Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Johnson City, TXThe Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park provides a unique perspective of the full-life span of the 36th president of the United States. The National Historical Park, located in the scenic, wooded hill country of south-central Texas, contains the lands, structures, and cultural landscape that represent the ancestry, origins, and life of Lyndon B. Johnson. The resources at the park document President Johnson's grandparents' first settlement in the area, as well as Johnson's own birth, boyhood years, political career, retirement, and burial at the Johnson Family Cemetery. Here, as in a few other historic sites, one can see the entire life experience of a major historical figure.
Two units, the Johnson City Unit and the LBJ Ranch Unit, form the 240.64-acre historical park. The Johnson City Unit consists of two areas: the Johnson Settlement complex where the President's grandfather headquartered his open-range cattle business from 1867-1872; and the Boyhood Home Complex, where LBJ lived from 1913-1934. Fifteen miles west of the Johnson City Unit is the LBJ Ranch Unit, the more significant of the two areas. This section of the park contains the Texas White House where the full impact of LBJ's influence, energy, and power can be felt. Moreover, the integrity of the cultural resources and the historic scene at the LB Ranch Unit is, uncorrupted for the most part, by modern intrusions. Because the presidential years are the most important historically, the Ranch complex--buildings and grounds--are preserved to the period 1963-1973.
President Johnson possessed a sense of history and recognized his role in the historical process. Indeed, the creation of the park in 1969 and Lyndon Johnson's commitment to the enterprise are testimony to this sense of history and to his recognition of the need to preserve properties reflective or illustrative of the nation's cultural heritage. The purpose of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park "is to preserve and interpret historically significant properties associated with the life of Lyndon B. Johnson and his heritage. Thus, the primary significance of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is the relationship between the various resources at the park and the 36th president.
The President's relationship with the two units in the park is mostly separated by space and time. The Boyhood House and the LBJ Ranch are equally important in their historic context, while the Johnson Settlement area, remote from LBJ's presidential years, is the least significant historical area in the park.
The Johnson Settlement Complex, nevertheless, reflects the social and cultural heritage of President Johnson. The longhorns, cowboys, and primitive living conditions that were part of this frontier heritage had a real influence on Lyndon Johnson's development. From 1867-1872, Sam Ealy Johnson Sr., LBJ's grandfather, used this area as his headquarters for an open-range cattle business. The original log house, restored by NPS, and several stone outbuildings form the core of this area. Besides reflecting the frontier heritage of the president, the historic scene at the Johnson Settlement serves a secondary purpose. The mid-nineteenth century German immigrant settlers whose influence is reflected in the architecture of the area, as well as the open-range cattle industry of the period, are commemorated and interpreted at the Johnson Settlement. The stone barns at the Johnson Settlement, built later than Sam Ealy Johnson Sr.'s occupancy, are significant representations of late nineteenth-century Texas breezeway architecture. The Exhibit Center, a modern administrative intrusion into the historic scene, is constructed in this Texas breezeway style in order to minimize its intrusive effect. Also, a number of NPS administrative structures associated with the living history exhibit, such as the Wagon Storage Shed and the Mule Feed Storage Shed, are located in the Settlement area. Finally, this portion of the Johnson City Unit, with its living history exhibit, is an entertaining attraction for visitors and provides an introduction to other areas of the park.
The Boyhood Home Complex, the most significant resource in the Johnson City Unit, has a direct association with the life of the president. From 1913-1934, Lyndon Johnson resided at the Boyhood Home, restored by NPS to its appearance in the 1920s. A number of structures at the Boyhood Home, though not original fabric, add to the historic scene, such as the privy and the Boyhood Home Barn. Also, other structures of the original fabric, like the Birge Alexander House and the Withers-Spaulding Building in the Boyhood Home area, are used administratively.
While living in the Boyhood Home, LBJ attended grammar school, high school, and college and began his political career. Though not associated directly with the presidential years, the resources at the Boyhood Home area are associated with Johnson's formative years--years that saw a number of important developments take place in the life of the future president.
