History
King's Highway - Camino Real - Old San Antonio Road
King's Highway - Camino Real - Old San Antonio Road. Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the State of Texas A.D. 1918
Architecture
Kone-Cliett House
Edward Reeves Kone (1848-1933) served from the 1860s as Hays County attorney, sheriff, judge, and education superintendent, and from 1908 to 1914 as state agriculture commissioner. He bought this land on a bluff of the Balcones Fault in 1881 and built his house, a derivative of the Queen Anne style, about 1890. The Kone family sold the house in 1914 to cotton grower and later postmaster Oran W.
History
Kone-Yarbrough House
This Victorian residence with its unusual central chimney was erected in 1886 for the growing family of Sam R. Kone, Jr. (1855-1941), a successful merchant, active Mason, and member of the San Marcos City Council, 1914-15. His wife Laura (Smith) (1859-1937) taught art at Coronal Institute before her marriage. Educator florence Kone (1883-1971), one of six Kone children, lived here 80 years. Mr.
History
Kyle
Two antebellum settlements, the Blanco or Nance community (7 mi. W) and Mountain City (3 mi. W), provided the early population and business for Kyle after the city was founded in 1880. Fergus Kyle, for whom the town was named, and the family of David Moore donated 200 acres of land for a townsite when the International & Great Northern Railroad built a line from Austin to San Antonio.
History
Kyle Auction Oak
When Kyle was founded along the International & Great Northern Railroad in 1880, this giant liveoak was site of a public auction of town lots. The railway was given 200 acres of land by Fergus Kyle (1834-1905), state representative for whom the community was named, and the family of David E. Moore. Free rides were provided to the townsite on auction day, Oct.
History
Kyle Cemetery
Many people instrumental in the early development of this area are buried in Kyle Cemetery. Colonel Clairborne Kyle, one of Hays County's original settlers, buried his adopted son, willie Parks, here in 1849.
Transport
Kyle Depot
As the International and Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) extended from Austin to San Antonio, the Kyle and Moore families granted 200 acres for its roadbed, depot and proposed townsite. On September 10, 1880, the I&GN tracks reached the makeshift canvas tent depot of Kyle. By the end of that November, the temporary depot was replaced with a permanent structure.
History
Kyle Family Pioneer Cemetery
Known locally as the Old Slave Cemetery or Kyle Slave Cemetery, the Kyle Family Pioneer Cemetery lay unnoticed and forgotten for many years, tucked to the right of the entrance to the Kyle Community Cemetery. The cemetery is the final resting place for some of Claiborne Kyle's slaves and former slaves, many with ephemeral markers no longer visible.
History
Lex Word and the Bon Ton
For generations this site was the commercial and social heart of the community. Wallace Alexander "Lex" Word (1896-1982) was born in Kyle to William Alexander and Mamie (Sledge) Word, but tragically his father died two months before Lex was born. After graduating from Kyle High School in 1913 as the only male in a class of six, Lex worked in his uncle's bank in Mathis.
Architecture
Lloyd Gideon Johnson House
Local banker Lloyd G. Johnson and his wife Katherine built this house as a residence for their family in 1919-1920. the house, designed by noted architect Atlee B. Ayres, combines informal elements of the Mediterranean style with classical detailing and a formal, symmetrical plan. San Marcos Masonic Lodge No. 342 bought the house in 1937.
History
McElroy-Severn House (Stagecoach House and Onion Creek Post Office)
The complex that includes the McElroy-Severn House/Stagecoach House and Onion Creek Post Office occupies a 51-acre tract of land on a high bluff above a branch leading into Onion Creek, about a quarter mile east of Buda. The post office and stagecoach house served the area's residents and people traveling on the old San Antonio road beginning in 1875.
History
McGehee Crossing
The Camino Real, also known as the Old San Antonio Road and the King's Highway, followed a route from Nacogdoches to the Rio Grande. Louis Juchereau de St. Denis (1676-1744) traveled the route to establish trade between the French in Louisiana and the Spanish of Coahuila province on the Rio Grande in 1714.
History
O. T. Brown Home
Built in 1878, this residence was purchased in 1882 by Georgia native O. T. Brown (1836-1916) and his wife Elizabeth (Belvin) (b. 1854), the daughter of a prominent local Methodist minister and educator, the Rev. R. H. Belvin. Brown, a Civil War veteran and a former prisoner of war, became a successful San Marcos attorney and civic leader.
