Bandera

The tradition of the Texas cowboy originated from northern Mexico with the vaqueros, individuals mounted on horseback who herded livestock, mainly cattle, through the open prairie. Read more These men became legends in Bandera County. The City of Bandera became known as a cowboy town for recreation and obtaining supplies. Boys learned how to ride horses and drive cattle at a young age to earn wages on the ranches. The Western Cattle Trail extended from Mexico through Texas and up to the Canadian border and from 1874 to 1894, it is estimated that thirty thousand cowboys drove seven to ten million longhorns and one million horses through the trail using Bandera as a staging area. Local rodeos began in the 1920s when cowboys who worked the ranches started exhibiting their skills during roundups and on cattle drives. Bandera had its first rodeo in 1924 at Mansfield Park, where rodeos have continued through the years. The Buck and the Bruce ranches took in summer guests holding rodeos as entertainment. Others that followed were the Dixie Dude, Bennie's U-Bar, and the Twin Elm ranches. Bandera cowboys became famous by earning world champion titles and being inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1938, Toots Mansfield was Bandera's first world champion in calf roping, earning this title on six additional occasions. He later became the first president of the National Rodeo Cowboy Association which was organized in 1945. In 1948, a San Antonio newspaper referenced Bandera as the "Cowboy Capital of the World." Since then, this title has been mentioned in numerous newspapers and magazines throughout the world. (2013)

The Great Western Cattle Trail (also known as the Old Texas Trail and the Dodge City Trail) was the longest of all 19th century trails used to drive cattle from Texas to distant markets. Read more In 1874, Capt. John T. Lytle and other cowboys led 3,500 cattle from south Texas to Fort Robinson, Nebraska. This path became the Great Western Cattle Trail, one of the most frequented routes for driving cattle across the country. Although the trail was less well-known than the Chisholm Trail, the Great Western Cattle Trail carried cattle for longer than all other trails. Over time, more than seven to ten million longhorns, one million horses and 30,000 cowboys used the trail, according to conservative estimates. The Great Western trail began near Bandera and extended north through Dodge City, Kansas to Ogallala, Nebraska, the Dakotas and into Canada. Bandera served as an ideal staging and departure point because of its plentiful water and grass for cattle. The cattle market fulfilled the Northeast's high demand for beef, created cattle companies, enterprises and towns along its path and helped revitalize Texas' post-Civil War economy. Between 1855 and 1890, more than 950 cattle marks and brands were registered in Bandera County. The Great Western Cattle Trail began to lose popularity in 1885, when diseased cattle from Texas prompted many northern states to ban the importation of Texan cattle in warm months, and when increased barbed wire fencing limited cattle drive mobility. The last known drive on the trail occurred when John Rufus Blocker traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota in 1893. In 2004, the Great Western Cattle Trail Association placed its first marker in an effort to place cement markers every six miles along the route. (2014)

First permanent courthouse for county, which was organized in 1856, but used makeshift quarters for offices and courtrooms until this building was erected 1890-91. Read more Style is local version of the Second Renaissance Revival. White limestone for the structure was quarried locally. B.F. Trester of San Antonio drew the plans--for $5. Contractors: Ed Braden & Sons. Interior was remodeled and a wing added in 1966. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1972.

A Bandera County Deputy Sheriff, Capt. Jack Phillips, set out alone on Dec. 29, 1876, on an official visit to Sabinal Canyon. Indians attacked him at Seco Canyon Pass, 22 miles southwest of Bandera. Read more Phillips raced for the nearest settlement. When his horse was shot from under him, he ran for half a mile before being killed. A mail carrier and a couple on their way to the county seat to be married found his body later that day. Ironically, the Indians had been trailed for many miles by Texas Rangers who had turned back in exhaustion just before Phillips was waylaid. (1970, 1975)

Entered the year-old town of Bandera in March, 1854. Leader was Lyman Wight, church elder who had separated from followers of Brigham Young and taken a colony of 250 to Texas in 1846. Read more Settling first in Austin, then Fredericksburg (where they opened grist and saw mills) the group at last established "Mormon Camp" near Bandera on the Medina River. There they built houses with vegetable gardens in between; milled grain; made furniture from native wood to sell in East. In 1858, after Wight's death, the colony dispersed, although a remnant remained in Bandera. (1967)