The later years at the Boyhood Home were significant ones for Johnson because during the late 1920s and early 1930s he entered the world of politics. In 1927 after graduating from high school, holding a number of odd jobs, and sojourning to California, LBJ attended San Marcos College. At San Marcos, he entered campus politics and became interested in teaching as a career--two fields that played important roles in his immediate future. After graduation, he taught school briefly, was offered and accepted a job in Washington, D.C., and later administered a New Deal program for Texas. And, when Congressman Joseph Buchanan from Texas' tenth district died suddenly, Johnson announced his candidacy for the vacant seat. In 1937, from the east porch of the Boyhood Home, LBJ delivered his first political speech and launched a career that led eventually to the presidency. Thus, the Boyhood Hume, associated with LBJ's transition from boyhood to manhood, holds significance in its direct relationship to the future president's early political career.
The LBJ Ranch Unit is the most significant area in the park. The resources, their historic integrity, and their association with the presidential years make this area of primary historical significance. From 1951 until his death in 1973, LBJ made the ranch his home when he was not in Washington. His association with the Ranch Unit spanned the senatorial, vice-presidential, presidential, and retirement years. The Birthplace, the Junction School, the Johnson Family Cemetery, and the Texas White House, among other important resources, are contained in the 201.37acre site. In many ways, the historic resources at the Ranch Unit represent and reflect the culmination of Lyndon Johnson's career--the presidency.
A unique resource at the Ranch Unit associated with the life of the president is the Birthplace. The Birthplace house at the ranch is located on the site where the president was born. The Birthplace is a replica of Johnson's original birthplace. President and Mrs. Johnson. This structure has the distinction of being the only presidential birthplace to be constructed, furnished, and interpreted by an incumbent chief executive. President Johnson built what he thought his birthplace should look like. What is significant about this Texas dog-trot house is not the architectural style, but rather, that the structure reflects LBJ's perception of his birthplace, and unquestionably, the present structure is more elegantly landscaped and furnished than its late nineteenth-century predecessor. The Birthplace, then, is associated directly with both the president's birth and his years as president.
Another resource directly associated with both the early years and the presidential years is the Junction School. In 1912-1913, Lyndon Johnson, a precocious four-year-old, attended the Junction School. Much later in his life, the Junction School attained symbolic significance in the president's career. To underscore the importance of education to the country and to reiterate its role in his own career, LBJ returned to the Junction School on April 11, 1965, to sign into law the landmark Federal Aid to Education Bill. Thus, the Junction School holds an important real, and symbolic place in the life of the 36th president.
The LBJ Ranch Headquarters Complex or the Texas White House is the most significant historic resource in the park. The Texas White House, in addition to having a direct association with LBJ during the presidential years, is associated with his senatorial, vice-presidential, and retirement years. During his occupancy, from 1951 until his death in 1973, LBJ used the Ranch House in a variety of ways. It served as his home, a vacation spot, a place to entertain guests, a working ranch, and the Texas White House during his presidency. Since the Ranch Headquarters Complex is the most important historic resource in the park and the presidential years are the most important historically, the Ranch House is preserved to its appearance during the last year of the presidency, 1968-1969. The relationship between LBJ, the Ranch Complex, other associated structures, and the institution of the presidency creates a historic scene of primary importance.
While LBJ's association with the Ranch Headquarters Complex is of primary significance, his relationship with other resources in the Ranch Unit completes the historic scene at the LBJ Ranch. The show barn, the airplane runway and hangar, the pecan orchard, and the Johnson family cemetery reflect some of the many sides of the 36th president. These resources, among others at the Ranch Unit, give further definition to the cultural landscape in which LBJ lived.
One of the President's favorite places at the Ranch was the show barn. LBJ made cattle sales at the barn, especially during the retirement years--1969-1973. Also, he enjoyed bringing visitors here to show his registered Herefords. At the show barn, more than any other resource at the Ranch the image of LBJ as a cattle rancher who made his living from the land is most evident. In addition to being a politician by vocation, LBJ saw himself and wanted others to see him, as a cattle rancher, like his grandfather--Sam Ealy Johnson, Sr. Indeed, the ranching atmosphere, an important part of his heritage, was an important part of President Johnson's life.
