Rayne designated official OST city

Mayor Chuck Robichaux announced that Rayne is among the first to be declared an “Official Old Spanish Trail City.”
The declaration is the result of the sponsored participation of Rayne representatives at the recent OST Centennial Celebration and Reenactment held in Mobile, Alabama. Representing Rayne were Dr. and Ms. C. Eddie Palmer and Mr. and Mrs. Gene Royer.
While attending the centennial celebration, Dr. Palmer delivered a talk titled “Searching for the Old Spanish Trail and the Old Spanish Trail Highway.”
The early December meeting marked 100 years since the creation of the Old Spanish Trail Automobile Association. Both the founding meeting and the Centennial Celebration were held in the same hotel in Mobile, the Battle House Renaissance.
The OST Automobile Association was formed as a support and booster organization working to establish a continuous coast-to-coast highway from St. Augustine, Florida to San Diego, California.
This task was accomplished in 1929. Originally demarcated as a route by colorful red, yellow, black, and white markers tacked to fence posts, trees, and telegraph poles, the markers changed to state, U.S., and then Interstate numbers over the years.
Today, in this area, Highway 90 roughly follows the earlier OST.
Charlotte Kahl, of San Antonio, Texas, and chair of the OST 100 group is spearheading the effort to locate the earlier OST roadway across the country and to reenact annual OST meetings held during the years of the formation of the roadway.
Future OST national meetings will be held in such cities as Pensacola, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and San Diego.
In order to maintain status as an “Official OST City” and to promote tourism in the area, the City of Rayne and the Rayne Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture will partner to create an OST Booster Committee designed to acknowledge, celebrate, and promote the historical Old Spanish Trail.
Possible activities include creating and affixing OST logos, placards, roadside signs, and murals along the OST corridor through Rayne, creating OST pictorial travelogs for touring motorists, and promoting car shows featuring OST themes.