This winding, 100-mile trail from San Antonio to Kerrville was, during the 19th century, a strategic patrol road traveled by Texas Rangers to protect the surrounding area from hostile Indian attacks. Read more During uneasy pioneer days roads such as this, regularly scouted by Rangers, helped promote early white settlement by strengthening frontier defense. Because Bandera was located midway on the trail and because Bandera Pass, 10 miles north, frequently harbored Indian ambushers, the town became a focal point for Ranger activities along the road. Perhaps the best-known battle to occur on the old route happened in Bandera Pass in the spring of 1841. At that time a company of 40 Texas Rangers, under intrepid Indian fighter Capt. "Jack" Hays, was on a scouting mission in the Guadalupe Mountains. Halfway through the pass, they were suddenly attacked by several hundred wild Comanches who lay hidden in the brush and behind boulders in the narrow gorge. A bloody fight ensued, much of it hand-to-hand combat with Bowie knives; but after their chief was slain, the Indians withdrew and finally escaped. Thus the Rangers and this trail helped remove the Indian menace and open the frontier across Texas. (1968)

Built 1933 to house Western collection of J. Marvin Hunter, Sr. (1880-1957), noted historian, journalist, editor and author. Read more Having lived throughout the west, he settled in Bandera as owner of "New Era", 1921-1934. In 1923 he founded "Frontier Times"--a magazine devoted to history, border tragedy, and pioneer achievement. By 1926 he was adding relics to the museum's Western library. He financed construction of museum by sale of his books. Purchased after his death by Mr. and Mrs. F.B. Doane, it is maintained by Doane Foundation. (1965)

Bandera's early settlers included Lyman Wight's Mormon colony, which arrived in 1854. In 1890, John and Jennie Davenport Miller bought this site from colonists George and Virgine Minear hay. Read more George and early Bandera settler Isaac Berry Langford helped build a home for the Millers, who sold it in 1904 to children of the Hays and Langfords: Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Langford, Jr., and his bride, Mary Emma Hay. The couple added to the house over the years, converting the one-story, l-plan design into a two-story block structure. Frank and Mary were active in the community and donated land across the street for a Mormon church. The long-time Langford family home serves as a reminder of Bandera's early history. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002

Artist John Warren Hunter (1903-93), son of J. Marvin Hunter, was born in Kimble County and known for his scenic depictions of Texas. Read more A 1923 graduate of Bandera High School, he soon began printing the Harper Herald with his wife Lora. After attending the Chicago Art Institute and serving in cartographic services during World War II, he opened the Hunter School of Art in San Antonio. He also taught at the San Antonio Art Institute, becoming dean in 1950. Many of his works, including woodblock and linoleum prints, paintings, commercial illustrations and copper etchings, have been widely collected and displayed in such places as the Smithsonian Institution, White House, Alamo, and San Jacinto Monument. (2007)

Built 1873 for E. Huffmeyer & brother, by B.F. Langford, Sr., contractor; of native stone. Bandera's oldest building. Used over 30 years by W.J. Davenport, Sr., as general store. Damaged by fire, 1936. Read more Restored and remodeled by Thomas F. Boyle. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967.

Bandera's First Bank. On Texas Republic land grant. Hand-cut native rock. Built about 1860. A school, home, shop. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.

Walter and Francis (Adamietz) Ruge created the Bandera Water Works to serve businesses and residences. Read more Walter Trenklebach bought the franchise in 1936, extending the water main to the school and promoting modernization. In 1938, Bandera citizens voted 86 to 1 form a municipal water district, which bought Trenklebach's company and equipment. With federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) funding, capacity was greatly increased. The ew complex included a limestone pump station and operations building, 30-foot-diameter concrete reservoir with 50,000-gallon capacity, and 100-foot steel "tin man" water tower holding 60,000 gallons. Completed by March 1941, the improvements positioned the city for population growth and intensity. Recorded Texas Historical Landmark - 2021.

