Hill Country Towns

The Texas Hill Country has many small towns, which reflect the agricultural and cultural past of the area and the pioneers that settled there.

County	Town	Description
Bandera	Bandera	Bandera is located fifty miles northwest of San Antonio on Highway 16, in east central Bandera County, which was organized in 1856. Both the town and the county were named for nearby historic narrow, V-shaped portal, known as Bandera Pass, which was cut by natural erosion through the long limestone ridge that separates the watersheds of the Medina and Guadalupe rivers.
Blanco	Blanco	Blanco is a small town located in south central Blanco County on the Blanco River, about 45 miles north of San Antonio and almost the same distance west of Austin. The history of Blanco began in the spring of 1854 when Captain Callahan and his friend, Eli Clemens Hinds, the first white settlers in what is now Blanco County, moved to the Blanco River valley about one mile above the present town.
Blanco	Blowout Community	The Blowout community was a settlement along Comanche Creek in Blanco County, fifteen miles northwest of Johnson City. It was the first settlement in the area when it was founded in 1854. The name "Blowout" comes from a nearby cave that exploded when lightning struck and ignited gases in the cave. Today, Blowout is a virtual ghost town.
Blanco	Johnson City	Johnson City is located near the geographic center of Blanco County, approximately twelve miles north of Blanco near the junction of U.S. highways 281 and 290.
Burnet	Marble Falls	Marble Falls is a picturesque town located on the Colorado River where it crosses highway U. S. 281. The town was named for some spectacular falls on the river, which now lie under Lake Marble Falls.
Calhoun	Indianola	Indianola is a ghost town located on Matagorda Bay in Calhoun County. In 1875, the city had a population of 5,000, but on September 15 of that year, a powerful hurricane struck, killing between 150 and 300 and almost entirely destroying the town. Indianola was rebuilt, only to be wiped out on August 19, 1886 by another intense hurricane, which was followed by a fire.
Edwards	Rocksprings	Rocksprings is the county seat of Edwards County, which was named after early colonist, Hayden Edwards of Nacogdoches.
Gillespie	Bankersmith	Bankersmith is a ghost town, located thirteen miles north of Comfort in the northwestern part of Kendall County, Texas. It was established in 1913 in connection with the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railroad, but for all practical purposes ceased to exist by the mid-1940s.
Gillespie	Cain City	Cain City is a Texas Ghost Town that boomed between 1914 and 1922 when the railroad was built between Comfort and Fredericksburg. The railroad was shut down in 1944 and Cain City all but vanished. A few bricks of the bank vault on a small one-foot high wall remain around a private residence. All the other buildings and the railroad tracks were destroyed.
Gillespie	Cherry Spring	Cherry Spring flourished as a German immigrant community during the last half of the nineteenth century, but it is now a ghost town.
Gillespie	Crabapple	The Crabapple Community is located on FM 965 near Crabapple Creek about 10½ miles north of Fredericksburg in northern Gillespie County. Today Crabapple is a ghost town that consists of St. John’s Lutheran Church, an old school that is used as a community building, a brush arbor and one other structure.
Gillespie	Doss	Doss is a very small unincorporated town in northwestern Gillespie County whose population seems never to have reached 100. It was founded in 1849 by industrious Doss Brothers, John E. and Thomas C. Doss, who built a dam, a gristmill, a distillery and a sawmill on Threadgill Creek around 1856.
Gillespie	Fredericksburg	Fredericksburg was one of the Hill County settlements established by the Mainzer Noblemens Society, which was founded in 1842 to support the creation of colonies in Texas. It is the county seat of Gillespie County and a major center of tourism in the Texas Hill Country. Fredericksburg is historically important, and great care has been taken to preserve historical structures in the area.
Gillespie	Grapetown	Grapetown is a ghost town located on South Grape Creek along the old San Antonio Road about 9½ miles south of Fredericksburg. The first landholder was John Hemphill, who received the deed to a site on the Fredericksburg-San Antonio Road in 1848. Six years later Hemphill was joined by eight other settlers. Grapetown became a ranching center of some importance and many local ranchers sold their cattle to Charles Schreiner of Kerrville. For 91 years Grapetown flourished, but now the schools, stores and dance halls have all closed, and the town has all but vanished.
