Downtown Buda Historic District
a.k.a. DuPre
Roughly bounded by Elm St., Main St., China St., and Austin St., Buda, TXThe Buda Downtown Historic District, composed of Blocks 2-5 and the north half of Block 6 in the original townsite of DuPre, is a good and relatively intact example of the type of commercial strips that sprang up along newly installed Texas railroad lines in the Post-Civil War era (1870s-1890s). Most of the existing resources in the city's original 6-block commercial/residential zone date from the late 19th century, when the town became a regional agricultural shipping point and shopping hub, to the late 1920s when back-to-back disasters in the form of drought, floods and boll weevil infestation all but destroyed local agriculture. The Great Depression dealt the final blow, and only one building was built after 1930. No new construction occurred in the district until the 1960s. The period of significance extends from 1881 to 1935 to reflect all surviving resources of the historic period. Main Street is dominated by historic brick commercial buildings from ca. 1900 through the mid-1920s. Resources in the district largely reflect the predominant building types, architectural styles, and construction materials common to other railroad towns of Buda's size and agricultural economy during that period. Historic buildings classified as Non-contributing elements of the district due to the loss of character-defining features, still retain the size, scale, setback, and general form that defines the district. New construction such as the U.S. Post Office, manufactured buildings, a ranch-style house, and a modern laundry, are the main detractors from the historic streetscape pattern. However, they are few, and Contributing properties maintain the district's overall historic character. The Buda Downtown Historic District, with its dense concentration of late-19th and early 20th-century commercial and domestic properties, is a good, relatively intact district that well-represents the railroad era boom-town phenomena. The Buda Downtown Historic District contains the greatest number and best concentration of historic commercial properties in rural Hays County. As a result, the Buda Downtown Historic District is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, at the local level of significance, for its historic associations with Hays County's rural development and is related to the Multiple Property Nomination: Rural Properties of Hays County, and under Criterion C for the architectural merit demonstrated by both its outstanding commercial properties and its representation of typical railroad town development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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 1880-1881, 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 in Stovall, et al 1986: 360).
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 (Schwartz in 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 the San Antonio Road (Map 3 note that this map is not drawn to scale and may contain some inaccuracies in site locations) (Giberson, 2001). 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 in Stovall, et al 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, 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. 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.
About 40 people arrived on Onion Creek in the 1850-1851 migration, primarily from Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee (Roberson, 1972: 41). Onion Creek settlement followed the trend shown in Census reports that more than 50% of Hays County's in the antebellum period came from Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee in 1860 (Roberson, 1972: 42). The total population of the Onion Creek settlement averaged 75-100 persons from 1855 to 1880 and quickly dwindled after 1883 (Roberson, 1972: 44). Although it was a substantial pioneer settlement in its early years, farms in Onion Creek settlement were scattered over a large area of land and the community did not have one central point to define itself. It never supported its own post office or school: depending on preference and accessibility families used peripheral postal stations at Dripping Springs, Manchaca or Johnson's Institute near present Driftwood (Roberson, 1972: 45). Likewise, children in the settlement traveled to other communities to attend school. Children of the pioneers tended to move away from Onion Creek and the community's population dropped by half from 1870 to 1885. By 1883, only two families in the community had school-age children at home and the settlement could no longer be considered viable (Roberson, 1972: 51).
At the same time, hundreds of new townsites would likely spring up along developing railroad lines, following an oft-repeated pattern throughout Texas in the 1870s and 1880s. Railroad transportation increased the development potential for land along its path and new towns were created almost overnight. Rural landowners often worked with railroad developers to plat towns every few miles along the track to serve as water stations for then steam-powered railroads. In turn, landowners were able to capitalize on their unimproved or under-improved property by platting and selling town lots to enterprising businessmen seeking to get in on the ground floor of an emerging town. Texas towns and cities like Corsicana, Ft. Worth, and Dallas, perhaps the state's most successful railroad-inspired city, proved to be good models for later railroad towns.
Existing towns and communities that were bypassed by the railroad proved to be the main casualties of the new transportation advance. Rural businessmen could not compete with those who had better access to markets and reduced shipping time. In Hays County, communities like Goforth, Mountain City, and Onion Creek, were virtually abandoned after the arrival of the railroad. Residents of Mountain City are said to have moved their buildings to the more promising railroad cities of Kyle and Du Pre (Buda) (Schwartz, 1986: 378). One of the casualties 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 served as postmaster from 1878 to 1884, but as soon as they were available, in 1881, he purchased lots in the new town of Du Pre. During his tenure as postmaster, Chandler moved the post office to his store in Du Pre, and the Onion Creek station was closed (Newlan, 1992: 5).
The I & GN Railroad (later the Missouri Pacific, later "MoPac") building south from Austin, reached the vicinity of present Buda, an undeveloped site within the loosely defined Onion Creek settlement on September 1, 1880. Seven months after the railroad's arrival, Hays County landowner Cornelia Trimble seized the opportunity to capitalize on her unimproved property, which happened to lie in the path of the new I & GN line. On April 1, 1881, Trimble had a townsite she named Dupre (or Du Pre) platted into 17 blocks with dedicated streets, alleys, and public lands laid out on the west side of the railroad tracks (Map 5 - Du Pre Plat). Trimble hoped and had every reason to believe, that her unimproved land would quickly increase in value as a town with direct rail access.
Trimble's prediction proved correct. Attracted by direct rail access and the business opportunities such railroad towns promised, entrepreneurs immediately purchased 17 of Trimble's town lots ranging in price from $60 to $100 per undeveloped lot. Typical of similar railroad towns, the most attractive lots for commercial development lined Main Street, fronting the railroad tracks (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 376-378). Not surprisingly, the first lots sold were intended for commercial development and commercial buildings were the first structures erected in Du Pre. Former Onion Creek postmaster, J. T. Chandler, bought the first lot sold in Du Pre-in Block 1, at the north end of the town- where he built a store and blacksmith's shop and moved the post office (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 380) (Map 5- Plat of Du Pre, ca.1881).
Sam Nivens purchased the second town lot, also in Block 1, where he built a two-story building with a mercantile store at street level and a living area on the upper floor (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). With this start, Block 1, at the juncture of present Main and San Antonio streets, developed as the town's original commercial district (Giberson, 2001), and it remained the most important business block to the early 1900s (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 414). A few houses may have appeared on the railroad frontage but most residential construction took place in the blocks behind the commercial strip, to the west.
Other businesses that opened in Du Pre during this initial development phase included Nathan Melasky's store, one of the town's first buildings (also in Block 1, Lot 6). From 1910 to the 1920s J. N. Hart operated a grocery store on the site. It is not known whether it was the same building. Mrs. Fannie Hacker owned a variety store in Block 1, just north of Mr. Hart's store, and Miss Phoebe Martin had a millinery shop in the back of Mrs. Hacker's store. From these references, it is clear that Block 1 was a densely developed commercial zone.
One of the city's most enduring mercantile businesses, H. L. Birdwell and Son (W. S. Birdwell) General Store, first opened at 120 N. Main Street (Block 4, Lot 1-later site of Dave Garison's Service Station), shortly after H. L. Birdwell moved his household to Buda in March 1890. Two years later, in 1892, Birdwell bought lots 1 and 2, in Block 1, the first developed site in Buda, from the Chandlers. There he built a new store in the town's original commercial block. It was a thriving period in Buda's history and in January 1900, W. S. Birdwell purchased his father's interest in the business including the building, its inventory, and the horses, wagons, and equipment used to haul and deliver their wares. Birdwell's business ranged from selling buggies and farm implements and supplies to clothing, shoes, and groceries (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 384). The business remained on the site until 1913 when W. S. Birdwell purchased the 1898/1901 Buda Mercantile Co. building at 200-202 N. Main. The 1892 Birdwell Store has been replaced with a ca. 1970 brick Ranch-style house addressed as 406 N. Main Street.
Hotels and restaurants appeared across from the train depot to serve travelers and businessmen. Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Carrington moved from their Austin home (now the main offices of the Texas Historical Commission at 1511 Colorado Street) to Du Pre soon after it was platted in 1881. They purchased three lots (1, 2, and 3) in Block 2 on January 4, 1882. There they built a large, 2-story frame house still known as the Carrington House. With permission from the Railroad Company, Mrs. Carrington opened a hotel and dining room for passengers who were given "twenty minutes for supper" when the train stopped at the Buda depot (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). Remnants of the path between the hotel and train stop across Main Street were said to be still visible in the late 20th century (Hibbs, 1979).
