Florence was a hub on early cross-country routes
by Mark Cowling | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune
An old newspaper ad touts stagecoach travel between Phoenix and Globe./Pinal County Historical Society Museum
It was far away from the famous Route 66, but Florence was still a stop on other popular transcontinental routes as cross-country travel by car became more feasible and popular 100 years ago.
H. Christine Reid, museum manager, presented “Wagons and Trains, Buses and Planes,” a history of transportation in Florence, Sunday at the Pinal County Historical Society Museum. The museum displayed an exhibit this summer of Florence’s transportation history to celebrate the State Transportation Board holding a meeting here. The exhibit — which will remain up for a few more days at the museum at 715 S. Main St. — grew into Sunday’s program.
A route known as the Old Spanish Trail – at first just a route from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, but eventually connecting the east coast to the west — included Florence as a major stop in a 1915 map.
