History
Site of Old Behrns West Texas Normal and Business College
Opened 1895 by noted educator Francis Marion Behrns. A 3-story native blue marble main hall and frame dormitory were built by interested local citizens. Courses included mathematics, natural sciences, Latin, oratory, commercial subjects, literature, psychology, music and painting. Character building was stressed. Its graduates led in teaching and other professions.
History
The Texas Rangers and the San Saba Mob
Removed from major roads and railways, early San Saba County residents had limited access to law enforcement and government. Beginning in the mid-1850s, citizens in and around the county formed vigilante mobs to dispatch justice. Although initially formed to protect residents, these mobs often evolved into organized gangs, terrorizing the residents they had initially formed to protect.
History
United Confederate Veterans William P. Rogers Camp No. 322
The United Confederate Veterans (UCV) began in 1889 and grew in popularity following the death and burial of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis a few months later. Camps formed across the South, and annual reunions allowed Confederate veterans to renew friendships and honor the war dead. In 1893, veterans in San Saba County organized the William P. Rogers Camp No. 322 of the UCV.
History
W. H. (Uncle Billy) Gibbons
(1846-1932) In the 1870s Irish-born William Henry Gibbons drove 1500 sheep into San Saba County. After a time "Uncle Billy" became one of the largest landowners in the county, a prominent banker, and a community leader. In 1930 he gave the Boy Scouts of America a 99-year lease to campgrounds along Brady Creek on his ranch.
Quirky
Wedding Oak
A legendary Indian site, popular into the 1900s, Wedding Oak sheltered many marriage services. Three occurred in one day, Dec. 24, 1911.
Architecture
Whitis-Moore House
In 1905, Austin banker John H. Whitis came to San Saba as co-founder and officer of First National Bank. His family lived with Irene Clark before buying this site. They hired A.T. McLellan to build their home, completed by October 1905. Two years later, when the Whitis family returned to Austin, clark bought the home.
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.
