The Warren County Historical Society will host a program on “The Boone’s Lick Road,” presented by Doris Keeven-Franke on May 29 at 6 p.m.

Keeven-Franke will share the important history of Boone’s Lick Road, its towns, the people who lived along it and what makes it so fascinating today. 

With the Louisiana Purchase and westward expansion in 1804, Americans would flood the new frontier by using early trails that the Buffalo and Osage nation had used for years. By the time Missouri became a state in 1821, the residents were clamoring for surveyors to lay out better roadways for stagecoaches and caravans. 

The “Big Road” as it was called by early travelers soon became the route used to reach the Boone’s Lick region, the Santa Fe Trail and other points further west. 

Originally used by the Boone and Morrison families to reach their all-important salt lick in Howard County, this program explains the reliance by early settlers on salt and how it was made. 

Soon Missouri was filled with thousands of families from the east and immigrants from Europe, flooding its valleys. 

The stories of the people who settled the towns and cities along it, sharing the difficulties our ancestors faced in establishing Missouri. As the state grew, so did the history. 

As she shares stories of its earliest residents, those who traveled it and those who built towns along it, attendees can learn about all of the culture and heritage that made Missouri home. She will explain what remains today of Missouri’s first major roadway, explaining its earliest route and how it changed according to society’s needs. This program is filled with maps, photos and traces of the places and cultures that still share the stories of the road today.