Onion Creek Post Office and Stagecoach House

The ca. 1875 Onion Creek Post Office and Stagecoach House are significant for their associations with the earliest period of development in the vicinity of present Buda, in northeastern Hays County, Texas. Authorized in 1875 and completed in 1876, the small one-room post office is noteworthy for its diminutive size, fine craftsmanship, solid limestone construction, and carved stone lintels. It is a rare and unusual building in context; Onion Creek remained an entirely rural, almost frontier settlement in 1875 and the free-standing post station with its skillfully rendered stone construction and decorative detailing is an anomaly for the period and setting. More typical of Central Texas frontier building traditions, the adjacent McElroy-Severn House (Stagecoach House) is nonetheless an outstanding example of a late-19th-century modified center-passage dwelling. Since the first rooms were built contemporaneously with the post office, about 1875, the building has undergone several major remodeling campaigns that have substantially enlarged the house, altered its form, and changed its orientation from the creek to the highway. However, most of the alterations date to the historic period and represent significant architectural trends and building techniques in their own right.

Together the buildings recall Buda's beginnings as a collection of isolated homesteads scattered along Onion Creek united by a rural mail and stagecoach stop on the old San Antonio Road. This post road was the principal route between Austin and San Antonio for thirty years before the railroad pushed through the county in 1880-1881, spawning new development along its tracks and rendering the stagecoach obsolete. In 1880, when mail service moved to the new railroad town of Du Pre (Buda), only a quarter mile to the west, the Onion Creek post office and stagecoach stop closed. Although the station served the Onion Creek community for only five years, it played a pivotal role in its development and the location of the Du Pre (Buda) townsite.
After the post office moved to Du Pre, the former station house was converted to a private residence and served as headquarters for family ranching operations for more than 100 years before the City of Buda acquired the property in 1997. The McElroy-Severn House, as the dwelling is also known, reflects a century of Buda's agricultural heritage that has been and largely remains its economic foundation. Therefore, the Onion Creek Post Office and Stagecoach House are nominated to the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance for their associations with Buda's earliest period of settlement and its outstanding vernacular architecture in a rural setting.

Historic Background and Significance

Located in Central Texas, between urban counties dominated by Austin to the north and San Antonio to the south, Hays County remained largely rural until the 1980s when developers began subdividing ranch and farmland to house the overflow populations of its neighbors. Since the 1990s, the trend has intensified with the booming "high tech" economy to the extent that formerly discrete communities in northern Hays County are fast becoming "bedroom" suburbs of Austin. Current trends represent a distinct departure from the county's early history which was characterized by slow, even halting, development for more than a century. Although Native Americans occupied the area and established seasonal campsites at springs and along creeks in Central Texas for more than 10,000 years, the nomadic tribes did not build permanent settlements in present-day Hays County. The Spanish attempted the first European colony in present Hays County in the early 19th century, but San Marcos de Neve survived only a few, disastrous years plagued by floods and repeated Indian attacks. Texians and Americans, too, were slow to move into the region until the Mexican War (1846- 1848) brought the United States military presence to the area and Texas attained statehood.

Despite the greater protection afforded by the army, the county grew slowly, largely because the rocky central and western sections did not lend themselves to the type of farming with which most settlers were familiar and because the eastern blackland prairie had not yet been recognized as good cotton land. As new settlers flocked to Texas in the years immediately following the Civil War, however, Hays County's population increased dramatically; previously isolated frontier enclaves grew into villages and new agricultural communities emerged throughout the county. Still, few good transportation routes penetrated the region and settlements in the immediate postwar era grew along waterways such as Onion Creek or the San Marcos and Blanco rivers and post and stagecoach roads.