Gillespie	Luckenbach	Luckenbach is a picturesque community in southeastern Gillespie County that was established by some of the original founders of Fredericksburg, who returned to the banks of South Grape Creek to steele. In recent years Luckenbach has become somewhat of a cultural icon, and has acquired strong musical associations.
Kendall	Bergheim	Bergheim, which means "Mountain Home", is a German immigrant community located on State Highway 46 and Farm Road 3351 ten miles northeast of Boerne in far southeastern Kendall County. Austrian-born Andreas Engel immigrated to Texas in 1885, and bought three acres of land in 1900 at the site of present Bergheim. He built a cotton gin and a store there. The store and post office have remained in the Engel family and were owned and operated by Andreas Engel's great-grandson in 1990.
Kendall	Boerne	Boerne, (pronounced Burn-nee), is located on Cibolo Creek, near the intersection of Interstate Highway 10 and U.S. Highway 87, approximately thirty miles northwest of San Antonio in the southern part of the Kendall County. Named in honor of Ludwig Börne - a German author and publicist, Boerne is the county seat of Kendall County.
Kendall	Comfort	Comfort is located sixteen miles northwest of Boerne on the county's western edge, where State Highway 27, U.S. Highway 87, and Interstate Highway 10 meet. It is the second largest community in Kendall County.
Kendall	Curry Creek	Curry Creek was a settlement, located three miles south of Kendalia in eastern Kendall County, that consisted of a number of homesteads along a five-mile stretch of Curry Creek. It is now a ghost town with only a few graves and decaying structures from the original homesteads remaining.
Kendall	Kendalia	Kendalia is located on FM-473 at the intersection with FM-3351 in the northeast corner of Kendall County. Named for George Wilkins Kendall, for whom it was named, the town dates from the late 1880s, with some records of early settlements around 1852.
Kendall	Kreutzberg	Kreutsberg is located on Farm Road 474 six miles northeast of Boerne in south central Kendall County. In 1847, Vincent Phillip and his wife Barbara Schweitzer moved to a new home on the Sabine Creek, where he erected a large wooden cross on a nearby high hill in thanksgiving for the many blessings received on their perilous trip.
Kendall	Nelson City	Nelson City is a tiny community that grew around property owned by Edwin Nelson, who was a rancher and dairyman. It is located off IH 10 at the Welfare exit, 7 miles N. of Boerne and 10 miles S. of Comfort. It is the location of the famous Po-Po's Restaurant.
Kendall	Sisterdale	Sisterdale was originally known as Zink's Settlement for Nicholas Zink, who had previously laid out the town of New Braunfels for Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. In 1847, Zink saw and fell in love with the valley of the Sister Creeks, and built a small log cabin on 1,280 acres he purchased.
Kendall	Waring	Waring is a small town located on the south bank of the Guadalupe River seven miles downstream from Comfort. It was established in 1888 in anticipation of the building of the railroad, but began to decline when rail service was discontinued in 1970.
Kendall	Welfare	Welfare, located in west central Kendall County four miles southeast of Waring, was once known as Bon Ton or Boyton. When the post office was established in 1880, the name of the town was changed to Welfare, possibly for the German word "Wohlfarht," meaning "pleasant trip".
Kendall	Windsor	Windsor is a ghost town that began as a stagecoach stop on the road between San Antonio and Fredericksburg. It is located on the north bank of the Guadalupe River, seven miles downstream from Comfort and twelve miles north of Boerne in Kendall County.
Kerr	Camp Verde	Camp Verde is a ghost town, located on Verde Creek in Kerr County, which came into existence shortly after the establishment of the U. S. Army post of Camp Verde in 1855, the site of the "camel experiment".
Kimble	Junction	Junction, the county seat of Kimble County, is on U.S. Highway 83 ninety-eight miles southeast of San Angelo. It is named for its location at the confluence of the North and South Llano rivers.
Kimble	Telegraph	Telegraph is a tiny town on Highway 377, along the banks of the South Llano River, in southwestern Kimble County. The town consists of a single building, which is a combination store and Post Office.