History
Old D. A. Young Building
First permanent store in Kyle. Builder, David Alexander Young (1841-1883), moved with parents to Texas from Tennessee, 1857. D. A. Young, one of 179 Hays County men in Civil War, was wounded fighting in Woods' 32nd Cavalry. When International & Great Northern Railway came into Kyle, Young and wife, Fannie Elizabeth, moved here from Mountain City.
History
Old Fish Hatchery Office Building
This structure, erected 1894-95, originally served as the office building for the San Marcos National fish Hatchery, established in 1893 near the head of the San Marcos River. The facility closed in 1965 and the site was given to Southwest Texas State University.
History
Old Storey Home
Erected by James Gray Storey (1830-1911), noted citizen of Hays County. He served as district clerk 1856-61; captain Co. A, 32nd Texas Cavalry, Civil War; county judge 1865-67; member of State Legislature 1880-83; was county clerk when he and wife Sarah built house, 1890. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970
History
Peal-Pleasant Valley Cemetery
Twenty-three known graves lie within the fence of the present 1.7-acre peal-Pleasant Valley cemetery. The burials along with the foundations of the Pleasant Valley Baptist church and Valley Ford school are the only remnants of an early Hays county community. Settlement began with John Bennett Peal (1834-1888), a North Carolina native who arrived in Texas before 1885.
History
Phillips Cemetery
Early settlers John and Nancy Phillips deeded land at this site to the Methodist Episcopal Church, So, in 1880. A small church was built and was dedicated on March 13, 1880. As was customary, members of the community were buried near the church. The earliest documented burial is that of B. G. Sorrell, who died on March 13, 1880.
History
Pitts Cemetery
John Drayton Pitts was born at sea on August 26, 1798, during the voyage of his parents, John and Jane Pitts, from England to Charleston, South Carolina. They moved to Georgia during the War of 1812, and John D. married Eliza Permelia Daves in April 1819. John D. Pitts was elected to the Georgia Legislature in 1841, but later moved to Grimes County, Texas.
Military
Post San Marcos
The Republic of texas Congress in Dec. 1838 called for military roads and forts from Red River to the Nueces. A road from Austin, joining El Camino Real near St. Mark's Springs, was designed for rapid communication between San Antonio and the Capital. Post San Marcos was to be constructed at the springs to safeguard travel. Adj. Gen.
History
Ragsdale-Jackman-Yarbrough House
Built in 1868 by Peter C. Ragsdale (1810-1882), veteran of the army of the Republic of Texas. After his death, his wife, Elmira, operated a school for girls until the house sold in 1891 to William T. (Uncle Billy) Jackman (1851-1939), trail driver to Kansas (1870s-80s), sheriff of Hays County (1892-1912), postmaster of San Marcos (1913-1920), president of Trail Drivers Association (1931-1937).
Architecture
Robert Early McKie House
This house was built by local contractor H. C. Leffingwell for Robert Early McKie (1875-1948), San Marcos native, attorney, and descendant of area pioneers. Constructed in 1906 for $2,000, the one-story wood frame house reflects the Italianate style in its tall windows, and the Colonial Revival style in its porch columns.
History
Robert Hixon Belvin Home
A portion of this structure was built about 1859 as one of the first schools in San Marcos. the Rev. Robert H. Belvin, president (1870-75) of Coronal Institute, a Methodist school, converted it into a home for his family in 1875. the Rev. J. W. Vest, 1890-1901 owner, enlarged the house. Bought in 1903 by Prof. J. s. brown, of the first faculty of Southwest Texas State University.
History
San Marcos Cemetery
This cemetery lies within the Mexican land grant acquired by Thomas J. Chambers in 1834. Chambers died in 1865 and in 1867 his widow, Abbey, sold 3,000 acres containing this site to H. N. Duble at an estate sale held in Galveston. A portion of the cemetery site was purchased by Freedman Peter Roberts in Galveston in 1868.
History
San Marcos Mill Tract
Located on land that was granted to Juan M. de Veramendi in 1831, this tract was purchased by edward Burleson (1793-1851) in 1844. A native of North Carolina, burleson moved to Texas in 1830, settling first in Bastrop county. He commanded forces at the battle of San Jacinto and later participated in the Cherokee War in East Texas.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
