Travis County Historical Markers
NUMBER OF MARKERS IN COUNTY - 527
Have- 500 Need - 27
Named for William Barret Travis, the commander of the Republic of Texas forces at the Battle of the Alamo. The county seat is Austin which is also the capital of Texas.
It's hard for me to know where to start when talking about historical markers in Travis County. We live in Williamson County so Travis County being the neighboring county and the county with the most markers in Texas. It has been a special though difficult project since we started this hobby. When we started in 2006 the Texas Historical Commission had only a small portion of the existing Travis County markers listed, some we tripped over just by accident, others we found in other sources including an old book from the 1970s. We quickly realized we were working with a very incomplete list and while it is vastly improved, it is still not completely accurate.
I also like to represent, the sites that had markers, that have since been lost. Travis County has razed severalr of older properties often to replace them with parking lots. Even now with the awareness of the value of historical properties being heightened, it seems developers are always at the ready to replace them with condos. Progress versus retaining the pass seems to be a very delicate difficult balance to attain.
Many buildings in Austin particularly, have lost their markers, so given that they weren't listed for quite a long time and the markers are not present on the buildings, it took several trips and many years to discover that these buildings once had historical markers. Examples include Austin's Moonlight Towers (replaced with a Travis County marker, but once had an official Texas Historical marker), Paggi Carriage House, and E.H. Carrington Grocery Store and Lyon’s Hall. There are also many buildings missing either a medallion or a plate such as Millet Opera House is missing a subject plate, the Onion Creek Lodge 220, A.F. & A.M., and McNeal House are missing their medallions and the Sampson Building is missing both the medallion & plate.
Travis County Historical Commission adds several new markers a year and probably could do so for the next 10 years without much difficulty. They have been busy trying to include underrepresented Travis County history. They have been less successful in documenting the history of older markers, including lost or moved markers. Travis County has more markers inside buildings than any other county we have visited but you really have to be lucky or have access to some older books to know this is the case. We hope to work with them next year to collaborate on a more complete and accurate list.
There is simply too much information to list all the missing, relocated or razed markers inside buildings here, so I have tried to add this information to the individual marker pages. If a marker page does not open it is because we have yet to get to it or have not found it. It is difficult for me to put any marker, in the complete and absolutely missing basket because we have found so many that we initially thought were gone for good. I will try and add information as we find it. I also have plans to add the statues and monuments that were put up by the state because they do fall under the category of historical markers and given that many of them involve the Civil War and particularly the confederacy I believe they will one day be removed, at least from the capitol grounds and I'd like to document them before that happens. We also need to go back to the Texas State Cemetery and capture some of the pre-centennial grave markers. It is hit or miss whether the Texas Historical Commission lists them but they were part of an early program and are sometimes included. I feel like they either are or they aren't historical markers and either all should be included or none, so I will include them on our site. Luckily Travis County is close to home and aside from traffic it is not too difficult to arrange to do a half-day or even a couple of hours trip, which I see us doing for several years to come.
It's hard for me to know where to start when talking about historical markers in Travis County. We live in Williamson County so Travis County being the neighboring county and the county with the most markers in Texas. It has been a special though difficult project since we started this hobby. When we started in 2006 the Texas Historical Commission had only a small portion of the existing Travis County markers listed, some we tripped over just by accident, others we found in other sources including an old book from the 1970s. We quickly realized we were working with a very incomplete list and while it is vastly improved, it is still not completely accurate.
I also like to represent, the sites that had markers, that have since been lost. Travis County has razed severalr of older properties often to replace them with parking lots. Even now with the awareness of the value of historical properties being heightened, it seems developers are always at the ready to replace them with condos. Progress versus retaining the pass seems to be a very delicate difficult balance to attain.
Many buildings in Austin particularly, have lost their markers, so given that they weren't listed for quite a long time and the markers are not present on the buildings, it took several trips and many years to discover that these buildings once had historical markers. Examples include Austin's Moonlight Towers (replaced with a Travis County marker, but once had an official Texas Historical marker), Paggi Carriage House, and E.H. Carrington Grocery Store and Lyon’s Hall. There are also many buildings missing either a medallion or a plate such as Millet Opera House is missing a subject plate, the Onion Creek Lodge 220, A.F. & A.M., and McNeal House are missing their medallions and the Sampson Building is missing both the medallion & plate.
Travis County Historical Commission adds several new markers a year and probably could do so for the next 10 years without much difficulty. They have been busy trying to include underrepresented Travis County history. They have been less successful in documenting the history of older markers, including lost or moved markers. Travis County has more markers inside buildings than any other county we have visited but you really have to be lucky or have access to some older books to know this is the case. We hope to work with them next year to collaborate on a more complete and accurate list.
There is simply too much information to list all the missing, relocated or razed markers inside buildings here, so I have tried to add this information to the individual marker pages. If a marker page does not open it is because we have yet to get to it or have not found it. It is difficult for me to put any marker, in the complete and absolutely missing basket because we have found so many that we initially thought were gone for good. I will try and add information as we find it. I also have plans to add the statues and monuments that were put up by the state because they do fall under the category of historical markers and given that many of them involve the Civil War and particularly the confederacy I believe they will one day be removed, at least from the capitol grounds and I'd like to document them before that happens. We also need to go back to the Texas State Cemetery and capture some of the pre-centennial grave markers. It is hit or miss whether the Texas Historical Commission lists them but they were part of an early program and are sometimes included. I feel like they either are or they aren't historical markers and either all should be included or none, so I will include them on our site. Luckily Travis County is close to home and aside from traffic it is not too difficult to arrange to do a half-day or even a couple of hours trip, which I see us doing for several years to come.