According to local tradition, Mrs. Carrington hired several widows to cook for the passengers and the dining room became renowned for its delicious food. These women may have unknowingly played a major role in changing the name of the town from Du Pre to Buda. In 1887, postal authorities found that a town named Du Pre already existed in East Texas and they insisted that the later Du Pre relinquish the name to reduce confusion in postal delivery. One explanation for choosing the name "Buda" is that it was a mispronunciation of the word viuda, which is Spanish for "widow". Mexican employees who worked on the railroad are said to have referred to the cooks "las viudas" and, due to their culinary talents and great popularity, the town was named Viuda, later Buda. The name change took effect on August 25, 1887 (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 377-78; 383). Competing theories exist for the origins of the name Buda, but this is one of the most accepted.
Mr. Carrington served as the town postmaster, working from his brother-in-law, J. W. Chandler's store, from 1884 to 1886. Historian Dorothy Schwartz wrote in Clear Springs and Limestone Ledges that the Carrington's lived elsewhere in Buda, at the corner of Cherry and Cedar streets, and indicated that their building at 320 N. Main originally served as a hotel and dining room (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 380-381). However, the Carrington House has every appearance of a residential building and none of the characteristics of hotels or commercial buildings typical of that period. The Carringtons likely intended the building as a house and for some reason decided not to live in it- possibly because of the railroad and other traffic associated with commercial activity. Regardless of its origins and appearance, the Carrington House is the oldest extant building on Main Street and the only remnant of Buda's initial development period in the commercial district. In 1941, Dr. J. Julian and Nina Horton bought and refurbished the Carrington House where they lived until they died in 1970 (Dr. Horton) and 1976 (Mrs. Horton). A large barn stood at the rear of the lot and Dr. Horton had it painted different colors in stripes (Hehl in Onion Creek, 1981: 29B).
Within a few years of its founding in 1881, Buda emerged as the Onion Creek area's agricultural, commercial, and social hub. Rail access in Buda provided area farmers with nearby shipping facilities for their market products. Farmers and ranchers saved time and money and in turn spent their money in Buda's new dry goods stores, restaurants, confectioneries, hotels, blacksmith shops, and ginning facilities. Despite its apparent commercial success, Buda's focus has traditionally remained centered on agriculture with its businesses, schools, churches, and industries serving the needs of surrounding farmers and ranchers.
Other brick commercial buildings in Buda are of brick construction and date from the early 1910s to about 1928. Thus, the 1898-1901 limestone stores represent a transition between the earliest commercial development and the city's more typical brick construction starting in 1910. The limestone buildings are further distinguished by their stone construction, oversized parapet walls, and fenestration patterns. They are the only buildings of their type in Buda.
The so-called "1898 Store" is two similar buildings located in Block 3, lots 5 & 6. The corner building (Lot 6) was built in 1898 and the building to the north was added a few years later, about 1901 (Hibbs, 1979). Albert "AI" J. Adair wrote in the Onion Creek Free Press's Buda Centennial issue that his grandfather, Thomas Howe was a stone mason who helped lay the limestone in the buildings. He had learned the trade in his native Ireland and practiced his skill in America after emigrating from Ireland with his parents in the 1840s. Howe moved with his family by covered wagon to Mountain City in the fall of 1870. Soon after, the family moved to Science Hall for its educational opportunities and later, to Buda, likely after the railroad established the town (Adair in The Onion Creek, 1981: B29).
The buildings' first occupant was the Buda Mercantile Company whose stockholders included stone mason and builder, Tom Howe, and company president E. J. Cleveland. According to more recent owner and geologist Carl Chelf, the buildings are made of Buda limestone quarried on the site of the Boone Heep Ranch on Onion Creek. They are the only known buildings in town to use Buda limestone in their construction. The finer limestone used in the archways was quarried from the Convict Hill area of Austin (Hibbs, 1979)
In 1913, W. S. Birdwell and his son-in-law, Sharon Barber, formed a partnership and bought out the Buda Mercantile Store the following year, acquiring both the buildings and its stock (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 385). Although Birdwell and his father had built their mercantile store in Block 1, in 1892, by 1913 the main commercial district had shifted to the south and Birdwell and Barber probably saw the substantial limestone Buda Mercantile store as a better and more competitive site. Under Birdwell and Barber's ownership, the buildings housed Buda's most prosperous general store. The W. S. Birdwell and Company Store enjoyed tremendous success in the years when "King Cotton" drove Buda's economy to its greatest prosperity, primarily between 1914 when the store opened, and 1926 when back-to-back natural disasters began to destroy the crop (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 396). At its height, the store did $2,000 worth of business on a busy Saturday when farmers and their families came into town to sell or trade eggs and butter, purchase cloth and agricultural essentials, and socialize with other farmers. There once was a large wooden building behind the store where wagons, bridles, the company horses, buggies, plows, and other farming implements were stored (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 422).
Although it survived both the agricultural ravages of drought, flooding, and boll weevil infestation in the mid-1920s and the economic devastation of the Great Depression, the family struggled through the hard times. Finally, after more than 50 years of serving Buda, the business closed in 1941 (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 386). After the Birdwells closed their business, the building was used for many purposes including Cecil Tom Labenski's washateria until he built the brick laundry next door, to the north, about 1970 (approximately 206 N. Main). The post office once operated from the former Buda Mercantile Company store and later Bill Woods ran a construction business from the site (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 422).
One of the earliest brick commercial buildings that would come to typify Buda's historic business district is the 1910 Farmers State Bank at 306 N. Main Street. The modest, one-part, yellow-brick commercial building was Buda's first bank. Established September 29, 1910, when cotton farming was successful and the town thriving, the bank served the community throughout its most prosperous period. In 1922, the bank changed from Farmers' State Bank to Farmers National Bank. The bank was the scene of Buda's most dramatic historic event. In 1926, a young woman from Austin, Becky Rogers, robbed the bank at gunpoint, locked the two employees in the vault, and got away with $1,000. She was considered "a young woman of good character," a University of Texas student, and a secretary in Attorney General Dan Moody's office, at the time of the robbery. Reportedly her husband, attorney Otis Rogers, had become so ill with tuberculosis that she was desperate for money and resolved to rob the bank. Although Becky Rogers successfully escaped with the money, she was captured soon after the hold-up and sentenced to 14 years in the Texas Penitentiary. Ms. Rogers served three years and was released after the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the lower court's decision in 1929. Paul Crews later ran a real estate office and grocery store in the former bank. Later still, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Clark operated a grocery store in the building. They were followed by Don's Den, an antique store (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 395; 419). Shortly after arriving in Buda, in 1909, Abner Jones opened the A.F. Jones Market and Icehouse in the "central business district of Buda". Ice was hauled in 100-pound blocks from Austin (Camp in The Onion Creek, 1981: 31B). This may be the icehouse to the west of the former Garison Service Station (120 N. Main Street) near the Southwest corner of Austin and Live Oak streets, approximately in the 100 block of Live Oak. An icehouse said to have been "built about 1915" and operated at one time by Jack Mathis lay behind the Garison Service Station at 120 North Main. Mathis brought 25- to 50-pound blocks of ice from San Marcos in his Model T ice truck and delivered them house-to-house (Hibbs, 1979). Made of hollow clay tile like the movie theater at 212 North Main Street, the utilitarian icehouse was important to the comfort of Buda's residents at a time when the city was growing and modernizing. A windmill still stands next to the icehouse and is visible over Garison's station.
1910-1928
Most of the town's extant historic commercial buildings date from 1910 through the 1920s, following the town's greatest period of growth and prosperity. Although Block 1 remained entirely commercial in use, the process of shifting Buda's main business district from its northernmost block to the center of the platted townsite increased momentum in the 1910s and 1920s. Between 1910 and the 1920s, J. N. Hart had a grocery store where Nathan Melasky's store, one of Buda's first buildings, had been located (Block 1, Lot 6). Mrs. Fannie Hacker had a variety store just north of Mr. Hart's store and Miss Phoebe Martin had a millinery shop in the back of Mrs. Hacker's store. Buda resident Will Rogers, who arrived in town in 1902, recalled in 1971 that he bought his first car, a 1924 Model T Ford at the "old Ferguson garage, a tin building still standing at the north end of Main Street" (Hibbs, 1979). West of the garage was a blacksmith shop run by Walter Chesser (Schwartz 1986: 413) and later Mr. Hartung (Schwartz 1986: 419). The "old Ferguson garage" appears to be the metal-clad garage building at approximately 404 N. Main (407B N. Austin), in Block 1. If so, it is one of only two historic commercial properties still standing in the former thriving business district. The blacksmith shop is gone.