From the 1840s, when Americans first began to settle the county, until 1880, when railroad track was laid along its eastern boundary, transportation was limited to horse-drawn conveyance over bad roads subject to flooding and erosion. Commercial stagecoach lines brought mail, passengers, and limited freight to isolated communities throughout the rural county, connecting its residents to the outside world. The San Antonio Road linking Austin with San Antonio, was one of the state's most frequented highways and a primary stage route through Hays County. One of the earliest stage stops in the Buda area was established by the 1840s at Manchaca Springs, on the road between Austin and the county seat of San Marcos.
According to Dobie, no other settlements lay between Manchaca Springs and Thomas McGehee's homestead at the confluence of the Blanco and San Marcos rivers, eighteen miles to the south near present San Marcos, in 1846 (Dobie 1932: 16). The Manchaca Springs siting, a few miles south of Onion Creek reflects the fact that a third of the county's population of 387 lived in the vicinity of present Buda and along the creek in 1850 (Dobie 1932: 39- 40; Schwartz 1986: 360). It is not known what type of resources such as corrals or shelters existed at Manchaca Springs initially, but its function as a change and watering station for stage horses is well-documented and it must be assumed that there were at least rudimentary facilities at the way station. In 1851, Mississippi native Adolphus Weir purchased 452 acres of land surrounding the springs and built a home for his family on a hill above the site (Schwartz 361-362). The Weirs operated a stage stand and stables that continued to serve the passing stagecoach (Dobie 1932: 39-40). Weir's sons changed the horses and took in the mail in the years before a postmaster was appointed. Occasionally, passengers spent the night at the stop (Schwartz 361-362).

In response to the population increase, other stage stops were established in the Onion Creek area within a few years of the Manchaca Springs site. The Victor Labenski cabin, just west of present Buda, was one such site. In 1850, Labenski purchased 320 acres of land in Hays County where he established a farm, built a cabin, and set up a blacksmith shop. In wet weather, the stagecoach route ran west of present Buda, past the Labenski home, and then south to Mountain City. It was a good place to leave mail and water horses (Stovall, et al., 1986: 360). Most likely, Labenski's blacksmith shop served the stagecoach, as well. By 1860, the county's population had increased to 2,126 (Dobie 1932: 60), and other stage stops and rural postal stations sprang up to serve the emerging communities.

After the Civil War, refugees from the old south flocked to Texas and Hays County began to expand from a handful of isolated frontier enclaves into a more populous agricultural region. In 1867, the increased population around Manchaca Springs warranted the appointment of a postmaster, John S. Spence, and the stage stop and post office site was officially named the Onion Creek, Texas, post office. By 1870, the county's population had nearly doubled from the previous census to 4,008 (Dobie 1948: 66). The increase no doubt led to the location of a new post office in the Onion Creek area, near present Buda. On April 3, 1875, the new post office and stage stop were established on Onion Creek, a few miles north of Manchaca Springs on San Antonio Road. George W. Waters was appointed postmaster. Appropriately, the new site took the name Onion Creek post office and the Manchaca Springs post office regained its original name (Schwartz 1986: 365). According to the application made to the U.S. Post Office Department, the station anticipated serving 500 people (Newlan 1992: 4), a substantial, if scattered, population in Hays County at that time.

The new Onion Creek station was sited on a high bluff above the creek, about a quarter mile east of present Buda on the north side of Loop 4. The Austin-San Antonio Post Road and Stagecoach Route followed the old San Antonio Road (Hays County Road 117) south from Austin to Onion Creek where it crossed the creek below the station, to the northeast. From the creek bed, the road climbed a steep grade to the top of the bluff where the post office and stage facilities lay. From the station, the road turned west approximating present North Loop 4 through present Buda and then veered south toward Mountain City (Newlan 1992: 9). Exact dates for the buildings are not known but a "dog trot" house oriented to the post road may have been constructed by the mid-1870s when the site was designated as a post office (Little, February 28, 2001). A common domestic form throughout Texas and much of the South during the frontier and early settlement periods, the "dog trot" house typically consisted of two rooms connected by an open passageway (Plan 1). The frame building doubtless functioned primarily as the postmaster/relay station operator's home and only occasionally sheltered travelers en route to Austin or San Antonio, much like the Adolphus Weir residence at the Manchaca Springs post office. Mail was probably delivered to the postmaster's residence before the stone office building was completed. Although the Onion Creek post office was authorized for this site in 1875, a stone lintel over a small window on the east wall bears the date 1876 which is assumed to be the year of its construction (Photo 4). The front-gabled stone building measures about 10' x 16' along its perimeter but the thick limestone block walls considerably reduce the interior space (Photo 4). A single door opens to the south, facing the rear of the dwelling, and a small rectangular window faces east, toward the creek. In addition to its finely crafted stone construction, the building is noteworthy for its decorative stone carvings above the window and door. A date, three-link chain, and flowers appear in two rectangular blocks over the narrow window, and an eagle carved into the keystone is flanked by two supporting blocks featuring a floral design (See page 30). The "1876" lintel inscription and the eagle motif in the keystone suggest that they may have been rendered in commemoration of the nation's centennial. Oddly, the carvings appear to have been created by different artists; the lintel seems to be the work of a professional and may have been commissioned or purchased elsewhere while the keystone, with its eagle and simple floral design, may be the work of a talented amateur, possibly the postmaster. Overall, it was an extraordinary building in terms of materials, decorative details and level of craftsmanship for a frontier post office.

