By Brian Rukes, El Reno Historian, November 2023
While it is true that MANY cities and towns tout themselves as the “Crossroads of America,” El Reno is perhaps the only town that can be called the CROSSROADS OF THE CONTINENT!
And it’s not just hyperbole. I have maps and facts that backs that up.
This all related to Route 66 and its upcoming Centennial in 2026. The importance and allure of Route 66 is well known. Of course, Route 66 helps make El Reno special.
But there’s also Highway 81, which is more than just a federal U.S. highway. Before Route 66 even existed, what is now known as Highway 81 was a part of the MERIDIAN HIGHWAY INTERNATIONAL.
Also known as Meridian Road, “Meridian Highway,” or simply the “MH,” this road stretched from Winnipeg, Canada all the way to Mexico City, connecting all three countries in the North American CONTINENT. It was a “high gear” road in days when most roads were unpaved, not well maintained, and very hard to traverse.
The Meridian Highway International ran straight through El Reno, Oklahoma. In El Reno, it crossed the Postal Highway, which ran east-west across the state and through Oklahoma City.
Highway 81–which roughly paralleled the Chisholm Trail, another significant transportation route associated with El Reno–is a much bigger deal than you might realize, and it’s still a very important route.
What’s more, the Meridian Highway was to be a cornerstone for the proposed PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY which was conceived to connect Canada with SOUTH AMERICA, which would have provided a direct route THROUGH EL RENO to places like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and even Cape Horn. This dream, though, never came to full fruition like the Meridian Highway International actually did. (See map below.)
El Reno: Route 66. The Meridian Highway International / Highway 81. The Chisholm Trail. The Postal Highway. Interstate 40. Major Hub for Rock Island Lines railroad. The Interurban Railway, plus other railroad companies. Home to TWO airports and World War 2 training bases. Fort Reno (with its horses and mules), Concho, and Darlington. Home of famed WW2 aviator “Sonny” Kegelman and other aviation pioneers. Oh yeah, and travelers and residents alike know us for tornadoes, fried onion burgers and coneys, Burger Day, Small Town Weekend, Smoke on the Water, Lake El Reno, Crimson Creek Golf Course, two major war memorials, the Canadian County Historical Museum and its Heritage Express Trolley, and so much more, including what’s best: our people and small town hospitality!
El Reno, the CROSSROADS OF THE CONTINENT!
There is no other place like it.
December 2024
I have something NEW to add to my message from just over a year ago! Before last Thanksgiving, I sent out the story (forwarded below), including the map from 1927 of the Meridian Highway International and the proposed Pan-American Highway. As we approach the Centennial of Route 66 in 2026, I ardently believe that El Reno also needs to take advantage of the fact that we sit at the historical CROSSROADS OF THE CONTINENT, as the Meridian Road / Meridian Highway was quite important even before Route 66 came into existence.
I recently found another map in the Library of Congress archives, this one, from 1915, which impressed me even further, as this shows the earlier route of the Meridian Road. Note that it passes through El Reno, then west-north-westward to Fort Reno, then west to Calumet and Geary, then heads south from there:
Interestingly enough, that route (from El Reno to Geary) is actually the ORIGINAL route through this area for our famous Route 66 when it came into existence in 1926. (That original route DID NOT go through or by the current Cherokee truck stop at I-40 Exit 108.) The full map is attached below showing the entire length of the Meridian Road map from 1915.
Like El Reno, which is hugely important in my life for so many reasons, I also have big-time personal connections to all three of those other places–Fort Reno, Calumet, and Geary! Also, interestingly enough, the Meridian Road passes through Enid, Hennessey, Okarche, and even Wichita Falls and Glen Rose, Texas.
By Brian Rukes, El Reno Historian
Chisholm established much of the trail around 1864 as a wagon route, part of his trading activities in the territory. The route became the world’s most famous cattle trail following the 1867 establishment of Abilene, Kansas, as a stockyards with access to the railroads to help supply the much-wanted beef in the United States’ growing economy. This came, of course, on the heels of the Civil War, which had ended in 1865. Chisholm died in 1868, but he reportedly never drove cattle on the Chisholm Trail. Nevertheless, the trail was named in his honor and continued under heavy operation until around 1885, when an extension of the railroad (the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe) essentially supplanted the trail when the railway was completed from the north down to the town of Purcell, Oklahoma. (The scene from the 1946 movie The Harvey Girls in which Judy Garland performs the song “On the Athison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” captures the excitement and the great mobility that the railroads provided at that time. Remember, we didn’t have Interstate Highways or even Route 66 back then! You can see the movie scene here: 