John Robert Polk Ranch

Known as San Saba County property with history of longest continuous ownership by a single family. Texas settler Headley Polk, a kinsman of 1845-1849 United States President James K. Polk, bought from grantee Burke Trammel in 1849 a section of land a half-mile to the south of this marker. Headley's son, John Robert Polk (1853-1946), grew up in Lockhart and on the San Marcos River at the Mooney Mill, where he made fine furniture. In 1883, "Bob" and his wife Kate Word Polk moved to this property with their herd of cattle. Over the years they bought adjacent land until they had 2,000 acres with frontage of three and one-half miles on the San Saba River. The second tract of land in this county ever to be enclosed was fenced by Polk with the help of a man named Baker. Two schoolhouses were built at different times on this ranch, for the convenience of the Polk family and neighbors. In the early era, Polk trailed his Bar-P cattle to market; for years he belonged to the Texas Trail Drivers' Association. John Robert and Kate Polk were parents of a son Headley (who died at 17, in 1904) and five daughters: Annie (later Mrs. W. W. Holman), Eupha (Mrs. Louis J. Bryan), Ivor Mae, Katie (Mrs. J. A. Sloan), and Lex.