During the 1910s, new commercial buildings were constructed further south of the old commercial district, in blocks 2-5. Minnie Birdwell had purchased the 1881 Carrington House, along with the rest of Block 2 and all of Block 11, adjacent to the property on the west in 1907. She either sold or leased the land on which the town's first known brick commercial building was constructed. Described earlier, the 1910 Farmers State Bank in Block 2, was a small, one-part yellow brick edifice. Four years later, a larger 2-story, red brick commercial building joined the bank on Block 2. L. D. Carrington's son, W. D. Carrington, had returned to Buda in 1891, where he embarked on a career as a pharmacist. In 1914, he built a 2-story brick commercial building on lots 5 and 6, in Block 2 (300 N. Main Street). Carrington operated a drug store on the ground floor while Drs. Lauderdale and Holtzclaw occupied upstairs offices (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419). The property now houses the Memory Lane Antique Store and is one of the best examples of commercial construction in the Buda Downtown Historic District.
At about the same time, a row of three attached one-part brick commercial buildings similar in type and design to the bank were built in the middle of Block 5. The three buildings share similar brick dentil work and fenestration and appear to have been built in a single building campaign. The new combined buildings at 108 and 106 N. Main were a grocery in the early 1920s run by R. L. Taylor. Taylor sold it to O.T. Moore, who in turn passed it to Clem Armbruster in the early 1930s. Clem and his wife Mary Armbruster operated the store for many years; Clem ran a grocery out of one side and Mary operated a dry goods store selling fabric, school supplies, sewing notions, and clothing. Wyatt and Ada Green followed the Armbrusters and today Helen Alcala's popular Case Alde restaurant occupies both portions of the building. Helen Alcala is the granddaughter of farmer Juan Rodriguez, a Mexican National who moved his family to Buda in 1913 to escape the Mexican Civil War (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 391).
The third portion of the brick buildings (about 104 N. Main) was originally A. H. White's confectionery store built about 1912. In 1912, Dr. J. J. Blanton put an ad in the Buda Star (See page 72) announcing that he had an office in the rear of Whites [sic] Confectionery (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 416). Later Ed Labenski and his son Cecil Tom moved their meat market to the building. More recently, GTE had an office in the building, but the current occupant is State Farm Insurance. The building has been extensively altered by replacing the original wood sash windows with oversized tinted aluminum frame windows, moving the door opening, and replacing the door with a modern one of glass and metal.
At the southern end of Block 4 lies the Buda Grocery and Market, built in 1914 as the Cleveland Grocery by owner E. J. Cleveland. After he sold the Buda Mercantile Co. (200-202 N. Main) to the Birdwells in 1913, Cleveland built this new commercial building on his former home site (Onion Creek, 1981: A2). The elaborate 1 1/2-story Cleveland House was constructed in the same year, 1881, and was similar in design and ornamentation to the Carrington House. It is not known why Cleveland replaced his house with the Grocery but it is possible that the land was more valuable for its commercial potential and the house was then nearly 35 years old and perhaps considered old-fashioned. By 1933, the building was named E. J. Cleveland General Merchandise. After Cleveland left the building it was used as an implement store for a while. As built, the 1 1/2-story brick grocery store was similar in design to W. S. Carrington's brick pharmacy at 300 N. Main.
Although larger than Carrington's pharmacy, Cleveland's store featured a central entrance flanked by an identical wood-framed glass storefront. Vertical multi-light transoms rose above each bay in a ribbon pattern and a flat canopy extended over the entire front façade. Modest brick corbelling decorated the brick parapet wall whose ends were defined by two brick pilasters (Main Street photo, ca. 1933 reprinted in Onion Creek Free Press, October 3, 1981: page 1). In the 1970s or 1980s, the entire front face of the building was renovated with a faux "old west" or frontier storefront, rustic porch posts, and modern plate glass windows and doors. The flat canopy suspended by guy wires was replaced by a wood-shingled hip-roofed porch, which is an anomaly in Buda's historic commercial district. On the south side elevation, segmental arch windows and other historic ornamentation are the only surviving exterior features of the building. It remains in operation as a grocery, The Buda Grocery and Market.
Shortly after the W.D. Carrington Pharmacy was built, a 2 1⁄2-story red brick building appeared at 212 N. Main Street in Block 3. Built ca. 1915 by Will G. Barber, the building was a movie house with shows on Friday and Saturday nights. In the early days of moving pictures, it ran silent films with a live pianist "interpreting" the picture's action. Later, the building was used as a café by Mrs. Bob Carter and later Mary Turner. Phoebe Martin who once ran a hat shop from Fannie Hacker's variety store in Block 1, moved her business to the rear of this building. The building was later renovated into apartments by Arthur Meredith (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 421). Its side and rear facades are built with hollow, clay tile bricks but faced with a finer red brick. This was a common practice to save money on building materials, saving the more expensive brick for the primary façade.
By 1920, Buda had grown large enough to support even more commercial construction. In Block 3, just north of the theater, three attached one-part commercial buildings with storefront entrances and modest Mission Revival detailing were built about 1925. Indicative of the business district's move to the south, Fannie Hacker moved her Variety Store from Block 1, at the north end of town to the center of the business district, now in Block 3. Hacker's new store operated from one of the new Mission Revival buildings at 218 North Main Street (Lot 2, Block 3). In 1986 it was called One Buda Center and was an antique store. Attached to Mrs. Hacker's store was Ed Niven's Confectionery at 216 N. Main (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419). Niven sold ice cream and mixed carbonated drinks from the old-fashioned soda fountain (Hibbs, 1979). In 1986, it too was an antique store. Immediately south of the confectionery at 214 N. Main stood Jim and Staton Lindeman's meat market. Ed Labenski and his son, Cecil Tom operated the meat market when the Lindemans moved. By 1986, Tony and Molly Montague bought both the former confectionery and the meat market. The couple operated Mollie's Café in one building and lived in the other (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419).
At the north end of the block, a new type of commercial establishment was established in response to the automobile: a service station. Just north of Fanny Hacker's new variety store at 218 North Main Street, a garage and filling station was built in the 1920s (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 413). According to T. F. Harwell, who moved to Buda in 1887 and was later editor of the Kyle News, the post office was once located on this site (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). The service station and garage in Block 3, Lot 1 may have been built by Eugene Severn and W. G. Williams but passed through many hands over time. The business was once owned and operated by Dave Cleveland and his sons. Later, Isadore Armbruster bought the business and continued to operate it. Still later, Bruce and Ella Ferguson moved their garage to the site from Block 1, and in 1986 it was known as Gem Automotive and operated by Sammy Shannon (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419). A form instantly recognizable as a service station of the 1920s, it was listed as a High Priority site in Newlan's 1992 survey. It burned between 1992-2000 and plans for new construction are currently being made for the site.
Dave Garison's service station at the southwest corner of Live Oak (RR 967) and Main Street is another distinctive building, more for its longevity and status as a local landmark at the intersection of two busy streets in Buda. Brothers Dave and John D. Garison had come to Buda in 1900 with their parents and siblings. The brothers owned a furniture store north of W.S. Carrington's pharmacy (Memory Lane Antiques) by 1912, and in 1919, they purchased a lot at 120 N. Main Street (Lot 1, Block 4). In 1920, Dave Garison built a service station on the lot. The original station burned in 1934, but it was rebuilt soon after with the help of townspeople (Howard and McCaughn in The Onion Creek, 1981: B23). Although it has been altered from its original appearance, the service station retains significant character-defining features such as its angled sitting on the lot, extended porte cochere, and ad hoc fenestration pattern. [Although the gas station building at 120 North Main appears to date to the mid-1930s, it was a reconstruction of Garison's earlier, ca. 1920 service station that was destroyed in a fire in 1934 and thus does not reflect new development during the Great Depression.].
Other resources built during the 1920s in Block 4 include a blacksmith shop that lay to the west of Garison's service station, possibly between the station and the icehouse on Live Oak. About 1926, Dave Garison's son-in-law, Earl Rylander, owned a small confectionery store south of the Garrison Service Station in Block 4, but it is now gone and a large vacant lot separates the service station from the next property on the block. G. A. Moore's grocery store at 116 N. Main Street, a one-part buff-colored commercial building with a typical glass storefront and transom lights was built in 1926. Elma and Etta Mae White also operated a grocery in the building after Moore and his son Clifton retired. It is now a café. About the same time, certainly by 1933 when it appeared in a Free Press photo, the small storefront building at 112 N. Main was built by Arthur Patton who operated a barber shop there (Main Street photo, ca. 1933 reprinted in Onion Creek Free Press, October 3, 1981: page 1). Morris "Hip" Hart ran a dry cleaning operation out of the building at the same time and Patton later purchased the business. Today the building is still a barbershop and beauty salon (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 423). It is attached to the north end of the three ca. 1915 brick storefront buildings (104-108 N. Main).
