Butterfield Overland Mail in Missouri - 1858-1861

The road past Ashmore's is a national historic trail now. Congress passed the Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail Designation Act in 2022, and the trail, designated in 2023, follows the old mail road for 3,292 miles across eight states from its Missouri end, where westbound coaches set out from Tipton. The National Park Service administers it and is to write a comprehensive administration plan. The act carries an unusual clause: the trail may not hinder any energy transmission project. In Missouri it follows the Tipton to Fort Smith division of the old line, the stretch this relay station served.

What the plaque says

Butterfield Overland Mail in Missouri - 1858-1861 The John C. Ashmore Relay Station in northwest Christian County stood in Polk Township, 152 1/2 miles from the Tipton Terminus. It was the only station in the county. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri, 1958

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wilson's Creek National Battlefield — 3.4 mi
  The farm valley southwest of Springfield where the first major Civil War battle west of the Mississippi was fought on August 10, 1861, and where Nathaniel Lyon became the first Union general killed.
• History Museum on the Square — 12 mi
  Springfield's history museum on Park Central Square, on Route 66 itself, with a gallery on how the highway got its number here in 1926 and another on the Osage, Kickapoo and Delaware.

More markers nearby

• Springfield — 5.4 mi
• Christian County — 13 mi
• Galena — 18 mi
• Butterfield Overland Mail in Missouri - 1858-1861 — 21 mi