John Drayton Pitts Springtown, the brainchild of John Drayton Pitts, was Hays County’s first residential development. Between 1850 and 1856 eighteen families, mostly friends and relatives of John Pitts, came from Georgia along with their slaves to settle at Stringtown. (Pitts had received a large land grant from General Burleson). These energetic settlers built a self-sufficient community, based on their former Southern lifestyle. Their houses, strung along 8 miles of the stage-coach route from Austin to San Antonio, which led to its distinctive name. [see map of Stringtown]
Over the years, from their homes fronting the road, Stringtown inhabitants viewed a constant cavalcade of travelers on foot, driving ox-drawn wagons, riding horses or mules, and in the stage coaches on their regular daily schedules. Traveling the dusty road, the passersby were assured of a welcome and a refreshing pause as horses were changed at the James Matthew Purdy’s stage stop or an overnight stay in a private home for individual wayfarers. It is said that the James brothers, Jesse and Frank, overnighted with the Kone family. The diminutive curiosity, Tom Thumb, his wife, and his liveried driver supposedly drove through in a little gold Victoria 31, a type of elegant carriage popular in the second half of the 19th century, drawn by two shiny black Shetland ponies.
In the 1850s, Stringtown, although lacking urban amenities, was a viable community long before San Marcos emerged as an important town. Stringtown had more inhabitants and a superior school. It took the Civil War and the arrival of Isaac Julian in 1873 to turn things around. Julian used his newspaper, San Marcos Free Press, and its contacts with the wider U.S. media to promote the city to good effect.
The pioneers could weather any storm, it seems, except the effects of the Civil War. Their economy depended on their slaves. Emancipation was the beginning of the end for Stringtown. Many of the early settlers moved into San Marcos, becoming important figures in all walks of life, several going on to build elegant new houses, especially in the Belvin Street Historical District. But Stringtown still existed when one of its most famous moments occurred . . . when thousands of young Texans were marching off to fight WWI, it is said that the head of the line was entering Austin when the tail of it was still in San Antonio.
Today, there is nothing left except two historic homes and a cemetery. The entrance to Kissing Tree sits right about where the old school was.
Over the years, from their homes fronting the road, Stringtown inhabitants viewed a constant cavalcade of travelers on foot, driving ox-drawn wagons, riding horses or mules, and in the stage coaches on their regular daily schedules. Traveling the dusty road, the passersby were assured of a welcome and a refreshing pause as horses were changed at the James Matthew Purdy’s stage stop or an overnight stay in a private home for individual wayfarers. It is said that the James brothers, Jesse and Frank, overnighted with the Kone family. The diminutive curiosity, Tom Thumb, his wife, and his liveried driver supposedly drove through in a little gold Victoria 31, a type of elegant carriage popular in the second half of the 19th century, drawn by two shiny black Shetland ponies.
In the 1850s, Stringtown, although lacking urban amenities, was a viable community long before San Marcos emerged as an important town. Stringtown had more inhabitants and a superior school. It took the Civil War and the arrival of Isaac Julian in 1873 to turn things around. Julian used his newspaper, San Marcos Free Press, and its contacts with the wider U.S. media to promote the city to good effect.
The pioneers could weather any storm, it seems, except the effects of the Civil War. Their economy depended on their slaves. Emancipation was the beginning of the end for Stringtown. Many of the early settlers moved into San Marcos, becoming important figures in all walks of life, several going on to build elegant new houses, especially in the Belvin Street Historical District. But Stringtown still existed when one of its most famous moments occurred . . . when thousands of young Texans were marching off to fight WWI, it is said that the head of the line was entering Austin when the tail of it was still in San Antonio.
Today, there is nothing left except two historic homes and a cemetery. The entrance to Kissing Tree sits right about where the old school was.
RSS Feed