Llano	Baby Head	The name "Babyhead" was given to the mountain in this area in the 1850s, when a small child was killed by Indians and its remains left on the mountain. The community surrounding the mountain was named Baby Head to commemorate the event. Nothing remains today of the town other than the foundation and steps of the Baby Head School, and a large live oak tree where the post office was located.
Llano	Bettina Settlement	In 1847, an attempt was made to establish three settlements, Castell, Bettina, and Leiningen, on the Fisher-Miller Land Grant along the Llano River between the present day towns of Mason and Llano. Only Castell remains today. The only trace of Bettina that can be found is a historical marker on the North Bank of the Llano River across from Castell.
Llano	Llano	Llano, founded in 1856, is a picturesque town located on the Llano River where it crosses State Highway 16.
Llano	Oxford	Oxford is a ghost town in south central Llano County, located fifteen miles south of Llano on State Highway 16. Nothing remains of the town center except a house, the cemetery, and the remains of a blacksmith shop.
Llano	Valley Spring	Valley Spring is a very small community with an interesting history. First settled in 1853, it was originally called Philips Ranch after the founding family. Soon, however, a cotton gin and saw mill were built and the steam whistle that announced the start of work each morning resulted in the town being called Whistleville. A competing mill, cotton gin and community were derisively called Bugscuffle, but the towns combined and the name was changed to Valley Spring when the post office was established in 1878.
Mason	Art	Art is a very small community on State Highway 29 seven miles east of Mason in eastern Mason County. Art is the new name for the original settlement which was called Plehweville, or Upper Willow Creek, or Oberwillow Creek as the original German settlers called it.
Mason	Camp Air	Camp Air was originally a group of three communities that grew up along the highway between Mason and Brady between 1862 and beginning of the 20th century. Eventually these three communities were consolidated and named “Camp Air.”
Mason	Hedwigs Hill	Hedwigs Hill was one of the earliest communities in Mason County and the store located there was a significant center of local trade. Under the leadership of the remarkable widow, Anna Henriette Mebus Martin, it was also the location of one of the first banks in the area.
Mason	Hilda	Hilda is a ghost town in southeastern Mason County that was located near Beaver Creek, about a half mile east of Ranch Road 783.
Mason	Katemcy	Katemcy is located one mile east of US 87 on FM 1222 in the northern part of Mason County, Texas. The town was established around 1880 on Katemcy Creek close to Devils Spring, which was a long-standing encampment of the Comanche Indians.
Mason	Koocskville	Koocksville is a ghost town in central Mason County, located on Koocks Branch two miles northwest of Mason.
Mason	Loyal Valley	One of the oldest communities in Mason County, it was settled around 1858 by German settlers from the Fredericksburg area, including Henry and Christian Keyser, John Kidd, and a Mr. Gertsdorff. John O. Meusebach, moved to the area from Fredericksburg in 1869.
Mason	Mason	Mason is the county seat of Mason County. It is a picturesque town located on highway U. S. 87, and the site of Fort Mason where Robert E. Lee served immediately before the Civil War.
Mason	Pontotoc	Pontotoc was a small town with great expectations that never fully materialized. After a brief period of prosperity crowned by the establishment of the San Fernando Academy, a series of disasters struck the town, including being bypassed by the railroads, a typhoid epidemic, the failure of the Academy, and a major fire destroyed much of the business district.
McCulloch	Camp San Saba	The early settlers, who built the Camp San Saba community in the early 1860s, were not the first to occupy the region. A group of Texas Rangers established Camp San Saba on the south bank of the San Saba River in the mid-1850s to protect settlers from Indian attacks, and the community took its name from this Ranger camp.
Menard	Menard	Menard is the county seat of Menard County. The town located is on the San Saba River at the intersection of U.S. highways 83 and 190, a mile from the ruins of San Luis de las Amarillas Presidio.

Compiled by Joe Cooper

Kendall County, Texas

October 16, 2009

REFERENCES

· Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, List of Towns in Texas, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_towns_in_Texas (accessed September 25, 2009).