The post office and stage station served the Onion Creek community only a few years before the railroad dramatically altered the county's historic development and transportation patterns. In 1876, the International and Great Northern Railroad (I. & G.N.R.R.) arrived in Austin, opening the Texas capital to new markets and spawning a building boom throughout the city. Further rail expansion into Hays County was hampered by construction problems on the Colorado River bridge. Four years passed before building resumed on the Austin to San Antonio connector; the 1880 census reported that several railroad crews were working on that section of the I. & G.N. line in the county. On September 1, 1880, the I.& G.N. reached the site of present Buda and on April 1 of the following year, Cornelia Trimble donated land for streets, alleys, and public right-of-way to plat the townsite of Du Pre (Buda) along the railroad frontage (Schwartz 1986: 376).

Trimble immediately began selling town lots for both commercial and residential use. A commercial node emerged near North Main and San Antonio streets where the I. & G. N. crossed the old San Antonio Road (Newlan, 1992:4). Mercantile stores, a boarding house, a railroad hotel, restaurants, and a blacksmith shop were among the town's first businesses. One of the town's first mercantile stores was moved from Mountain City to take advantage of increased opportunities associated with railroad towns (Schwartz 1986: 378). Hays County followed the statewide trend; the railroads created new towns like Buda and Kyle, ensured growth for existing ones like San Marcos, through which they passed, and doomed those it bypassed, like Mountain City, to obscurity. Previously thriving communities along Onion Creek were deserted as their inhabitants moved to the newly created railroad towns.

One casualty of Du Pre's success was the Onion Creek post office and stagecoach house. Only a few years after it opened, the station closed in deference to the new post office and lodging amenities at Du Pre, a quarter mile to the west. J. A. Chandler, who served as postmaster from 1878 to 1884, purchased the first town lot sold in Du Pre where he built a store (Schwartz 1986: 380) in Block 1 where the railroad and San Antonio to Austin Road crossed. Block 1, at present Main and San Antonio streets, was the town's first commercial block (Giberson, personal communication October 24, 2001). During his tenure as postmaster, Chandler moved the post office to his store in Du Pre and the Onion Creek station was closed. A few years later, in 1887, the town was named Buda when postal authorities learned that there was already a Du Pre in East Texas (Newlan 1992: 5).

After the post office closed and the railroad eclipsed the stagecoach for transportation and mail delivery, the former way station became the headquarters of a ranch. New owners enclosed the open "dog trot" and enlarged and remodeled the house, as befitting the area's transition from frontier outpost to railroad settlement. At the same time, physical evidence indicates that they may have reoriented the house to face south by adding a hipped-roof porch across most of the south elevation. The house then fronted the road (now Loop 4) leading to Buda, the new community center, rather than the abandoned stagecoach crossing on the creek. The little stone post office became a storage barn for the ranch that developed on the site.

Buda quickly emerged as the commercial and social hub of the Onion Creek area but its focus remained centered on agriculture with its businesses, schools, churches and industries serving the surrounding farms and ranches. Only a quarter mile east of Buda's commercial zone, the former post and stage station became home to several families who engaged in mercantile, land development, and ranching activities that contributed to the town's development. All raised livestock and, with direct access to Onion Creek, they had fertile soil and water to cultivate garden vegetables and forage. Among the most well-known early residents are T. E. and Ada McElroy (1886-1906), John and Ann Severn (1906-1921) (Younts n.d.), Boone and Zoe Heep (1930s) Mr. and Mrs. M. F. White (1940s) and General Whitaker (1950s) (Giberson notes, n.d.). Sam E. and Eliza Bunton Johnson, Lyndon Baines Johnson's grandparents, lived on the adjoining ranch to the east from about 1873 until 1887, when they moved to Blanco County. Their son, Sam E. Johnson Jr., father of the future president and himself a state legislator, was born in Buda (Giberson notes, n.d.).

