Nature
San Marcos Springs
Pouring forth millions of gallons of clear, icy water daily, these springs feed the san Marcos River and the 1,380-square-mile area which it drains. The immense springs rise at the Balcones Escarpment, a geologic fault line which slices across the state, separating upland from lowland Texas.
History
San Marcos-Blanco Cemetery
In 1893 five trustees of the newly formed San Marcos and Blanco Cemetery Association purchased 10.62 acres of land from w. O. and Leonora Hutchison. The trustees were Henry Richardson, Luckey McQueen, Wyatt Newman, James Langdon and Miles Bowes.
History
Sanders-Grosgebauer House
Built on historic San Antonio Street (originally the stagecoach road to San Antonio) by S. H. and Annie Sanders about 1913, this house was subsequently purchased by Albert N. and Rosa Grosgebauer in 1919. Lyndon B. Johnson was frequently a dinner guest here during his stay at the local college. This house represents a good example of an American foursquare design.
Nature
Sink Springs
An important element in the development of San Marcos, the Sink Springs are a part of a system of springs in the area which feed the San Marcos River. The flow of the springs is forced by artesian pressure through the San Marcos fault.
History
Site of Hays County's First Public Building
Early San Marcos settlers erected log house here in 1847. Of elm, cedar and cypress, and built for church and school, the cabin had a floor of dirt, later one of puncheons (split logs). It was used as courthouse after Hays County was created 1848. County and district courts met in the building until 1861. Presbyterian and Baptist churches were organized here. Nearby was a stagecoach stop.
Industry & Science
Site of San Marcos National Fish Hatchery
(First Federal fish hatchery in Texas) Established in 1893 on the 25-acre tract known as the W. D. Wood place. In early years the fish produced here were used to stock streams and ponds for sport purposes. Later this site became a pilot plant for testing new techniques of hatchery production.
History
Site of Sidney J. Pyland Blacksmith Shop
While still a young boy, Sidney J. Pyland accompanied his parents on their journey from Tennessee to Wimberley about 1880. In 1895, at the age of 20, Sidney opened a blacksmith shop here, just above Cypress Creek on the busy village Square. He married Nellie Ann Wimberley in 1897.
History
Site of the First Town of San Marcos
Known officially as Villa de San Marcos de Neve. Established in 1807 by Mexican settlers. The population on January 6, 1808 was 81. A flood in 1808 and subsequent Indian raids led to its abandonment in 1812.
History
Stringtown
John Drayton Pitts (1798-1861) was born, according to family lore, on a ship as his parents sailed to America. A civil engineer by profession, Pitts became interested in politics and in 1841 became a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. The next year, Pitts and his brother-in-law, James Vickers, took a trip to Texas and encouraged family and friends to follow.
History
The Calaboose
Constructed as the first Hays County Jail in 1873, this small brick structure was later an annex for black prisoners. Known locally as the "Calaboose," it became a neighborhood recreation center after the city of San Marcos acquired it in 1885. In the 1940s it was enlarged with a wooden addition and served as a U.S.O. center for black World War II servicemen.
History
The Century-Old Wimberley Cemetery
This land was first patented to Amasa Turner in 1847. Settlers erected a log cabin here which served as a church and school facility. Worship services were conducted by circuit riders. In 1876 Melissa Wimberley, young daughter of Pleasant Wimberley, died and was buried on the church grounds. John H. and Callie Saunders bought the property in 1885 and gave one acre for a community cemetery.
History
The Courthouses of Hays County
When Hays County originated in 1848, its one public building was a log church-schoolhouse that had to serve as the courthouse, along with its other uses. Although the San Marcos townsite, platted in 1851, contained a court square donated to the county, the forfeiture of a $2,000.00 criminal bond later gave the county funds for building, and in 1861 officials employed contractor C. F.
History
The Marshall-Chapman Home
Burrell J. Marshall (1826-1872) built this residence in 1871 by adding rooms of native limestone to an existing frame structure. He used his home briefly as a post office while he was postmaster. When Marshall died in 1872, his widow Martha (1835-1924) married Wm. Thomas Chapman (1835-1917), who also became postmaster and a trustee of the Dripping Springs Academy.
History
The Old Lime Kiln
This site near the source of the San Marcos River was part of the Thomas J. Chambers grant of 1834. The tract was sold in 1848 to Gen. Edward Burleson (1798-1851), military and political leader in early Texas, who built a cabin nearby. A later owner, former Confederate Major W. O. Hutchison (1834-1900), sold 47.5 acres to J. J. Belger and James D. Cahill in 1887.
History
Thompson's Islands
William A. Thompson brought his family and slaves to Texas from Louisiana in 1850. They established plantations in Caldwell and Hays counties. With slave labor, the family built a mill on the San Marcos River near this site. Construction and operation of the mill resulted in the creation of three land masses in the river channel which became known as Thompson's Islands.
History
Ulysses Cephas
(1884-1952) The son of former slaves Joe and Elizabeth Cephas, Ulysses Cephas was born in San Marcos. He was trained at an early age to carry on the blacksmithing trade of his father. Known as "Boots" to his friends and family, Cephas eventually owned his own blacksmith shop and was known throughout the county for his skills in shoeing horses and creating superior wagons and farming implements.
History
W. T. Chapman
Born in Georgia, William Thomas Chapman (1835-1917) came to Texas after the Civil War during which he was wounded, incarcerated and released after taking the Oath of Allegiance to the United States. By 1872, he was in the Dripping Springs area. He married widow Martha (Box) Marshall (1835-1924) shortly after the passing of her husband, Burrell J. Marshall.
History
William W. Moon
(March 25, 1814 - Jan. 7, 1897) Orphaned two days after his birth, William W. Moon grew up with two uncles in his native Alabama. He married Sophronia Elizabeth Sublett (1819-46) in 1834 and moved to Bastrop, Texas in 1838. Moon joined the texas Rangers and first visited San Marcos Springs during a running Indian battle in 1843.
History
Wimberley Mills
In 1848 William C. Winters (1809-64), a veteran of San Jacinto, came to this valley and built a grist mill and sawmill on Cypress Creek. A settlement called Winters' Mill soon emerged from the wilderness. After a flood destroyed the millhouse about 1856, winters moved to higher ground across the creek and built a new 2-story millhouse with a long millrace and tailrace.
Nature
Wonder Cave
In Balcones Fault, created by prehistoric earth shift. Said to have been campsite of Indians and Spaniards, especially priests who planted anaqua trees in area. By legend, robber gangs in 1820s cached Camino Real booty here. Discovered 1893 for Anglo-Texas by Mark A. and Elizabeth Burleson Bevers, after water well drill fell 158 feet at their home here.
History
WPA Projects at Kyle School
Public education in the Kyle area dates to the Texas Constitution of 1876 and its establishment of a statewide free school system. Under this legislation, school trustees D.A. Barbee, D.J.B. Barbee and Captain Fergus Kyle founded the Summit School that same year one mile northwest of Kyle.
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.