Of the resources at the Ranch Unit directly associated with the presidential years and the power inherent in the presidency, the airplane runway and Hangar perhaps best illustrate this relationship. President Johnson used the hangar to store his airplane, hold press conferences, have parties, and show movies to guests and neighbors. The principal function of these structures--to facilitate the needs of air travel--allowed Johnson to come and go as he wished. As president, Johnson required fast and efficient communication and transportation between the Ranch and the rest of the world. The airplane runway and hangar and their functions reflect the power of the institution of the presidency and Johnson's use of that power.
The Ranch Unit, besides containing lands and buildings associated with the presidency, possesses other resources that reflect the practical and domestic side of LBJ's personality. President and Mrs. Johnson together had keen business sense. Between 1965-1972, the President leased the Jordan tract, but Jordan reserved the 35-acre pecan grove immediately south of the Birthplace for himself. In 1972 Johnson purchased the grove and began harvesting and selling the pecans. Although he did not plant these trees, the president maintained them and harvested the pecans reflecting yet another dimension of the president's personality. In addition to adding to the aesthetic and historic scene, the pecan grove represents LBJ's practical, businessman side.
The Johnson family cemetery, located a short distance from the Birthplace, provides an unbreakable link between Lyndon Johnson and the LBJ Ranch. The president, his parents, and his grandparents are buried here. In the future, other family members will be buried in this cemetery. The serenity and comfort that the Texas hill country provided LBJ in life can be found in the simple, peaceful, rural atmosphere at the cemetery. His eternal resting place, so near the site of his birth and located on the land representative of his greatest triumphs, provides a total and direct relationship between the 36th president and the resources at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.
The Ranch Unit contains original fabric resources that are ancillary to the Texas White House. These continue in their historic use, or NPS has administratively adapted them. Though of secondary importance, the roads, dams, reservoirs, and Secret Service guard posts, are nevertheless significant for the integrity of the historic scene. Several structures continue in their historic use. The Malacheck House, the Secret Service complex, and Klein's maintenance shop are illustrative of this category of structures. Some buildings, like the bus barn, fertilizer shed, and telephone building have been adapted for administrative use by NPS. All these structures, originally associated with President Johnson and the LBJ Ranch, contribute to the historic scene at the Ranch Unit.
The combined resources at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park commemorate the heritage, life, and rise to power of the 36th president of the United States. The major theme conveyed at the park is that of a small-town Texas boy rising to the highest office in the land. A second, and equally important theme--that LBJ saw the Texas hill country as his permanent home and final resting place--adds to the significance of the relationship between LBJ and the resources at the park. These resources, though they vary in significance and in their relationship to the president, provide a coherent perspective on a multifaceted man whose presidential term was one of the most complex and dynamic in recent history. Indeed, the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park presents a representative picture of the life of Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States.
Local significance of the district:
Two units, the Johnson City Unit and the LBJ Ranch Unit, form the 240.64-acre historical park. The Johnson City Unit consists of two areas: the Johnson Settlement complex where the President's grandfather headquartered his open-range cattle business from 1867-1872; and the Boyhood Home Complex, where LBJ lived from 1913-1934. Fifteen miles west of the Johnson City Unit is the LBJ Ranch Unit, the more significant of the two areas. This section of the park contains the Texas White House where the full impact of LBJ's influence, energy, and power can be felt. Moreover, the integrity of the cultural resources and the historic scene at the LB Ranch Unit is, uncorrupted for the most part, by modern intrusions. Because the presidential years are the most important historically, the Ranch complex--buildings and grounds--are preserved to the period 1963-1973.
President Johnson possessed a sense of history and recognized his role in the historical process. Indeed, the creation of the park in 1969 and Lyndon Johnson's commitment to the enterprise are testimony to this sense of history and to his recognition of the need to preserve properties reflective or illustrative of the nation's cultural heritage. The purpose of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park "is to preserve and interpret historically significant properties associated with the life of Lyndon B. Johnson and his heritage. Thus, the primary significance of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is the relationship between the various resources at the park and the 36th president.
The President's relationship with the two units in the park is mostly separated by space and time. The Boyhood House and the LBJ Ranch are equally important in their historic context, while the Johnson Settlement area, remote from LBJ's presidential years, is the least significant historical area in the park.
