Madonna of the Trail

One of twelve identical monuments stands here, a pioneer mother in bronze-toned stone facing the road west. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed the series in 1928 and 1929 along the National Old Trails Road, the coast-to-coast auto route from Maryland to California, honoring the women who crossed the continent by wagon. St. Louis sculptor August Leimbach cast each ten-foot, five-ton figure with a baby on her arm and a child at her skirts. Springerville's marks Arizona's place on the pioneer road the automobile age later inherited.

What the plaque says

Madonna of the Trail. This 10 foot high, 5 ton statue cast by St. Louis sculptor August Leimbach is one of 12 identical monuments to the bold spirit of the pioneers erected in 1928-29 along the National Old Trails Road from Maryland to California.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Casa Malpais — 0.2 mi
  The Mogollon great house on the lava, and the catacombs sealed back shut
• Mount Baldy — 22 mi
  Dzil Ligai Si'an, the sacred White Mountain, and the summit you stop short of

More markers nearby

• Becker's Transcontinental Garage — steps away
• El Rio Theatre — steps away
• Baca Home — steps away
• Arizona Cooperative Mercantile Institution — steps away