A large portion of Old Wire Road — the section from Mission Boulevard north almost to Old Missouri Road — is where the first telegraph line into Arkansas and Fayetteville was strung in 1860, connecting communication from St. Louis to Fayetteville and soon after to Fort Smith.
The route originally followed part of the Military Road built in the late 1820s and 1830s, also running from St. Louis to Fort Smith.
These latter-day routes also very likely followed the earlier Osage paths through the region.