10th February, 2019 - After some procrastination I took another deep dive into what still needs to happen with Travis County historical markers. I think if we tried we could easily reduce the number left by half, hopefully more. By reseaching these outstanding markers I did make some progress an learned some more about markers that exist inside buildings . The Rutherford House, which had a medallion and plate, was at some stage was moved from Nueces Street in downtown Austin to Tarrytown. There are several small private cemeteries that almost always take extra effort to try and capture. I saw that Millet Opera House had it's plate replaced and rededicated, I hope that this means some of the other missing markers will also be replaced. I wrote a lot of people on this review and happily recieved many answers and helpful information.
9th March, 2019 - I got Steve moving and he took me into downtown Austin on a Sunday morning and we were able to capture a few more of the outstanding markers. Then last Sunday I was feeling a little down about something that's been happening at work and he said okay let's go capture those two cemeteries in Manor, I know it sounds funny but he knew it would lift my spirits a little and get my mind off a difficult situation. Travis County has added 4 more to its already impressive set, I don't think they have actually been placed. The Collins Cemetery in south Austin has just been placed.
17th September, 2019 - We managed to visit the UT Campus before the kids went back to school, which has long been on the to-do list. We also managed to capture a couple of the newer markers and one very old one that we had looked for several times without success. The next to-do in Travis County is to visit downtown during the week to visit a couple of building that have markers inside. We are widdling down the number of still outstanding markers and I still hope to be done before the end of the year.
24th April, 2020 - When I come up to a review of a county like Travis I think this won't take too long, there are not the many left. Of course that is not the case, it takes much longer than I anticippated. The thing is, I do always learn something new which inches us little closer to completing the county. Completing Travis County has just become more of a priority because in all likelihood we will be moving shortly and it will be much harder to get the last few markers. Of the ones we have left there are at least five that are accessible. Several of the houses, I believe may have been affected by the lengthy search by the Texas Historical Commission for a new foundry. Travis County Historical Commission told me that the Dr. Lewis and Carolyn Mitchell marker is just waiting for a decision on the location. The Old Supreme Courthouse marker was removed to storage? when the courthouse was renovated to reflect the original style.
I'm going take a minute to mention the single medallions. This was the start of Texas Historic Commission recognition of buildings with historical significance program. It commenced in the sixties with single medallions that were each numbered with their coresponding landmarks. Travis County has more than any of the other counties we have been too, unfortunately many of them are also lost. The State Capital and the Land Title Building were two of the building that at one time had medallions, they are no longer on the buildings as far as we have been able to find. Now saying that there are a couple of building like the Austin Public library that are not listed on the Texas Historical Commission atlas as having a medallion but do have one attached to the building. 🤔
I'm going take a minute to mention the single medallions. This was the start of Texas Historic Commission recognition of buildings with historical significance program. It commenced in the sixties with single medallions that were each numbered with their coresponding landmarks. Travis County has more than any of the other counties we have been too, unfortunately many of them are also lost. The State Capital and the Land Title Building were two of the building that at one time had medallions, they are no longer on the buildings as far as we have been able to find. Now saying that there are a couple of building like the Austin Public library that are not listed on the Texas Historical Commission atlas as having a medallion but do have one attached to the building. 🤔
27th June, 2020 - It has no been very long between reviews and I went in thinking there would be no new leads but I was wrong I did learn I couple of new facts.
This review I'm going to talk about what we include in our marker lists. I have been asked this question a couple of times and I thought I'd write about it in Travis County because it is one of the most difficult counties in which to make a complete inventory. If I know for sure a marker is missing, I consider the picture of the house as good as it's going to get, this is the case for the newly added Dietrich Bohls Homestead the house which once had a medallion and although the buildings were preserved the medallion is no longer on the old house. This could be because the home was moved to a new location and sometimes this means the historical landmark designation is removed along with the marker. In Travis County, there are many markers in the back of the house which means it is not easily seen or assessed, such as the case of West Hill. In this county there are also several markers inside of the properties, see Baker Home Site. We still have a couple more in Travis County that are inside buildings. Some buildings that once had historical markers have been razed in the name of progress and in this case I include them on the list and try and include a photo of the building as much for the sake of completeness and because I think is it often a shame that they were lost. There are also many old properties where the markers are simply missing I never fully give up on them until I have spoken to the current owner for all the reasons mentioned above The Trask House is not listed in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas but I have a much older list where it is listed including the text. I have also seen a picture of the house where the medallion and plate were still in place.
This review I'm going to talk about what we include in our marker lists. I have been asked this question a couple of times and I thought I'd write about it in Travis County because it is one of the most difficult counties in which to make a complete inventory. If I know for sure a marker is missing, I consider the picture of the house as good as it's going to get, this is the case for the newly added Dietrich Bohls Homestead the house which once had a medallion and although the buildings were preserved the medallion is no longer on the old house. This could be because the home was moved to a new location and sometimes this means the historical landmark designation is removed along with the marker. In Travis County, there are many markers in the back of the house which means it is not easily seen or assessed, such as the case of West Hill. In this county there are also several markers inside of the properties, see Baker Home Site. We still have a couple more in Travis County that are inside buildings. Some buildings that once had historical markers have been razed in the name of progress and in this case I include them on the list and try and include a photo of the building as much for the sake of completeness and because I think is it often a shame that they were lost. There are also many old properties where the markers are simply missing I never fully give up on them until I have spoken to the current owner for all the reasons mentioned above The Trask House is not listed in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas but I have a much older list where it is listed including the text. I have also seen a picture of the house where the medallion and plate were still in place.