The Johnson Settlement Complex, nevertheless, reflects the social and cultural heritage of President Johnson. The longhorns, cowboys, and primitive living conditions that were part of this frontier heritage had a real influence on Lyndon Johnson's development. From 1867-1872, Sam Ealy Johnson Sr., LBJ's grandfather, used this area as his headquarters for an open-range cattle business. The original log house, restored by NPS, and several stone outbuildings form the core of this area. Besides reflecting the frontier heritage of the president, the historic scene at the Johnson Settlement serves a secondary purpose. The mid-nineteenth century German immigrant settlers whose influence is reflected in the architecture of the area, as well as the open-range cattle industry of the period, are commemorated and interpreted at the Johnson Settlement. The stone barns at the Johnson Settlement, built later than Sam Ealy Johnson Sr.'s occupancy, are significant representations of late nineteenth-century Texas breezeway architecture. The Exhibit Center, a modern administrative intrusion into the historic scene, is constructed in this Texas breezeway style in order to minimize its intrusive effect. Also, a number of NPS administrative structures associated with the living history exhibit, such as the Wagon Storage Shed and the Mule Feed Storage Shed, are located in the Settlement area. Finally, this portion of the Johnson City Unit, with its living history exhibit, is an entertaining attraction for visitors and provides an introduction to other areas of the park.
The Boyhood Home Complex, the most significant resource in the Johnson City Unit, has a direct association with the life of the president. From 1913-1934, Lyndon Johnson resided at the Boyhood Home, restored by NPS to its appearance in the 1920s. A number of structures at the Boyhood Home, though not original fabric, add to the historic scene, such as the privy and the Boyhood Home Barn. Also, other structures of the original fabric, like the Birge Alexander House and the Withers-Spaulding Building in the Boyhood Home area, are used administratively.
While living in the Boyhood Home, LBJ attended grammar school, high school, and college and began his political career. Though not associated directly with the presidential years, the resources at the Boyhood Home area are associated with Johnson's formative years--years that saw a number of important developments take place in the life of the future president.
The later years at the Boyhood Home were significant ones for Johnson because during the late 1920s and early 1930s he entered the world of politics. In 1927 after graduating from high school, holding a number of odd jobs, and sojourning to California, LBJ attended San Marcos College. At San Marcos, he entered campus politics and became interested in teaching as a career--two fields that played important roles in his immediate future. After graduation, he taught school briefly, was offered and accepted a job in Washington, D.C., and later administered a New Deal program for Texas. And, when Congressman Joseph Buchanan from Texas' tenth district died suddenly, Johnson announced his candidacy for the vacant seat. In 1937, from the east porch of the Boyhood Home, LBJ delivered his first political speech and launched a career that led eventually to the presidency. Thus, the Boyhood Hume, associated with LBJ's transition from boyhood to manhood, holds significance in its direct relationship to the future president's early political career.
The LBJ Ranch Unit is the most significant area in the park. The resources, their historic integrity, and their association with the presidential years make this area of primary historical significance. From 1951 until his death in 1973, LBJ made the ranch his home when he was not in Washington. His association with the Ranch Unit spanned the senatorial, vice-presidential, presidential, and retirement years. The Birthplace, the Junction School, the Johnson Family Cemetery, and the Texas White House, among other important resources, are contained in the 201.37acre site. In many ways, the historic resources at the Ranch Unit represent and reflect the culmination of Lyndon Johnson's career--the presidency.
A unique resource at the Ranch Unit associated with the life of the president is the Birthplace. The Birthplace house at the ranch is located on the site where the president was born. The Birthplace is a replica of Johnson's original birthplace. President and Mrs. Johnson. This structure has the distinction of being the only presidential birthplace to be constructed, furnished, and interpreted by an incumbent chief executive. President Johnson built what he thought his birthplace should look like. What is significant about this Texas dog-trot house is not the architectural style, but rather, that the structure reflects LBJ's perception of his birthplace, and unquestionably, the present structure is more elegantly landscaped and furnished than its late nineteenth-century predecessor. The Birthplace, then, is associated directly with both the president's birth and his years as president.