Built 1880 by members under leadership of B.F. Langford, Sr. Gothic architecture. Hand-cut limestone, with oak timbers. Though enlarged and remodeled, retains original charm. Read more Rev. John Devilbiss (who helped found first Protestant church in San Antonio) held services here 1861. Church organized 1867 by Rev. A.J. Potter; charter members included Rugh, Langford, Stevens Families. Daniel Rugh organized first Sunday school, April 18, 1869. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967.

Polish settlers, who came to Bandera in 1855, built this convent and Catholic school in 1874. All classes, except religion and music, were moved in 1882 to a nearby frame school building. Read more In 1922 a second story was added to the native limestone convent, in which the Sisters lived until a new residence was erected in 1963. The parish school was closed in 1968. Restored in 1971, this structure is now a museum. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1975.

Communities in the 19th century relied on mills to provide lumber, shingles, flour and cloth. Read more Local millers and blacksmiths were integral community members, providing the necessary materials for early development. Stephen F. Austin reported in 1833 that eight mills were operating in his Colony, and during the subsequent two decades, with substantially more settlers coming to Texas, demand for milled products increased dramatically. In 1852, A.M. Milstead, Thomas Odem and P.D. Saner camped on a hill above a supply of cypress in a hairpin curve of the Medina River west of Castroville. There, they chopped cypress shingles by hand. In June of that year, Charles DeMontel, a Castroville mill owner, entered an agreement with John James and John H. Herndon to establish a sawmill and shingle manufacturing operation at the site. DeMontel moved his horse-powered mill from Castroville to the new location, a migrant shingle camp that would grow to be the city of Bandera. In need of settlers and workers, the James, Montel & Company recruited a group of immigrants newly arrived to Texas from Upper Silesia, Poland in 1854. The recruits, consisting of sixteen families, helped construct a dam across the river and dig a millrace along the river from the initial mill at First Street to the site of later mills at Fourteenth Street. As the operation grew, DeMontel acquired land at auction for worker housing. The Bandera mills, which later included a flour mill, provided shingles for much of the region's construction, including U.S. Army installations at Fort Inge, Camp Wood, Camp Verde, Fort Lincoln and Fort Concho. Major flooding in April and August 1900 washed away the mills, and the first industry of Bandera became just a memory. (2006)

Georgia stonemason Henry White is credited with building this structure in 1868. In 1877, a store occupied the first floor and the Masonic Lodge met on the top floor. Read more County commissioners bought the building that year to provide space for county offices, then housed in rented quarters. The county retained ownership of the structure after a larger courthouse was erected in 1890. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979

Built 1881. Local stone, cypress floors used. Housed county offices until 1890. Used 57 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.

This home was constructed in the 1870s by Georgia stonemason James Henry White for Charles F. Schmidtke (1839-1884). Read more A native of Germany, Schmidtke was an early Bandera merchant, grist miller, and lumber mill operator. White's grandson J. Calvin Callahan (d. 1958), the owner of a feed store and poultry business, purchased the property in 1927. The limestone house, with influences of Greek Revival styling, remained in the Callahan family until the 1970s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981.

The Bandera Cemetery has served the town of Bandera since the 1850s. The site's oldest burial dates to 1851, before the town's establishment several years later. Read more Many former community leaders of the area are buried in the cemetery. In addition, there are a number of veterans interred here, some involved in military conflicts dating to the Mexican American War (1846-1848) and earlier. Members of fraternal organizations are also among those represented here. Ownership of the land can be traced back to Hendrick Arnold, a free African American who was a guide and spy suring the Texas Revolution. He joined the revolt with his father-in-law, Erastus (Deaf) Smith, who led the celebrated spy company of which Arnold was part. After several transactions over the years, the section of Arnold's land which became the burial ground was deeded to the Bandera Cemetery Association, which seven women organized in 1907. Today, the burial ground continues to serve the community as an active cemetery and remains an important part of Bandera's history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006

