Historic preservation is a relatively new movement within the United States. Two significant events in the 1960s contributed greatly to the strength of the movement as we now know it: the demolition of New York’s Pennsylvania Station in 1963 and the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966. Prior to this time, a small group of individuals, organizations and a few enlightened communities existed to preserve and protect a limited number of sites and districts of national importance. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association in the 1850s and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in the 1920s worked to preserve the homes of two of our founding fathers. In 1899 the New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs blocked the quarrying of the scenic palisades along the Hudson River, resulting in the creation of the Palisades Interstate Park in 1900. For most buildings and sites, however, demolition and loss were simply accepted as a consequence of the growth of a thriving republic. Newer, bigger and better had fueled, and would continue to fuel, the prosperity and unbridled optimism of a relatively new nation.

A few groups did recognize historic roads early on. The Daughters of the American Revolution, promoting the National Old Trails Road, placed historical markers and “Madonna of the Trail” statues along the historic National Road and the Santa Fe Trail beginning in 1909 to commemorate the location of the historic routes. In California, groups such as the California Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Native Daughters of the Golden West endorsed the preservation of El Camino Real, and in 1904 formed the El Camino Real Association.