The convention of the women at the New Orleans general convention in 1923 brought large and interested delegations. There the women’s department of beautification was started, the first interstate movement for billboard removal and roadside beautificatior. This movement gathered headway slowly for it was all pioneering work. During this period Mrs. J. T. Smith removed advertising signs, and also secured from the various state attorney generals a °° riuuua. m statement of road advertising laws established. Tv,I (ylese proved few and of litt'r • was called Iron I.-. months later he was called from I ' «w -ana oi net Washington to the dedication of I va ue thon l and a proposed la __________________________________________________________________ director, reports 1,000 more trees heir.,. t_ olanted in the El Paso valley; two of $7,000,000 and another $30.000.-1 years ago the first 1,000 was plant-000 have gone into resort hotels Ied- Mrs- R- G- Rafferty, the Midland other private developments.' sissiPPi director, is rallying th3 That Gulf of Mexico shore line is women ancI Ule civic organize. -becoming a foremost resort se.- tlons for landscaping and plant-tion. • ing across Mississippi. Miss Esther March 26-27-23. 1923. a conven- Bannin=- Alabama director, has |-tion was held at New Orleans p'aced informing signs and they iwith delegates present from Flor- pIan 10 follow behind the road ida to California. That conven- bulld®rs wUh beautification. Tn tion was planned as another rally “ T exas> Mrs. E. Clinton Mu- -J of the forces that would have (o ray director. Houston city and L<~ 'put over the big bridges, seawalls I berty count-v have Plans for b»au-| and pavement between New Or-j tlfyin° those new boulevards, leans and Pensacola if the high- The San Antonio women under way was to connect 'across the- ^ls’ BoleR concentrated on tho continent. New Orleans to Pen- wideninS an£l beautifying of the I sacola embraced the “orphan sec- load w°stward to Boerne as the tions” of four states. The bridges! ^lst steP to foster a 100 foot and causeways alone would boulevard into the Hill coun'.'-y. 30 miles in that short sector. That Many thousands of miles ol traveling, at their personal expense, is to the credit of these women. Eastward to the Atlantic, westward to the Pacific, they have carried their gospel of a broa-l and beautiful highway, and of the revival of the old history and the preservation of the old works r.f re heroic pioneers of centuries |ago. Their work is not complete^. They have been blazing new' oaths for civic effort. was drawn and introduced in the Texas legislature and also sent to others interested over the United States. The principles of that proposed law are today generally recognized as the basis for roadside advertising control. Under the direction of Mrs Henry Drought the zero stone, a prehistoric boulder, was placed at San Antonio's old Spanish center of trails and surveys near San Fernando cathedral, and this San Antonio stone started the move • ment at Saint Augustine that lead to the monument and international celebration there, including three days of old Spanish pagean • try. Under Mrs. F. W. Sorell as national director the women’s work | was extended to other states. Mrs. H. A. Moos, her successor, reports today in various sections the at • tractive Old Spanish Trail signing, and tree planting and landscaping arc in progress. Mrs. T. W. Lanier', the West Texas ^Hslate.' highway departments tod1- ; ^HeCQ'gnize this highway as of pri-^■mary Importance. During this eastern work the ^^^■Florida confusions had been ■ cleared away. Manager Ayres al -^^Btended the Dixie Highway assoe-- ^Ha 1 ion convention at Jacksonville. ^^B.May 26-27. 1922, and there with ■ those delegates, and with the Florida road department officials ^■conflicting highway promotions ^^Hwcrr reduced to an orderly under-standing and Old Spanish Trail recognition across Florida to Sain,' ■ Augustine was established. Tw;, months later he was called frovi Washington to the dedication of ^B the million dollar Victory bridge ■ across the Apalachicola river. In ^B March. 1926, he was called to-M;.vVi, ■ ianna. Florida, where at a state-t wide meeting completing the Flot-j' ■ ida paving and bridges was an-^^Blhorized. By 1929 Florida becarr. ^■fhe first Old Spanish Trail state ^^■to be all paved; this included sev- ■ on miles ol new concrete bridge ^BThc Florida people were very a ■- ■ live in founding the trail movc-^H ment and have been leaders an , ■ friends in the development work ^H thru all the years. ■ Redemption of Mississippi Gulf Coast I At the Mobile conference It was j ■ officially stated a first class nigfi- ■ way could not be financed along the Gulf of Mexico. A seawall ■ costly pavement, and eight mile; of waterways to be bridged, seen.- j ■ ida prohibitive cost. The Wash- | ' B ington declarations changed this I * B attitude and that sector was des- 1 Bignated a primary highway. To s B day a completed seawall, a paved ' B boulevard and concrete bridges 1 B along that coast represent a co d H of $7,000,000 and another $30,000.- y ■ 000 have gone into resort hotels s Hand other private developments.'s ■ That Gulf of Mexico shore line is " I becoming a foremost resort se.-I tion. I March 26-27-28. 1923. a conven- ^ ■ -Hon was held at New Orleans p'. ■with delegates present from Flor- ’ B’ida to California. That conven- ’ I tion was planned as another rally ■ of the forces that would have (o ’a 'put over the big bridges, seawalls ..‘j and pavement between New Or-i leans and Pensacola if the high-j M way was to connect 'across the ■' continent. New Orleans to Pen-; w sacola embraced the “orphan sec-1 . ‘ tions” of four states. The bridges * and causeways alone would excecc 30 miles in that short sector. That |H convention succeeded in its pur- H pose. The New Orleans conven- B tion also included a convention o*' B women and they started a worn ■ H en’s auxiliary that became help-Iful. ■