Freedman and soldier Hendrick Arnold (1804-1849) was awarded land following the Texas Revolution for his participation in the Siege of Bexar and the Battle of San Jacinto. Read more He received six surveys in what was then Bexar county, including this property in Bandera county. Thinking of his family, Hendrick gave land to his father, grandmother and brother, Holly Arnold. Holly Arnold lived on this land with his wife, Mary B. Arnold (d. 1897). Mary is buried in what was known as the Arnold Cemetery on the Holly Arnold Headright Land Grant. Holly's death and birth records are unknown. Over the years, the cemetery on the Arnold Survey served as a burial ground for area residents. In 1922, one acre of the Hendrick Arnold Survey no. 59 was recorded in deeds as colored burial ground, used primarily by African American families. The first burial in the cemetery was that of John Benson, born in 1885 and died on April 4, 1890. From 1884 to 1944, twelve deaths of African Americans were recorded in county records: John Benson, (unknown) Wellencrane (d. 1890), John Coats (d. 1903), Leonor Benson (d. 1905), Maria Jackson (d. 1912), Baby Cooksey (d. 1917), C.D. Cooksey (d. 1920), Jeff Cooksey, Jr. (d. 1924), Andrew Jackson (d. 1925), Mary Jackson (d. 1925), Everett Robinson (d. 1926) and D.W. Leonard (d. 1944). Many of their birth dates remain unknown. Other burials may exist but after years of neglect, headstones were damaged and potential temporary markers were not found. Burial record research and site surveys have uncovered dozens of unmarked grave sites, a tangible reminder of the pioneers of the area and their descendants. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY ' 2016

Colonel John Henry "Jack" Lapham (1885-1956) was a son of a co-founder of the Texas Company (later Texaco). He was living in San Antonio by 1920 and had many business interests. Read more Jack, his wife, Julie Edna (Capen), and their four children all had pilots' licenses and were known as "The Flying Laphams." Jack's second wife, Lucy Jane (Thomas), was also an accomplished pilot. Jack Lapham, a WWI and WWII veteran, was a retired Army Air Corps colonel with a dream to create the first "dude ranch airpark" in the United States. In 1945, he bought a 486-acre ranch near Bandera from Dr. J.O. and Ethel Butler and established the Flying L Ranch. By late 1946, the site featured an airstrip, villas, lounges, a pool and flight training school for WWII veterans. From the air, the villas were designed to appear as planes flying in formation. The Pilots' Lounge was designed as a two-story concrete block quonset hut trimmed with handmade oak arches and cedar siding with a concrete roof. The second story has a horseshoe-shaped balcony with wooden floors and handmade oak railing and stairs. A large southeast-facing window provided a view of the landing strip and grounds. A May 1947 "Fashion Rodeo" at the Flying L Ranch was featured in several magazines, including an article in LIFE. Photographer Cornell Capa captured the event with more than 100 pictures of the fashion show hosted by Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus. Col. Lapham's dream of establishing a series of similar properties never materialized, and he and three others were killed in a 1956 plane crash near the airpark. Several national brands including Coca-Cola and aircraft manufacturers have filmed commercials here and guests have ranged from families to celebrities. Western movie star John Wayne stayed at the ranch when he was filming The Alamo near Brackettville in 1959-60. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2016

Settled 1867 by former New Yorker, Judge Edward M. Ross, who had fought in Mexican war, then served in 1850's at Camp Verde, Army's camel post near Bandera. House is hand-cut native stone. Read more Daughter Kate Ross, wife of Ebenezer Buck, of a prominent pioneer family, inherited ranch in 1901. Offering fine foods and hospitality, the Bucks in 1920 established this as Bandera's first guest ranch, continuing it until their deaths in 1941. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966

Located on the original homestead of Bandera County pioneer Amasa Clark (1825-1927), this small cemetery contains the graves of several generations of the Clark family. Read more The first recorded burial was that of Clark's first wife, Eliza Jane, in 1883. A veteran of the Mexican War and the first permanent settler of Bandera, Amasa Clark operated an orchard and nursery at this site for many years. He lived to age 101. His grave is located here along with those of his first wife, Eliza; his second wife, Lucy; and a number of his nineteen children. (1990)