Perhaps the last commercial building constructed in the district was the town's second bank at 210 N. Main. Also called the Farmers State Bank, the small, stucco Mission Revival building was built in 1928 and closed in 1931, probably due to the onset of the Great Depression. It was later used as the office for E. J. Cleveland and son Ernest Jr.'s cotton brokerage. Ed Nivens once ran his confectionery store in the building and later Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey Carter operated a café for a while in the building. Still later, Luther Turner bought the building and used it for his construction business office (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 396; 422). The former bank is a small 1-story, 3-bay building with modest Mission Revival features including a stucco façade and stepped parapet wall.
Other 2-room frame houses and small bungalows were built in Blocks 1-6 but faced N. Austin or intersecting side streets at the same time. A modest Craftsman-influenced bungalow (407 N. Austin) possibly associated with the metal garage fronting the 400 block of N. Main Street, faces Austin Street. The district's only stucco dwelling is a small hip-on-gable house at the rear of lot 3 or 4 in Block 2. It is addressed as 307 N. Austin. Several other small frame dwellings clustered at the rear of 200-202 N. Main Street, in Block 3, have modest Craftsman details but it is difficult to date the buildings either because they are new construction made to look historic or due to successive renovations. They are accessed via Austin Street but lie at the rear of the two stone buildings fronting Main Street.
New construction began to fill in some of the gaps along Main Street in the 1970s. A brick-style house was built on the first lot of Block 1, the site of Buda's first commercial building, in about 1970. At about the same time, a brick laundry, the Washateria, was built at 208 North Main Street amid historic buildings dating from 1898 to 1928 in Block 3. Further south, at 100 S. Main Street, a large parcel occupying 3 lots (1-3) at the north end of Block 5, historically the site of the city's lumberyard, was sold to the U.S. Postal Service in the late 1980s. It may have been the lumberyard once established by Will Morgan in the early part of the century and operated by him for many years (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 394). Morgan was followed by W. G. Williams, manager of the Mutual Lumber Company. In the early 20th century, lumberyards built houses as speculative ventures and then sold them. Many of Buda's houses may have been built by the lumber company. In 1986, the TEC Hardware Company occupied the site, which was then sold to the U.S. Postal Service for a new Buda post office. An enormous paved parking lot occupies the front half of the lot while the low, 1-story brick building with its blue metal faux Mansard canopy covers the back of the lot. The post office exhibits inappropriate size, scale, materials, design, workmanship, setting, and feeling that is not in keeping with the Buda Downtown Historic District and is therefore Noncontributing to the historic district.
Two manufactured buildings lay at the southernmost end of the original townsite. A ca. 1960s or early 1970s mobile home, first used as a residence and later as an office, was erected at 206 South Main. About 1985 or 1990, a large manufactured commercial building serving a hardware company was built in the last lot on Block 6. It faces FM 2770, but a historic house built in 1881 on the site once fronted South Main Street, anchoring the original town site. Both manufactured buildings are incongruous with the Buda Downtown Historic District and, because they are at the southernmost limit of the townsite, they are excluded from the district.
With the tremendous popularity and growth of nearby Austin in the early to mid-1980s and again from the mid-1990s to the turn of the 21st century, all of northern Hays County, especially Buda and its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, have experienced overwhelming growth. New subdivisions and commercial endeavors have sprung up for miles surrounding the old city. Despite increased development pressures and the recent construction of a new city hall and library facilities in the former railroad reservation directly across Main Street, Buda's original commercial district retains a strong sense of place.
Thirty-seven resources comprise the Buda Downtown Historic District; 28 of which are assessed as Contributing elements of the district, and 9 of which are considered Noncontributing to the district's character. All resources on Main Street serve commercial uses, regardless of their earlier function as dwellings, except the post office (governmental), the vacant single pen house (vacant dwelling) in Block 2, and the ca. 1975 ranch-style house in Block 1. Currently, the only occupied dwellings in Blocks 2-6 face onto Austin Street and do not affect the dominant commercial feel of the district. All resources within the proposed district - both historic and non-historic - are defined as buildings except for one structure, a windmill. Although the district has undergone numerous alterations in the past century, many were made before 1952 and thus exhibit historic qualities of their own. Other changes are more recent and reflect modern styles, materials, and functions but detract significantly from the building's original historic character. These altered resources are considered Noncontributing to the historic district. Still, others are non-historic, that is, they have been built within the past 50 years and are considered Noncontributing to the district's character.
Despite alterations that have occurred in the past 120 years, Buda retains a remarkable degree of historic character that is particularly evident in its outstanding brick and stone commercial buildings. Although the district contains former domestic buildings, new construction, unsympathetic alterations, and vacant lots, its concentration of related commercial properties shares similar materials, fenestration patterns, size, scale, and mass that, together, create a strong sense of the time and place in which they were built. Furthermore, the Buda Downtown Historic District owes much of its historic feeling to its nearly uniform streetscape patterns including setbacks, sidewalks, awnings, and building orientation, all of which reinforce the district's cohesiveness. Because the Buda Downtown Historic District retains its architectural integrity and historic associations with railroad-era development in Texas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance. Although economic growth and construction in Buda's downtown district ceased after 1930, the period of significance extends to 1935 to include the Garrison Service Station, which was rebuilt after a fire destroyed the original 1920 service station on that site. The service station was reportedly rebuilt to resemble the original station and the building, despite alterations, is considered a significant local landmark that is integral to the historic streetscape. Its reconstruction, although several years into the Great Depression, was the last commercial property built on Main Street until the 1960s and thus is associated with the historic period in the hearts and minds of Buda's citizens.
Local significance of the district:
Historic Background
Early History of Buda Area
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, including Buda, 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 1880-1881, 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 in Stovall, et al 1986: 360).
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 (Schwartz in 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 the San Antonio Road (Map 3 note that this map is not drawn to scale and may contain some inaccuracies in site locations) (Giberson, 2001). 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 in Stovall, et al 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, 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. 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.
Early Development in the Buda Area: Onion Creek Settlement
One of the most important of early Hays County's colonies was the loosely defined Onion Creek Settlement that extended along the creek starting about 10 miles west of present Buda and about three miles east of Driftwood, near the center of the county. The "community" consisted of a collection of farms established primarily in the undeveloped William B. Travis and Thomas W. Moore leagues. No public lands were available for homesteading in the area but the immigrants likely learned that these leagues would soon be offered for sale and so they occupied the sites in hopes of that eventuality.About 40 people arrived on Onion Creek in the 1850-1851 migration, primarily from Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee (Roberson, 1972: 41). Onion Creek settlement followed the trend shown in Census reports that more than 50% of Hays County's in the antebellum period came from Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee in 1860 (Roberson, 1972: 42). The total population of the Onion Creek settlement averaged 75-100 persons from 1855 to 1880 and quickly dwindled after 1883 (Roberson, 1972: 44). Although it was a substantial pioneer settlement in its early years, farms in Onion Creek settlement were scattered over a large area of land and the community did not have one central point to define itself. It never supported its own post office or school: depending on preference and accessibility families used peripheral postal stations at Dripping Springs, Manchaca or Johnson's Institute near present Driftwood (Roberson, 1972: 45). Likewise, children in the settlement traveled to other communities to attend school. Children of the pioneers tended to move away from Onion Creek and the community's population dropped by half from 1870 to 1885. By 1883, only two families in the community had school-age children at home and the settlement could no longer be considered viable (Roberson, 1972: 51).
Development of the Town of Buda: 1881-1898
Arrival of the Railroad and Creation of Buda
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 (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 376). Hays County eagerly awaited rail access. Railroads virtually assured greater success for existing towns and communities, like San Marcos, through which they passed.At the same time, hundreds of new townsites would likely spring up along developing railroad lines, following an oft-repeated pattern throughout Texas in the 1870s and 1880s. Railroad transportation increased the development potential for land along its path and new towns were created almost overnight. Rural landowners often worked with railroad developers to plat towns every few miles along the track to serve as water stations for then steam-powered railroads. In turn, landowners were able to capitalize on their unimproved or under-improved property by platting and selling town lots to enterprising businessmen seeking to get in on the ground floor of an emerging town. Texas towns and cities like Corsicana, Ft. Worth, and Dallas, perhaps the state's most successful railroad-inspired city, proved to be good models for later railroad towns.
Existing towns and communities that were bypassed by the railroad proved to be the main casualties of the new transportation advance. Rural businessmen could not compete with those who had better access to markets and reduced shipping time. In Hays County, communities like Goforth, Mountain City, and Onion Creek, were virtually abandoned after the arrival of the railroad. Residents of Mountain City are said to have moved their buildings to the more promising railroad cities of Kyle and Du Pre (Buda) (Schwartz, 1986: 378). One of the casualties 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 served as postmaster from 1878 to 1884, but as soon as they were available, in 1881, he purchased lots in the new town of Du Pre. During his tenure as postmaster, Chandler moved the post office to his store in Du Pre, and the Onion Creek station was closed (Newlan, 1992: 5).
