.

Texas State Highway 289

Today, Texas State Highway 289, also known as the modern Preston Road, closely follows the path of the original Preston Trail.

Modern influence

Preston Road State Highway 289, known for most of its length as Preston Road, is a north–south Texas state highway. It begins at the intersection of Preston Road and Loop 12/Northwest Highway in Dallas. The Preston Road designation comes from the fact ...

is a major commercial roadway that stretches from

north through the suburbs of Plano, Frisco,

Prosper {{wiktionary, prosper Prosper may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places in the United States * Prosper, Minnesota, an unincorporated community * Prosper, North Dakota, an unincorporated community * Prosper, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Prosper, Texa ...

, and Celina. The road is named after and follows the general route of the original trail. Statues installed along the road in Frisco depict the Native Americans, cattle drivers, and settlers who used the trail. The

Preston Ridge Campus Collin College is a Public college, public community college district in Texas. Founded in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 58,000 credit and noncredit students. Formerly kn ...

Collin College Collin College is a public community college district in Texas. Founded in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 58,000 credit and noncredit students. Formerly known as the Coll ...

in Frisco is named after the ridge and has been built near the original trail/ridge. The Centre at Preston Ridge is a major shopping center in Frisco adjacent to Preston Road and the ridge. It contains statues representing a

cattle drive A cattle drive is the process of moving a herd of cattle from one place to another, usually moved and herded by cowboys on horses. Europe In medieval central Europe, annual cattle drives brought Hungarian Grey cattle across the Danube River ...

on the trail and includes

obelisks An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

with historical information about the trail.
Preston Trail Community Church
on Independence Parkway in Frisco is also named after the trail (its first location on Main Street was close to the trail).