It is difficult to trace the earliest owner/occupants of the ranch because many deed records were destroyed in the 1908 Hays County courthouse fire. However, it is known that T. E. McElroy was already living on the site in 1886 when he purchased the 234-acre parcel that includes the post office building and stagecoach house from S.B. Babcock. It is not known whether Babcock occupied the site before his sale to McElroy. About the same time he acquired the Babcock ranch, McElroy also bought nearby property from E. E. Walling and the Chandler Estate and in 1888, he bought the adjacent Sam E. and Eliza Bunton Johnson farm to the east (Younts n.d.). McElroy has been credited with building the original section of the "stagecoach" house about 1885 but it is possible that he completely remodeled the existing dogtrot dwelling by enclosing the center passage and refining both the interior and exterior finishes with materials made available by the advent of the railroad. Physical evidence in the attic and crawlspace, including hand-hewn joists, pegged joints and stone end walls on either side of the central hall indicate the building's pre-railroad construction date and original dogtrot form with a porch on the rear (north) elevation (Little, personal communication, 2001). Considering McElroy's relative wealth and aspirations, it appears that he is responsible for transforming the early rough cabin into an elegant and pleasant family home.

By 1888, McElroy had amassed more than 1,000 acres of land along Onion Creek where he raised livestock. In addition, he was among Buda's earliest land developers and platted two cities, known as the McElroy Additions One and Two, east of the railroad tracks (Younts n.d.). Unfortunately, McElroy's ambitions were cut short when he died on May 9, 1898, leaving a widow and two young sons at home. In 1906, John and Ann Severn purchased the ranch from the McElroy Estate and continued to raise livestock. The Severns were active in civic affairs in Buda (Schwartz 1986: 409) and it was most likely they who updated the interior of the house to its present appearance and made other early 20th-century improvements including the addition of the east wing and the enclosure and expansion of the rear porch. Mrs. Severn passed away in 1919 and John Severn followed two years later, in 1921 (Younts, n.d.).

After the Severns died, the ranch passed through several hands with few changes to the house or post office. During the 1930s, Zoe and Boone Heap, a local rancher, lived in the house and grazed cattle on the property but they were forced to give it up to save their other property during the Great Depression. They moved to their property on the old San Antonio Road, on Onion Creek. M.F. White, his wife and sons, owned the property in the 1930s and 1940s and General Whittaker and his wife lived in the house in the 1950s. The Whittakers may have built the garage and poured the concrete porch, sidewalks and garden pavers as well as the rear room and canopy attaching it to the post office. In 1964, brothers Victor and Joe Stanzel of Schulenberg purchased the ranch as an investment property that they rented first to a group of "hippies" and later to members of the Franke family. The last occupant was Buda resident Bobby Montague who lived in the house from 1984 to 1991 (Giberson notes, n.d.). Since then, it has been vacant.

Over the years, the old house and post office building deteriorated and the once-substantial McElroy Ranch was divided into smaller parcels and sold for various uses, including the Nighthawk food processing plant. As the local high-tech economy boomed in the late 1990s, Austin's growth expanded into northern Hays County and pressures increased to subdivide and develop the property. Local preservationists mobilized to obtain and save the historic site and in December 1997, Victor Stanzel announced his intention to donate the post office and dwelling to the Old Town Buda Association. In 1998, the Stanzel Brothers Trust transferred title to the building site and 51 acres of the original McElroy ranch to the City of Buda with the condition that the house be restored and used for community purposes (Ledbetter, March 9, 2000: 5; Giberson personal communication February 27, 2001). In 1999, Emily Little Architects was commissioned to develop a Master Plan that would include a museum, community center, and hiking trail linking the property to other historic sites in the Buda area. Project costs are estimated to exceed $500,000 (American Restoration Inc., January 2000). Restoration and development plans await funding and implementation at this time.

Built about 1876, the Onion Creek Post Office and Stagecoach Inn pre-date the founding of Buda on the I & GN Railroad line between San Antonio and Austin. They are rare surviving resources associated with Hays County's early transportation and postal systems in the years before rail travel and with Buda's earliest period of settlement. Although the two primary resources have been altered by later additions, various changes in materials, and an ad hoc canopy attaching the stagecoach inn to the post office, both buildings retain their most distinguishing architectural characteristics. Restoration plans proposed by Austin Architect Emily Little include removing non-historic additions and fabric and returning the buildings to their ca. 1920 appearance. The complex is being held for future development as a historic interpretive and recreational site to promote heritage tourism and for use by the community of Buda. The complex is nominated to the National Register for its historic associations with Buda's earliest period of settlement along the stagecoach and postal route through rural Hays County and with its continued ranching heritage which extended beyond the end of the historic period.