A Trip to the Oak Grove Stage Station - Built in 1858

Travel in the mid 1800s was slow, and getting mail to California took along time. With the transcontinental railroad still in the planning stages, in 1857 the US Post Office awarded a contract to John Butterfield to deliver mail between St. Louis, MO and San Francisco, CA. Thus the Butterfield Overland Mail was born.

Typical stage delivery of mail in those days took up to 52 days to go from San Antonio, TX to San Diego, CA, but the Butterfield Overland Mail was able to get from Missouri to San Francisco in 25 days. They did this by running the stagecoaches day and night, and taking a more Southern route to avoid the snow and high mountains.

Along the route around 170 stations were used, most are gone. In eastern San Diego County you can find the Oak Grove Stage Station still sitting there after all these years. This station was built for the Butterfield Overland Mail in 1858, and after the route shut down in 1861, it became a hospital for the Union Army's Camp Wright. Over the next 130 years it would play an important part in its community, serving as a tavern, hotel, a post office, and a general store.

In this video we travel to Oak Grove, CA on Highway 79 to visit the Oak Grove Stage Station, what is said to be the last remaining station in the west that was built for the Butterfield Overland Mail.

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