Another resource directly associated with both the early years and the presidential years is the Junction School. In 1912-1913, Lyndon Johnson, a precocious four-year-old, attended the Junction School. Much later in his life, the Junction School attained symbolic significance in the president's career. To underscore the importance of education to the country and to reiterate its role in his own career, LBJ returned to the Junction School on April 11, 1965, to sign into law the landmark Federal Aid to Education Bill. Thus, the Junction School holds an important real, and symbolic place in the life of the 36th president.
The LBJ Ranch Headquarters Complex or the Texas White House is the most significant historic resource in the park. The Texas White House, in addition to having a direct association with LBJ during the presidential years, is associated with his senatorial, vice-presidential, and retirement years. During his occupancy, from 1951 until his death in 1973, LBJ used the Ranch House in a variety of ways. It served as his home, a vacation spot, a place to entertain guests, a working ranch, and the Texas White House during his presidency. Since the Ranch Headquarters Complex is the most important historic resource in the park and the presidential years are the most important historically, the Ranch House is preserved to its appearance during the last year of the presidency, 1968-1969. The relationship between LBJ, the Ranch Complex, other associated structures, and the institution of the presidency creates a historic scene of primary importance.
While LBJ's association with the Ranch Headquarters Complex is of primary significance, his relationship with other resources in the Ranch Unit completes the historic scene at the LBJ Ranch. The show barn, the airplane runway and hangar, the pecan orchard, and the Johnson family cemetery reflect some of the many sides of the 36th president. These resources, among others at the Ranch Unit, give further definition to the cultural landscape in which LBJ lived.
One of the President's favorite places at the Ranch was the show barn. LBJ made cattle sales at the barn, especially during the retirement years--1969-1973. Also, he enjoyed bringing visitors here to show his registered Herefords. At the show barn, more than any other resource at the Ranch the image of LBJ as a cattle rancher who made his living from the land is most evident. In addition to being a politician by vocation, LBJ saw himself and wanted others to see him, as a cattle rancher, like his grandfather--Sam Ealy Johnson, Sr. Indeed, the ranching atmosphere, an important part of his heritage, was an important part of President Johnson's life.
Of the resources at the Ranch Unit directly associated with the presidential years and the power inherent in the presidency, the airplane runway and Hangar perhaps best illustrate this relationship. President Johnson used the hangar to store his airplane, hold press conferences, have parties, and show movies to guests and neighbors. The principal function of these structures--to facilitate the needs of air travel--allowed Johnson to come and go as he wished. As president, Johnson required fast and efficient communication and transportation between the Ranch and the rest of the world. The airplane runway and hangar and their functions reflect the power of the institution of the presidency and Johnson's use of that power.
The Ranch Unit, besides containing lands and buildings associated with the presidency, possesses other resources that reflect the practical and domestic side of LBJ's personality. President and Mrs. Johnson together had keen business sense. Between 1965-1972, the President leased the Jordan tract, but Jordan reserved the 35-acre pecan grove immediately south of the Birthplace for himself. In 1972 Johnson purchased the grove and began harvesting and selling the pecans. Although he did not plant these trees, the president maintained them and harvested the pecans reflecting yet another dimension of the president's personality. In addition to adding to the aesthetic and historic scene, the pecan grove represents LBJ's practical, businessman side.
The Johnson family cemetery, located a short distance from the Birthplace, provides an unbreakable link between Lyndon Johnson and the LBJ Ranch. The president, his parents, and his grandparents are buried here. In the future, other family members will be buried in this cemetery. The serenity and comfort that the Texas hill country provided LBJ in life can be found in the simple, peaceful, rural atmosphere at the cemetery. His eternal resting place, so near the site of his birth and located on the land representative of his greatest triumphs, provides a total and direct relationship between the 36th president and the resources at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.
The Ranch Unit contains original fabric resources that are ancillary to the Texas White House. These continue in their historic use, or NPS has administratively adapted them. Though of secondary importance, the roads, dams, reservoirs, and Secret Service guard posts, are nevertheless significant for the integrity of the historic scene. Several structures continue in their historic use. The Malacheck House, the Secret Service complex, and Klein's maintenance shop are illustrative of this category of structures. Some buildings, like the bus barn, fertilizer shed, and telephone building have been adapted for administrative use by NPS. All these structures, originally associated with President Johnson and the LBJ Ranch, contribute to the historic scene at the Ranch Unit.