The I & GN Railroad (later the Missouri Pacific, later "MoPac") building south from Austin, reached the vicinity of present Buda, an undeveloped site within the loosely defined Onion Creek settlement on September 1, 1880. Seven months after the railroad's arrival, Hays County landowner Cornelia Trimble seized the opportunity to capitalize on her unimproved property, which happened to lie in the path of the new I & GN line. On April 1, 1881, Trimble had a townsite she named Dupre (or Du Pre) platted into 17 blocks with dedicated streets, alleys, and public lands laid out on the west side of the railroad tracks (Map 5 - Du Pre Plat). Trimble hoped and had every reason to believe, that her unimproved land would quickly increase in value as a town with direct rail access.
Trimble's prediction proved correct. Attracted by direct rail access and the business opportunities such railroad towns promised, entrepreneurs immediately purchased 17 of Trimble's town lots ranging in price from $60 to $100 per undeveloped lot. Typical of similar railroad towns, the most attractive lots for commercial development lined Main Street, fronting the railroad tracks (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 376-378). Not surprisingly, the first lots sold were intended for commercial development and commercial buildings were the first structures erected in Du Pre. Former Onion Creek postmaster, J. T. Chandler, bought the first lot sold in Du Pre-in Block 1, at the north end of the town- where he built a store and blacksmith's shop and moved the post office (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 380) (Map 5- Plat of Du Pre, ca.1881).
Sam Nivens purchased the second town lot, also in Block 1, where he built a two-story building with a mercantile store at street level and a living area on the upper floor (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). With this start, Block 1, at the juncture of present Main and San Antonio streets, developed as the town's original commercial district (Giberson, 2001), and it remained the most important business block to the early 1900s (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 414). A few houses may have appeared on the railroad frontage but most residential construction took place in the blocks behind the commercial strip, to the west.
Other businesses that opened in Du Pre during this initial development phase included Nathan Melasky's store, one of the town's first buildings (also in Block 1, Lot 6). From 1910 to the 1920s J. N. Hart operated a grocery store on the site. It is not known whether it was the same building. Mrs. Fannie Hacker owned a variety store in Block 1, just north of Mr. Hart's store, and Miss Phoebe Martin had a millinery shop in the back of Mrs. Hacker's store. From these references, it is clear that Block 1 was a densely developed commercial zone.
One of the city's most enduring mercantile businesses, H. L. Birdwell and Son (W. S. Birdwell) General Store, first opened at 120 N. Main Street (Block 4, Lot 1-later site of Dave Garison's Service Station), shortly after H. L. Birdwell moved his household to Buda in March 1890. Two years later, in 1892, Birdwell bought lots 1 and 2, in Block 1, the first developed site in Buda, from the Chandlers. There he built a new store in the town's original commercial block. It was a thriving period in Buda's history and in January 1900, W. S. Birdwell purchased his father's interest in the business including the building, its inventory, and the horses, wagons, and equipment used to haul and deliver their wares. Birdwell's business ranged from selling buggies and farm implements and supplies to clothing, shoes, and groceries (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 384). The business remained on the site until 1913 when W. S. Birdwell purchased the 1898/1901 Buda Mercantile Co. building at 200-202 N. Main. The 1892 Birdwell Store has been replaced with a ca. 1970 brick Ranch-style house addressed as 406 N. Main Street.
Hotels and restaurants appeared across from the train depot to serve travelers and businessmen. Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Carrington moved from their Austin home (now the main offices of the Texas Historical Commission at 1511 Colorado Street) to Du Pre soon after it was platted in 1881. They purchased three lots (1, 2, and 3) in Block 2 on January 4, 1882. There they built a large, 2-story frame house still known as the Carrington House. With permission from the Railroad Company, Mrs. Carrington opened a hotel and dining room for passengers who were given "twenty minutes for supper" when the train stopped at the Buda depot (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). Remnants of the path between the hotel and train stop across Main Street were said to be still visible in the late 20th century (Hibbs, 1979).
According to local tradition, Mrs. Carrington hired several widows to cook for the passengers and the dining room became renowned for its delicious food. These women may have unknowingly played a major role in changing the name of the town from Du Pre to Buda. In 1887, postal authorities found that a town named Du Pre already existed in East Texas and they insisted that the later Du Pre relinquish the name to reduce confusion in postal delivery. One explanation for choosing the name "Buda" is that it was a mispronunciation of the word viuda, which is Spanish for "widow". Mexican employees who worked on the railroad are said to have referred to the cooks "las viudas" and, due to their culinary talents and great popularity, the town was named Viuda, later Buda. The name change took effect on August 25, 1887 (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 377-78; 383). Competing theories exist for the origins of the name Buda, but this is one of the most accepted.
Mr. Carrington served as the town postmaster, working from his brother-in-law, J. W. Chandler's store, from 1884 to 1886. Historian Dorothy Schwartz wrote in Clear Springs and Limestone Ledges that the Carrington's lived elsewhere in Buda, at the corner of Cherry and Cedar streets, and indicated that their building at 320 N. Main originally served as a hotel and dining room (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 380-381). However, the Carrington House has every appearance of a residential building and none of the characteristics of hotels or commercial buildings typical of that period. The Carringtons likely intended the building as a house and for some reason decided not to live in it- possibly because of the railroad and other traffic associated with commercial activity. Regardless of its origins and appearance, the Carrington House is the oldest extant building on Main Street and the only remnant of Buda's initial development period in the commercial district. In 1941, Dr. J. Julian and Nina Horton bought and refurbished the Carrington House where they lived until they died in 1970 (Dr. Horton) and 1976 (Mrs. Horton). A large barn stood at the rear of the lot and Dr. Horton had it painted different colors in stripes (Hehl in Onion Creek, 1981: 29B).
Within a few years of its founding in 1881, Buda emerged as the Onion Creek area's agricultural, commercial, and social hub. Rail access in Buda provided area farmers with nearby shipping facilities for their market products. Farmers and ranchers saved time and money and in turn spent their money in Buda's new dry goods stores, restaurants, confectioneries, hotels, blacksmith shops, and ginning facilities. Despite its apparent commercial success, Buda's focus has traditionally remained centered on agriculture with its businesses, schools, churches, and industries serving the needs of surrounding farmers and ranchers.
Prosperity and Growth in Buda: 1898-1910
During the last quarter of the 19th century, subsistence farming in Hays County gave way to ranching and cash crops, such as cotton, while business opportunities and agriculture-related industries increased in the railroad towns. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Hays County's economy remained largely based on agriculture, particularly cotton, and the businesses and industries that served farmers and ranchers. At the turn of the century, Buda, like Texas as a whole, enjoyed modest prosperity that would increase during the early decades of the 20th century. Through the mid-1920s, Buda prospered and earlier frame commercial buildings were replaced with more substantial brick and stone buildings, reflecting the town's permanence and its residents' optimism. Virtually all of Buda's surviving historic commercial buildings were built during this period.1898-1910
The year 1898 marks a new period of commercial construction in Buda because the city's oldest extant commercial resource, a cut limestone building at 200 N. Main Street, was built that year. Earlier buildings dating to the city's initial development period were still standing in blocks 1 and 2, then Buda's principal commercial zone, when the limestone structure was completed on Block 3, to the south. Since 1898, though, the original dry goods and general mercantile stores in blocks 1 and 2 have been demolished and/or replaced with later retail. Only two historic commercial properties exist in the original business zone in Block 1, and they appear to date to the mid-to late-1920s. A bungalow facing Austin Street, also in Block 1, dates to the same period. Only the Carrington House, a domestic property, survives from Buda's original development in Block 2. The two historic brick commercial properties in Block 2 were built in 1910 and 1914.Other brick commercial buildings in Buda are of brick construction and date from the early 1910s to about 1928. Thus, the 1898-1901 limestone stores represent a transition between the earliest commercial development and the city's more typical brick construction starting in 1910. The limestone buildings are further distinguished by their stone construction, oversized parapet walls, and fenestration patterns. They are the only buildings of their type in Buda.
The so-called "1898 Store" is two similar buildings located in Block 3, lots 5 & 6. The corner building (Lot 6) was built in 1898 and the building to the north was added a few years later, about 1901 (Hibbs, 1979). Albert "AI" J. Adair wrote in the Onion Creek Free Press's Buda Centennial issue that his grandfather, Thomas Howe was a stone mason who helped lay the limestone in the buildings. He had learned the trade in his native Ireland and practiced his skill in America after emigrating from Ireland with his parents in the 1840s. Howe moved with his family by covered wagon to Mountain City in the fall of 1870. Soon after, the family moved to Science Hall for its educational opportunities and later, to Buda, likely after the railroad established the town (Adair in The Onion Creek, 1981: B29).
The buildings' first occupant was the Buda Mercantile Company whose stockholders included stone mason and builder, Tom Howe, and company president E. J. Cleveland. According to more recent owner and geologist Carl Chelf, the buildings are made of Buda limestone quarried on the site of the Boone Heep Ranch on Onion Creek. They are the only known buildings in town to use Buda limestone in their construction. The finer limestone used in the archways was quarried from the Convict Hill area of Austin (Hibbs, 1979)
In 1913, W. S. Birdwell and his son-in-law, Sharon Barber, formed a partnership and bought out the Buda Mercantile Store the following year, acquiring both the buildings and its stock (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 385). Although Birdwell and his father had built their mercantile store in Block 1, in 1892, by 1913 the main commercial district had shifted to the south and Birdwell and Barber probably saw the substantial limestone Buda Mercantile store as a better and more competitive site. Under Birdwell and Barber's ownership, the buildings housed Buda's most prosperous general store. The W. S. Birdwell and Company Store enjoyed tremendous success in the years when "King Cotton" drove Buda's economy to its greatest prosperity, primarily between 1914 when the store opened, and 1926 when back-to-back natural disasters began to destroy the crop (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 396). At its height, the store did $2,000 worth of business on a busy Saturday when farmers and their families came into town to sell or trade eggs and butter, purchase cloth and agricultural essentials, and socialize with other farmers. There once was a large wooden building behind the store where wagons, bridles, the company horses, buggies, plows, and other farming implements were stored (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 422).
Although it survived both the agricultural ravages of drought, flooding, and boll weevil infestation in the mid-1920s and the economic devastation of the Great Depression, the family struggled through the hard times. Finally, after more than 50 years of serving Buda, the business closed in 1941 (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 386). After the Birdwells closed their business, the building was used for many purposes including Cecil Tom Labenski's washateria until he built the brick laundry next door, to the north, about 1970 (approximately 206 N. Main). The post office once operated from the former Buda Mercantile Company store and later Bill Woods ran a construction business from the site (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 422).
One of the earliest brick commercial buildings that would come to typify Buda's historic business district is the 1910 Farmers State Bank at 306 N. Main Street. The modest, one-part, yellow-brick commercial building was Buda's first bank. Established September 29, 1910, when cotton farming was successful and the town thriving, the bank served the community throughout its most prosperous period. In 1922, the bank changed from Farmers' State Bank to Farmers National Bank. The bank was the scene of Buda's most dramatic historic event. In 1926, a young woman from Austin, Becky Rogers, robbed the bank at gunpoint, locked the two employees in the vault, and got away with $1,000. She was considered "a young woman of good character," a University of Texas student, and a secretary in Attorney General Dan Moody's office, at the time of the robbery. Reportedly her husband, attorney Otis Rogers, had become so ill with tuberculosis that she was desperate for money and resolved to rob the bank. Although Becky Rogers successfully escaped with the money, she was captured soon after the hold-up and sentenced to 14 years in the Texas Penitentiary. Ms. Rogers served three years and was released after the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the lower court's decision in 1929. Paul Crews later ran a real estate office and grocery store in the former bank. Later still, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Clark operated a grocery store in the building. They were followed by Don's Den, an antique store (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 395; 419). Shortly after arriving in Buda, in 1909, Abner Jones opened the A.F. Jones Market and Icehouse in the "central business district of Buda". Ice was hauled in 100-pound blocks from Austin (Camp in The Onion Creek, 1981: 31B). This may be the icehouse to the west of the former Garison Service Station (120 N. Main Street) near the Southwest corner of Austin and Live Oak streets, approximately in the 100 block of Live Oak. An icehouse said to have been "built about 1915" and operated at one time by Jack Mathis lay behind the Garison Service Station at 120 North Main. Mathis brought 25- to 50-pound blocks of ice from San Marcos in his Model T ice truck and delivered them house-to-house (Hibbs, 1979). Made of hollow clay tile like the movie theater at 212 North Main Street, the utilitarian icehouse was important to the comfort of Buda's residents at a time when the city was growing and modernizing. A windmill still stands next to the icehouse and is visible over Garison's station.
1910-1928
Most of the town's extant historic commercial buildings date from 1910 through the 1920s, following the town's greatest period of growth and prosperity. Although Block 1 remained entirely commercial in use, the process of shifting Buda's main business district from its northernmost block to the center of the platted townsite increased momentum in the 1910s and 1920s. Between 1910 and the 1920s, J. N. Hart had a grocery store where Nathan Melasky's store, one of Buda's first buildings, had been located (Block 1, Lot 6). Mrs. Fannie Hacker had a variety store just north of Mr. Hart's store and Miss Phoebe Martin had a millinery shop in the back of Mrs. Hacker's store. Buda resident Will Rogers, who arrived in town in 1902, recalled in 1971 that he bought his first car, a 1924 Model T Ford at the "old Ferguson garage, a tin building still standing at the north end of Main Street" (Hibbs, 1979). West of the garage was a blacksmith shop run by Walter Chesser (Schwartz 1986: 413) and later Mr. Hartung (Schwartz 1986: 419). The "old Ferguson garage" appears to be the metal-clad garage building at approximately 404 N. Main (407B N. Austin), in Block 1. If so, it is one of only two historic commercial properties still standing in the former thriving business district. The blacksmith shop is gone.
During the 1910s, new commercial buildings were constructed further south of the old commercial district, in blocks 2-5. Minnie Birdwell had purchased the 1881 Carrington House, along with the rest of Block 2 and all of Block 11, adjacent to the property on the west in 1907. She either sold or leased the land on which the town's first known brick commercial building was constructed. Described earlier, the 1910 Farmers State Bank in Block 2, was a small, one-part yellow brick edifice. Four years later, a larger 2-story, red brick commercial building joined the bank on Block 2. L. D. Carrington's son, W. D. Carrington, had returned to Buda in 1891, where he embarked on a career as a pharmacist. In 1914, he built a 2-story brick commercial building on lots 5 and 6, in Block 2 (300 N. Main Street). Carrington operated a drug store on the ground floor while Drs. Lauderdale and Holtzclaw occupied upstairs offices (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419). The property now houses the Memory Lane Antique Store and is one of the best examples of commercial construction in the Buda Downtown Historic District.
At about the same time, a row of three attached one-part brick commercial buildings similar in type and design to the bank were built in the middle of Block 5. The three buildings share similar brick dentil work and fenestration and appear to have been built in a single building campaign. The new combined buildings at 108 and 106 N. Main were a grocery in the early 1920s run by R. L. Taylor. Taylor sold it to O.T. Moore, who in turn passed it to Clem Armbruster in the early 1930s. Clem and his wife Mary Armbruster operated the store for many years; Clem ran a grocery out of one side and Mary operated a dry goods store selling fabric, school supplies, sewing notions, and clothing. Wyatt and Ada Green followed the Armbrusters and today Helen Alcala's popular Case Alde restaurant occupies both portions of the building. Helen Alcala is the granddaughter of farmer Juan Rodriguez, a Mexican National who moved his family to Buda in 1913 to escape the Mexican Civil War (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 391).
The third portion of the brick buildings (about 104 N. Main) was originally A. H. White's confectionery store built about 1912. In 1912, Dr. J. J. Blanton put an ad in the Buda Star (See page 72) announcing that he had an office in the rear of Whites [sic] Confectionery (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 416). Later Ed Labenski and his son Cecil Tom moved their meat market to the building. More recently, GTE had an office in the building, but the current occupant is State Farm Insurance. The building has been extensively altered by replacing the original wood sash windows with oversized tinted aluminum frame windows, moving the door opening, and replacing the door with a modern one of glass and metal.
At the southern end of Block 4 lies the Buda Grocery and Market, built in 1914 as the Cleveland Grocery by owner E. J. Cleveland. After he sold the Buda Mercantile Co. (200-202 N. Main) to the Birdwells in 1913, Cleveland built this new commercial building on his former home site (Onion Creek, 1981: A2). The elaborate 1 1/2-story Cleveland House was constructed in the same year, 1881, and was similar in design and ornamentation to the Carrington House. It is not known why Cleveland replaced his house with the Grocery but it is possible that the land was more valuable for its commercial potential and the house was then nearly 35 years old and perhaps considered old-fashioned. By 1933, the building was named E. J. Cleveland General Merchandise. After Cleveland left the building it was used as an implement store for a while. As built, the 1 1/2-story brick grocery store was similar in design to W. S. Carrington's brick pharmacy at 300 N. Main.
Although larger than Carrington's pharmacy, Cleveland's store featured a central entrance flanked by an identical wood-framed glass storefront. Vertical multi-light transoms rose above each bay in a ribbon pattern and a flat canopy extended over the entire front façade. Modest brick corbelling decorated the brick parapet wall whose ends were defined by two brick pilasters (Main Street photo, ca. 1933 reprinted in Onion Creek Free Press, October 3, 1981: page 1). In the 1970s or 1980s, the entire front face of the building was renovated with a faux "old west" or frontier storefront, rustic porch posts, and modern plate glass windows and doors. The flat canopy suspended by guy wires was replaced by a wood-shingled hip-roofed porch, which is an anomaly in Buda's historic commercial district. On the south side elevation, segmental arch windows and other historic ornamentation are the only surviving exterior features of the building. It remains in operation as a grocery, The Buda Grocery and Market.
Shortly after the W.D. Carrington Pharmacy was built, a 2 1⁄2-story red brick building appeared at 212 N. Main Street in Block 3. Built ca. 1915 by Will G. Barber, the building was a movie house with shows on Friday and Saturday nights. In the early days of moving pictures, it ran silent films with a live pianist "interpreting" the picture's action. Later, the building was used as a café by Mrs. Bob Carter and later Mary Turner. Phoebe Martin who once ran a hat shop from Fannie Hacker's variety store in Block 1, moved her business to the rear of this building. The building was later renovated into apartments by Arthur Meredith (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 421). Its side and rear facades are built with hollow, clay tile bricks but faced with a finer red brick. This was a common practice to save money on building materials, saving the more expensive brick for the primary façade.
By 1920, Buda had grown large enough to support even more commercial construction. In Block 3, just north of the theater, three attached one-part commercial buildings with storefront entrances and modest Mission Revival detailing were built about 1925. Indicative of the business district's move to the south, Fannie Hacker moved her Variety Store from Block 1, at the north end of town to the center of the business district, now in Block 3. Hacker's new store operated from one of the new Mission Revival buildings at 218 North Main Street (Lot 2, Block 3). In 1986 it was called One Buda Center and was an antique store. Attached to Mrs. Hacker's store was Ed Niven's Confectionery at 216 N. Main (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419). Niven sold ice cream and mixed carbonated drinks from the old-fashioned soda fountain (Hibbs, 1979). In 1986, it too was an antique store. Immediately south of the confectionery at 214 N. Main stood Jim and Staton Lindeman's meat market. Ed Labenski and his son, Cecil Tom operated the meat market when the Lindemans moved. By 1986, Tony and Molly Montague bought both the former confectionery and the meat market. The couple operated Mollie's Café in one building and lived in the other (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419).
At the north end of the block, a new type of commercial establishment was established in response to the automobile: a service station. Just north of Fanny Hacker's new variety store at 218 North Main Street, a garage and filling station was built in the 1920s (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 413). According to T. F. Harwell, who moved to Buda in 1887 and was later editor of the Kyle News, the post office was once located on this site (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). The service station and garage in Block 3, Lot 1 may have been built by Eugene Severn and W. G. Williams but passed through many hands over time. The business was once owned and operated by Dave Cleveland and his sons. Later, Isadore Armbruster bought the business and continued to operate it. Still later, Bruce and Ella Ferguson moved their garage to the site from Block 1, and in 1986 it was known as Gem Automotive and operated by Sammy Shannon (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 419). A form instantly recognizable as a service station of the 1920s, it was listed as a High Priority site in Newlan's 1992 survey. It burned between 1992-2000 and plans for new construction are currently being made for the site.
Dave Garison's service station at the southwest corner of Live Oak (RR 967) and Main Street is another distinctive building, more for its longevity and status as a local landmark at the intersection of two busy streets in Buda. Brothers Dave and John D. Garison had come to Buda in 1900 with their parents and siblings. The brothers owned a furniture store north of W.S. Carrington's pharmacy (Memory Lane Antiques) by 1912, and in 1919, they purchased a lot at 120 N. Main Street (Lot 1, Block 4). In 1920, Dave Garison built a service station on the lot. The original station burned in 1934, but it was rebuilt soon after with the help of townspeople (Howard and McCaughn in The Onion Creek, 1981: B23). Although it has been altered from its original appearance, the service station retains significant character-defining features such as its angled sitting on the lot, extended porte cochere, and ad hoc fenestration pattern. [Although the gas station building at 120 North Main appears to date to the mid-1930s, it was a reconstruction of Garison's earlier, ca. 1920 service station that was destroyed in a fire in 1934 and thus does not reflect new development during the Great Depression.].
Other resources built during the 1920s in Block 4 include a blacksmith shop that lay to the west of Garison's service station, possibly between the station and the icehouse on Live Oak. About 1926, Dave Garison's son-in-law, Earl Rylander, owned a small confectionery store south of the Garrison Service Station in Block 4, but it is now gone and a large vacant lot separates the service station from the next property on the block. G. A. Moore's grocery store at 116 N. Main Street, a one-part buff-colored commercial building with a typical glass storefront and transom lights was built in 1926. Elma and Etta Mae White also operated a grocery in the building after Moore and his son Clifton retired. It is now a café. About the same time, certainly by 1933 when it appeared in a Free Press photo, the small storefront building at 112 N. Main was built by Arthur Patton who operated a barber shop there (Main Street photo, ca. 1933 reprinted in Onion Creek Free Press, October 3, 1981: page 1). Morris "Hip" Hart ran a dry cleaning operation out of the building at the same time and Patton later purchased the business. Today the building is still a barbershop and beauty salon (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 423). It is attached to the north end of the three ca. 1915 brick storefront buildings (104-108 N. Main).
Perhaps the last commercial building constructed in the district was the town's second bank at 210 N. Main. Also called the Farmers State Bank, the small, stucco Mission Revival building was built in 1928 and closed in 1931, probably due to the onset of the Great Depression. It was later used as the office for E. J. Cleveland and son Ernest Jr.'s cotton brokerage. Ed Nivens once ran his confectionery store in the building and later Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey Carter operated a café for a while in the building. Still later, Luther Turner bought the building and used it for his construction business office (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 396; 422). The former bank is a small 1-story, 3-bay building with modest Mission Revival features including a stucco façade and stepped parapet wall.
Dwellings: 1881-1928
Despite its commercial potential fronting the railroad, Main Street also saw residential construction in its early years. William W. and Elizabeth Slack, who were camping out on the site of the old gin before lots went on sale, bought two lots at the southern end of Main Street on April 2, 1881, where they built a home (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 378). It has since been demolished and may have been replaced by the home improvement building at the corner of Main and FM 2770. The Carrington and Cleveland Houses, both built in 1881, have already been mentioned. The Carrington House is the one built during Buda's earliest period of development. A small one-room board and batten house built about 1900 lies at the rear of the former Farmers State Bank in Block 2. No historical information has been found to identify the house but it is a rare example of a single pen dwelling in Buda and is considered a Contributing element of the district. Other houses would be built in Blocks 5 and 6 (the 100-200 blocks of S. Main) between the 1890s and the 1920s. Four historic dwellings in those blocks, dating from the turn of the 20th century to the late-1920s, survive to the present. All have been converted to commercial use but retain their original architectural and residential characteristics and are considered Contributing elements of the Buda Downtown Historic District.Other 2-room frame houses and small bungalows were built in Blocks 1-6 but faced N. Austin or intersecting side streets at the same time. A modest Craftsman-influenced bungalow (407 N. Austin) possibly associated with the metal garage fronting the 400 block of N. Main Street, faces Austin Street. The district's only stucco dwelling is a small hip-on-gable house at the rear of lot 3 or 4 in Block 2. It is addressed as 307 N. Austin. Several other small frame dwellings clustered at the rear of 200-202 N. Main Street, in Block 3, have modest Craftsman details but it is difficult to date the buildings either because they are new construction made to look historic or due to successive renovations. They are accessed via Austin Street but lie at the rear of the two stone buildings fronting Main Street.
Mid-Century
Buda's development nearly halted in the mid-1920s as a prolonged drought, followed by devastating floods and boll weevil infestation took its toll on area agriculture. Many long-time area farmers and ranchers were forced to abandon their properties at that time, leaving Buda with little business to sustain itself. From the mid-to late-1920s, through the Great Depression of the 1930s and the World War II era, no new construction occurred in Buda's commercial strip. Indeed, although some buildings were abandoned and others demolished, Buda's Main Street experienced little development until the 1970s, when Buda slowly began to gain population.New construction began to fill in some of the gaps along Main Street in the 1970s. A brick-style house was built on the first lot of Block 1, the site of Buda's first commercial building, in about 1970. At about the same time, a brick laundry, the Washateria, was built at 208 North Main Street amid historic buildings dating from 1898 to 1928 in Block 3. Further south, at 100 S. Main Street, a large parcel occupying 3 lots (1-3) at the north end of Block 5, historically the site of the city's lumberyard, was sold to the U.S. Postal Service in the late 1980s. It may have been the lumberyard once established by Will Morgan in the early part of the century and operated by him for many years (Schwartz in Stovall et al, 1986: 394). Morgan was followed by W. G. Williams, manager of the Mutual Lumber Company. In the early 20th century, lumberyards built houses as speculative ventures and then sold them. Many of Buda's houses may have been built by the lumber company. In 1986, the TEC Hardware Company occupied the site, which was then sold to the U.S. Postal Service for a new Buda post office. An enormous paved parking lot occupies the front half of the lot while the low, 1-story brick building with its blue metal faux Mansard canopy covers the back of the lot. The post office exhibits inappropriate size, scale, materials, design, workmanship, setting, and feeling that is not in keeping with the Buda Downtown Historic District and is therefore Noncontributing to the historic district.
Two manufactured buildings lay at the southernmost end of the original townsite. A ca. 1960s or early 1970s mobile home, first used as a residence and later as an office, was erected at 206 South Main. About 1985 or 1990, a large manufactured commercial building serving a hardware company was built in the last lot on Block 6. It faces FM 2770, but a historic house built in 1881 on the site once fronted South Main Street, anchoring the original town site. Both manufactured buildings are incongruous with the Buda Downtown Historic District and, because they are at the southernmost limit of the townsite, they are excluded from the district.
Recent Development
In the last decades of the 20th century to the present, land in the Texas Hill Country including Hays County has skyrocketed in value for its scenic beauty and rural character rather than its agricultural capabilities. Its large tracts of open land and location near the rapidly growing metropolis of Austin have attracted a multitude of developers bent on transforming the once-rural county into an adjunct of Austin. Large historic ranches, particularly along the county's creeks and rivers, are being carved into one- to ten-acre "ranchettes", reducing the once-vast vistas and open range to scattered planned developments. Other ranches and farm tracts, particularly in the Buda and Kyle areas, have been cut into dense suburban "bedroom communities" serving Austin businesses and industries.With the tremendous popularity and growth of nearby Austin in the early to mid-1980s and again from the mid-1990s to the turn of the 21st century, all of northern Hays County, especially Buda and its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, have experienced overwhelming growth. New subdivisions and commercial endeavors have sprung up for miles surrounding the old city. Despite increased development pressures and the recent construction of a new city hall and library facilities in the former railroad reservation directly across Main Street, Buda's original commercial district retains a strong sense of place.
Summary
The Buda Downtown Historic District, a four-and-a-half-block strip that served as the city's sole commercial zone since it was platted in 1881, is a good, intact example of a distinctive town development type in late 19th and early 20th-century Texas. The historic district is typical of numerous commercial centers in towns platted along emerging railroad lines that extended into Texas during the 1870s-1890s. It lies entirely along the former International and Great Northern (I & GN) railroad line, now Missouri & Pacific, and is only one block deep parallel to the railroad tracks. It contains a high concentration of historic commercial and residential properties (now transformed to commercial use), along with a scattering of small houses on rear and side streets within the district. Together they represent the full spectrum of Buda's development since its inception with the arrival of the railroad in 1881 through the end of the town's early 20th-century development period ending by 1930. District properties reflect the growth and changing economic goals and ambitions of the townspeople throughout the historic period. Few remnants of the town's earliest settlement survive. The earliest construction is presumed to have been simple frame construction that was replaced with more permanent brick and stone structures as this small agricultural hub grew in importance and wealth by the turn of the 20th century.Thirty-seven resources comprise the Buda Downtown Historic District; 28 of which are assessed as Contributing elements of the district, and 9 of which are considered Noncontributing to the district's character. All resources on Main Street serve commercial uses, regardless of their earlier function as dwellings, except the post office (governmental), the vacant single pen house (vacant dwelling) in Block 2, and the ca. 1975 ranch-style house in Block 1. Currently, the only occupied dwellings in Blocks 2-6 face onto Austin Street and do not affect the dominant commercial feel of the district. All resources within the proposed district - both historic and non-historic - are defined as buildings except for one structure, a windmill. Although the district has undergone numerous alterations in the past century, many were made before 1952 and thus exhibit historic qualities of their own. Other changes are more recent and reflect modern styles, materials, and functions but detract significantly from the building's original historic character. These altered resources are considered Noncontributing to the historic district. Still, others are non-historic, that is, they have been built within the past 50 years and are considered Noncontributing to the district's character.
Despite alterations that have occurred in the past 120 years, Buda retains a remarkable degree of historic character that is particularly evident in its outstanding brick and stone commercial buildings. Although the district contains former domestic buildings, new construction, unsympathetic alterations, and vacant lots, its concentration of related commercial properties shares similar materials, fenestration patterns, size, scale, and mass that, together, create a strong sense of the time and place in which they were built. Furthermore, the Buda Downtown Historic District owes much of its historic feeling to its nearly uniform streetscape patterns including setbacks, sidewalks, awnings, and building orientation, all of which reinforce the district's cohesiveness. Because the Buda Downtown Historic District retains its architectural integrity and historic associations with railroad-era development in Texas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance. Although economic growth and construction in Buda's downtown district ceased after 1930, the period of significance extends to 1935 to include the Garrison Service Station, which was rebuilt after a fire destroyed the original 1920 service station on that site. The service station was reportedly rebuilt to resemble the original station and the building, despite alterations, is considered a significant local landmark that is integral to the historic streetscape. Its reconstruction, although several years into the Great Depression, was the last commercial property built on Main Street until the 1960s and thus is associated with the historic period in the hearts and minds of Buda's citizens.
Community Planning And Development; Architecture
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
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 is home to the world's largest bat colony. The Bracken Bat Cave, near San Antonio, is home to millions of Mexican free-tailed bats.
About Hays County
Hays County Timeline
Hays County, located in the central part of Texas, has a rich and diverse history that stretches back thousands of years. The area was originally inhabited by various indigenous tribes, including the Tonkawa and Comanche peoples. However, the first recorded European arrival in the region occurred in 1690 when Spanish explorers made their way through the area.
In the early 1800s, Anglo-American settlers began to establish permanent settlements in what is now Hays County. One of the most notable figures in the county's history is Captain John Coffee "Jack" Hays, a Texas Ranger who played a significant role in fighting against Native American raids in the region. As a result of his contributions, the county was renamed in his honor in 1848.
During the mid-1800s, Hays County experienced rapid growth and development, fueled by the arrival of the railroad in the region. The county became an important hub for agriculture, with cotton and cattle as the main industries. The county seat, San Marcos, played a key role in the growth of education in the area, becoming home to Southwest Texas State Normal School (now Texas State University) in 1899.
In the 20th century, Hays County continued to evolve and modernize. The population increased steadily as more people were attracted to the area’s natural beauty, recreational opportunities, and proximity to Austin. Today, Hays County remains a vibrant and growing community, serving as a bridge between the natural beauty of the Texas Hill Country and the urban amenities of nearby metropolitan areas.
In the early 1800s, Anglo-American settlers began to establish permanent settlements in what is now Hays County. One of the most notable figures in the county's history is Captain John Coffee "Jack" Hays, a Texas Ranger who played a significant role in fighting against Native American raids in the region. As a result of his contributions, the county was renamed in his honor in 1848.
During the mid-1800s, Hays County experienced rapid growth and development, fueled by the arrival of the railroad in the region. The county became an important hub for agriculture, with cotton and cattle as the main industries. The county seat, San Marcos, played a key role in the growth of education in the area, becoming home to Southwest Texas State Normal School (now Texas State University) in 1899.
In the 20th century, Hays County continued to evolve and modernize. The population increased steadily as more people were attracted to the area’s natural beauty, recreational opportunities, and proximity to Austin. Today, Hays County remains a vibrant and growing community, serving as a bridge between the natural beauty of the Texas Hill Country and the urban amenities of nearby metropolitan areas.
Hays County Timeline
This timeline provides a glimpse into the major events and milestones that have shaped the history of Hays County, Texas.
- 1837: Hays County is officially established as a county when the Republic of Texas is formed.
- 1848: The county seat is established in the town of San Marcos.
- 1856: A charter is granted to create the Hays County Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Mechanical Association.
- 1861: With the outbreak of the Civil War, many men from Hays County volunteer for service in the Confederate Army.
- 1881: The International-Great Northern Railroad is completed, connecting San Marcos to Austin and San Antonio.
- 1903: Southwest Texas State Normal School (now known as Texas State University) is established in San Marcos.
- 1938: The Blanco River floods, causing significant damage to homes and infrastructure in Hays County.
- 1996: The Hays County Courthouse, built in 1909, is added to the National Register of Historic Places.
- 2015: The county experiences widespread flooding from heavy rains, resulting in several deaths and extensive property damage.