The Ozark Trail grew from the organization of the Ozark Trails Association in 1913 by W.H. "Coin" Harvey, who sought to bring tourists to Monte Ne, Arkansas, but also shared a broader vision with other good-roads advocates for community growth and prosperity through a system of marked roads linking towns, cities, and states. Financed by five-dollar yearly memberships and donations, the effort encouraged road development and marked routes in seven states. Travelers were guided by a uniform system of telephone obelisks bearing compass points toward cities and other destinations, and the locally built and maintained road network carried travel from St. Louis, Missouri, through Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to El Paso, Texas, and on to New Mexico, where a distinctive obelisk marked its junction with the Santa Fe Trail. In 1926, much of the Ozark Trail was absorbed into U.S. Highway 66 as the federal numbered highway system was introduced, and the obelisks gradually fell into disrepair and disappeared.