The combined resources at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park commemorate the heritage, life, and rise to power of the 36th president of the United States. The major theme conveyed at the park is that of a small-town Texas boy rising to the highest office in the land. A second, and equally important theme--that LBJ saw the Texas hill country as his permanent home and final resting place--adds to the significance of the relationship between LBJ and the resources at the park. These resources, though they vary in significance and in their relationship to the president, provide a coherent perspective on a multifaceted man whose presidential term was one of the most complex and dynamic in recent history. Indeed, the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park presents a representative picture of the life of Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States.
Politics/government
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
About National Register Listings
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.
Texas was once an independent country: After winning its independence from Mexico in 1836, Texas became its own country, known as the Republic of Texas. It existed as an independent nation for nine years before being annexed by the United States in 1845.
About Blanco County
Blanco County Timeline
Blanco County, located in central Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the early days of European exploration and settlement in the region. The area was originally inhabited by Native American tribes such as the Comanches and Lipan Apaches. In the 18th century, Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the area, leaving behind a few names like Blanco, which means "white" in Spanish and was inspired by the limestone bluffs along the Blanco River.
The first permanent settlements in Blanco County were established in the 1850s by pioneers attracted by the fertile land and abundant water sources. These early settlers were primarily farmers and ranchers who built thriving communities such as Blanco and Johnson City. The arrival of the railroad in the late 19th century brought increased prosperity and facilitated the export of agricultural products, particularly wool and livestock.
Blanco County played a significant role in the history of Texas during the 20th century. In 1905, the county seat was moved from Blanco to Johnson City, which became the birthplace of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The LBJ Ranch, where the President lived for much of his life, is now a National Historic Site that attracts visitors from around the world.
Today, Blanco County continues to thrive as a popular destination for tourism, particularly due to its scenic beauty, wineries, and outdoor recreation opportunities. The county's rich history is celebrated through various museums, monuments, and annual events that showcase its cultural heritage. Whether exploring the stunning landscapes, visiting historic sites, or experiencing the local hospitality, Blanco County offers a glimpse into the fascinating history of Texas.
The first permanent settlements in Blanco County were established in the 1850s by pioneers attracted by the fertile land and abundant water sources. These early settlers were primarily farmers and ranchers who built thriving communities such as Blanco and Johnson City. The arrival of the railroad in the late 19th century brought increased prosperity and facilitated the export of agricultural products, particularly wool and livestock.
Blanco County played a significant role in the history of Texas during the 20th century. In 1905, the county seat was moved from Blanco to Johnson City, which became the birthplace of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The LBJ Ranch, where the President lived for much of his life, is now a National Historic Site that attracts visitors from around the world.
Today, Blanco County continues to thrive as a popular destination for tourism, particularly due to its scenic beauty, wineries, and outdoor recreation opportunities. The county's rich history is celebrated through various museums, monuments, and annual events that showcase its cultural heritage. Whether exploring the stunning landscapes, visiting historic sites, or experiencing the local hospitality, Blanco County offers a glimpse into the fascinating history of Texas.
Blanco County Timeline
This timeline provides a concise overview of the key events in the history of Blanco County, Texas.
- 1839 - Blanco County is established and named after the Blanco River.
- 1850s - German immigrants begin to settle in the area, establishing farms and ranches.
- 1855 - The town of Blanco is founded as the county seat.
- 1860s - Blanco County becomes a center for cattle ranching and agriculture.
- 1869 - The Blanco County Courthouse is built, which still stands today.
- 1873 - The first public school is opened in Blanco County.
- 1885 - The Cedar Mountain School, the first high school in the county, is founded.
- 1891 - The Blanco County News, the first newspaper in the county, is established.
- 1900s - The county experiences economic growth with the expansion of the railroad and the growth of the granite industry.
- 1928 - The Pedernales Electric Cooperative is established, providing electricity to rural areas of Blanco County.
- 1960s - Tourism becomes an important industry in Blanco County, with visitors attracted to the scenic beauty and outdoor activities.
- 1997 - The Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is established, preserving the home and ranch of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson.