IS 44 runs along the Southern border of Waynesville, while IS 44 Business bypass, SR H and SR 17, which was old Route 66, run through the town.

Around 1832 an early arrival to the area made his home on the banks of the Roubidoux, near the Big Spring and on the Kickapoo Trace. A couple of years later two settlers who became landowners donated the land to build the city. The land was laid out by the county surveyor and the lots were sold. The first postmaster named the post office after his hero from the Revolutionary War, “Mad Anthony” Wayne. Roubidoux park has a water spray pad, ball fields, pavilions, playground equipment and open recreational areas which run along the Roubidoux Creek. The land for Laughlin Park was donated by the family of a local farmer in his honor of Roy Laughlin. The park has an interesting history. It was a the area of a Cherokee encampment during the Trail of Tears migration of 1837-1839 and as a result has been certified by the National Park Service as a site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. The Trail of Tear migration resulted from the forceful removal of the Cherokee people from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee to live in Indian Territory which is now Oklahoma. the , ed

Hon. David M. Lowe