Madonna of the Trail
1010 Euclid Avenue,
Upland, California
91786
The National Old Trails Road was established in 1912 and consisted of 3,096 miles going all the way from Baltimore, Maryland to Los Angeles, California, passing through twelve different states. To celebrate the spirit of pioneer women in the United States, the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) commissioned a series of identical monuments to place along the road.
Conceived by Arlene B. Nichols Moss of DAR, twelve identical monuments were sculpted by August Leimbach, who was paid $1000 for each statues. One monument was made for each of the twelve states the road passed through. The statues were made out of crushed marble, stone, cement, Missouri granite, and lead ore. Tehy are eighteen feet high, with a ten foot tall pioneer mother mounted on a base. The mother holds a rifle, a small baby in her left arm, and has a small boy clutching her right leg. The twelve monuments were dedicated in 1928 and 1929. From 1926, the president of the National Old Trails Road Association was future President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. He helped the DAR choose a site for each monument and even attended every dedication ceremony.
California's monument is located in Upland, east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County. It was built in 1929 and dedicated on February 1st, 1929.
Madonna of the Trail
NSDAR Memorial
to the
Pioneer Mothers
of the
Covered Wagon Days
The only thing originally different about each monument was the inscription on the right side of the statue. California's monument reads thus:
This trail
trod by the padres
in Spanish days
became under Mexican rule
The road connecting
San Bernardino
and Los Angeles
Later the American Post Road.
Much of the National Old Trails Road from Las Vegas, New Mexico (note, not Las Vegas, Nevada) to Los Angeles, California eventually became part of Route 66. Upland is one of two Madonna of the Trail monuments along Route 66, the other being in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The twelve locations of the monuments are:
- Bethesda, Maryland
- Beallsville, Pennsylvania
- Wheeling, West Virginia
- Springfield, Ohio
- Richmond, Indiana
- Vandalia, Illinois
- Lexington, Missouri
- Council Grove, Kansas
- Lamar, Colorado
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Springerville, Arizona
- Upland, California
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Outside References:
- Route 66: America's Longest Small Town (2017) by Hinckley, Jim, p: 146 - 147
- Route 66 Adventure Handbook (2017) by Knowles, Drew, p: 340, 437
First Created: 2021-04-17
Last Edited: 2021-04-17