In 1879, the Rev. Irvin Jones (1825-1903) deeded two acres of land on his homestead to the Utopia Methodist Church for use as a cemetery. Read more His wife, Elizabeth, had been buried in the center of the two-acre site upon her death in 1886. Early settlers of the Taylor and Utopia communities are buried in the Jones Cemetery, as are several Civil War veterans. Others interred here include Mexican War veteran and Texas Ranger Ben Highsmith and the Rev. O.A. Fisher, an early area Methodist minister. George Barker, a teacher credited with giving "Utopia" its name, is also buried here. (1985)

Founded 1883, named for Henry Taylor. He, Gid Thompson and other early settlers gave land and founded school. First trustees were D. Harper, H. Kennedy, H. Taylor. Read more In the first one-room frame building, desks and recitation benches were home made. After it burned, two more were built before consolidation with Utopia, 1937. Miss Sue Harper, Frank Robinson, and "Miss Mattie" Noel listed among outstanding teachers. This was community center; weekly Literary Society, Sunday school, church met here. This marker given by and in memory of former pupils. (1967)

These log cribs were constructed by the family of John Travis Walker and his wife, Mariah (Yoast), soon after they settled on the surrounding 400 acres in 1897. Read more Their function was to store feed for livestock, mostly sheep and goats, draft horses or mules, and a milk cow. The craftsmanship suggests they were built by members of the Walker family and friends. The crib on the west side was built first and shows more skillful hand-hewn qualities than the other, which uses larger, round logs. The construction illustrates the log building techniques brought by Anglo settlers from the Upper Southern states (NC, TN, VA, KY, WV) to Central Texas in the nineteenth century. Common features found in structures from both regions include rough-hewn logs with unfilled spaces between them, single-saddle notches cut with an axe on the corners to form an interlocking joint with a similarly notched log set at right angles to it, pole-rafter gabled roofs fastened at the apex with wooden pins, mortised rafter plates, and hand carved rafter pins. The logs are mostly cedar with some cypress. Larger logs are on the bottom, setting on flat, stacked limestone. Every task was accomplished by hand with muscle power from the walker family and their animals. Within a hundred steps of these cribs, Walker built a shed for shearing, a smoke house and a clapboard home where he died in 1938. In 1940, his heirs sold the property to Marvin A. And Lucille S. Hatfield, in whose family it has remained. The log cribs are good representatives of vernacular log outbuildings of their period and region. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2016

Special Texas Ranger, Deputy Sheriff, Justice of Peace, Bandera County. World War II shipboard security officer for chemical company. Also Uvalde alderman, county clerk, chief of police. Read more Member Internationl Association of Chiefs of Police. President Texas Chapter, F.B.I. National Academy Associates. A founder and president Southwest Texas Peace Officers Association. Married first Mary Etta McCain; second, Avis W. Adcock. Recorded, 1968.

Built for Fabian L. Hicks, a county official and Texas Ranger who styled it after his family home in North Carolina. Building is stone and cypress wood off ranch. Hardware came by ox wagon from San Antonio. Read more This replaced log cabin family occupied in 1855. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965

Celebrated Indian pass known from the earliest days of Spanish settlement. Identified with many a frontier fight and many a hostile inroad. Read more Old Ranger trail from the Medina to the Guadalupe River and the United States Army route between frontier posts followed this route through the mountains.

Named for Policarpo Rodriguez (1829-1914), Texas Ranger, Army Scout and Guide; 1858 Privilege Creek settler. Read more Converted here to Methodist faith, built with his own hands, in 1882, chapel of native stone, where he and others have preached. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.

John B. Spettel, Jr. (1853-1909), through partnerships with Jacob Koenig, his brother Joseph Spettel and his brother-in-law Louis Schorp, became a successful area cattleman. Read more By 1881 he and his bride Theresa Leibold (1854-1941) were living in this home a mile south of Mitchell's Crossing on the Medina River, now under the waters of Medina Lake. Featuring elaborate ornamentation, the Spettel Riverside House became a popular stop for travelers on the road between Castroville and Bandera. Following completion of the Medina Dam in 1912, it was moved to this site. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981