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History of Salado
Note: The following historical sketch of Salado is from History of
Salado: An Historic Treasure, published by the Salado Historical Society
with text by Linda Kelley. This history has been augmented in several
places with information from Experience Salado: A Visitor's Guide
published by the Salado Merchants Committee, and from local historian
Patricia Barton. The Institute for the Humanities is most grateful for
this assistance.
Salado Keeps Its Historical Heritage Alive
Whether one dates Salado's existence as a town from April 29, 1852, when
the first Post Office was established here, or from October 8, 1859,
when Sterling C. Robertson donated 100 acres of land to be sold in lots
to create a town, Salado, Texas, has been prominent in Texas history and
has attracted visitors from throughout the world.
Salado is rich in history, character and legend. The community grew up
around a flowing spring-fed creek that provided a welcome oasis for
early Central Texas visitors. But long before Salado attracted permanent
settlers, the area drew native American Indians as well as Spanish and
Mexican travelers who were drawn to its peaceful beauty. Legend has it
these various visitors believed Salado Creek possessed special curative
powers.
The earliest known white person to settle at Salado Springs was
Archibald C. Willingham, who purchased his land for $1 per acre from
Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson, son of the Empresario, who had acquired
the land which was the original Headright of H. W. Hurd. Hurd had
received the 1280 acres from the Republic of Texas, but in 1848 had sold
it to Joseph Rowe who in turn sold it to Robertson. The deed shows that
in December 1848, Willingham purchased 320 acres of the land from
Robertson. Willingham built a log cabin which stood where the Stagecoach
Inn Motel registration building is today. Robertson's large plantation
home just south of the town was occupied by his family in July 1854, and
to this day members of the Robertson family have continued to own and
occupy the property.
Salado Gets Post Office Meanwhile, in 1852, Lewis Ogle had been
appointed Postmaster for Salado, and it had joined the other stage stops
along the overland mail route between Austin and Waco. The stagecoach
would become an integral part of the community's life, bringing all
sorts of prominent Texans with it. Among those associated with early
Salado through documents and letters are Sam Houston, Robert E. Lee, and
Shanghai Pierce.
A log cabin, discovered within a house which was being demolished in
1986, has led to speculation that it might have been Salado's first Post
Office. The Salado Historical Society dismantled the cabin and moved it
onto land adjacent to the Civic Center. The restoration of the cabin was
completed in 1991.
Salado College, Town Founded As the community grew in the late 1850s,
talk began about the need for a school, and apparently the citizens
would settle for nothing but the best. They discussed the school many
times at tent meetings and under the shade of the spreading oaks along
the creek. Sulfur Springs seemed the favored site until October 8, 1859,
when E. S. C. Robertson offered to donate 10 acres for the college
grounds and sell 90 additional acres at $5 each to provide money for the
building. This plan was accepted, and Salado College was underway.
Herman Aiken would survey the 90 acres for town lots, and the Salado
College joint Stock Company announced an auction for these lots in
December 1859. Only twenty-three lots were sold on that day, but despite
this disappointment to Robertson and the College Board, plans for the
college would continue.
From the day it opened its doors on February 20, 1860, the college would
attract the best students from throughout the state, and would have a
major influence on education. The town's reputation for fine education
and the fact that Salado College, non-profit and co-educational,
stressed fine arts along with its other course work, gave Salado the
background for interest in the arts and humanities which continues today
through the Salado Art Fair, Table Rock Festival, and the Institute for
the Humanities at Salado.
The first classes for Salado College were held in a temporary wooden
building, and there Rev. Levi Tenney served as Principal for the primary
school. On July 4, 1860, the Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons of Texas, with the assistance of Belton Lodge 166, laid the
cornerstone for the college building. This was the first cornerstone
laid in Bell County and in this section of Texas, according to George
Tyler's History of Bell County.
Stabilized ruins of the Salado College building stand on the hill south
of the village and are under the supervision of a foundation. A statue
of Empressario E. S. C. Robertson has been erected on the grounds.
Role of Stagecoach Inn Among those who purchased the original lots in
the town were Thomas Jefferson Eubanks, who on December 3, 1860, bought
Lot # 10, a two-and-a-half acre tract designated for a hotel. It was at
this location that Eubanks would construct what is today known as
Stagecoach Inn. The Inn stands as a reminder of the important role the
stagecoach line played in the growth of the village. Originally an
Overland Stage and Pony Express stop on the old Chisholm Trail, Salado
welcomed such luminaries as General Robert E. Lee, General George Custer
and Stephen F. Austin. The stage line also brought outlaws to Salado,
including the James Brothers and Sam Bass.
The hotel would fall into many hands, but it continues to be the
stronghold of the community. Now a restaurant, the old hotel is still
Salado's best known landmark. A Texas Historical Medallion was approved
for Stagecoach Inn on March 1, 1962. The Medallion disappeared for many
years, but in 1984 was replaced. In 1983 the old hotel was approved for
the National Register of Historic Places.
Other Historic Sites Many of the other people who purchased town lots
and brought their families to Salado also contributed the sites which
have received designations by the Texas Historical Commission and the
National Register of Historic Places. The first such designations came
in 1936, when in celebration of the State's Centennial, the Dr. Welborn
Barton House, E. S. C. Robertson House, 0. T. Tyler House, and the W A.
Davis Mill were marked. When the Civil War Centennial was celebrated in
the 1960s, the site of Alexander's Medicinal Distillery was recognized.
Nineteen sites have been placed on the National Register of Historical
Places, and there are twenty-five sites with State Historical Markers,
including Salado Creek, which was the first Texas Natural Landmark to be
designated by the Texas Historical Survey Committee. Medallions were
placed on the James B. Anderson House and Store, the George Washington
Baines House, the Josiah Fowler House, the Robert Halley House, the A.
J. Rose House, the Salado United Methodist Church, Stinnett's Mill, the
B. D. McKie House, Summers Mill, the Vickrey Berry House, the Denman Log
Cabin, and the Armstrong-Adams House. Texas Historical Subject Markets
have been placed for Elizabeth Sutherland Carpenter, Dulaney's Mill,
Major A. J. Rose, Main Street Bridges, Salado Cemetery, and Thomas
Arnold High School. Those listed in the National Register of Historic
Places include the Robertson House, Stagecoach Inn, Baines House, Rose
House, McKie House, W A. Davis House, Tyler House, Anderson House and
Store, Armstrong-Adams House, Levi Tenney House, Barton House, Vickrey
House, Halley House, Josiah Fowler House, White Aiken House, Methodist
Church, Barbee-Berry Mercantile Building, and the Salado College
Archaeological Site.
The Salado Historical Society has established the Landmark Award for
sites which do not meet all the criteria for a State Historical Marker,
but which are important to the history of the village. Among the sites
which have been designated are the Jones Mill Site in Mill Creek, the
Hamblen Family Cemetery, and the Buckles/Orgain House which houses the
Inn at Salado.
Salado and The Civil War The Civil War started just after the people of
Salado had established themselves. While there was no fighting in or
around Salado and not much in Texas, fathers and sons joined the
Confederate forces and went off to war. According to George W. Tyler's
History of Bell County, while delegates were being chosen to the
Secession Convention, Capt. Robert B. Halley recruited a company styled
the "Salado Mounted Troops" and tendered their services to the
Convention on February 4, 1861. At the end of their enlistment of three
months, the ranging company was automatically disbanded, but most of
these men would re-organize under Capt. Halley to form a cavalry unit
for the Confederacy. The men bivouacked during the Christmas Holidays at
Salado Springs, where the citizens threw a big dance in their honor. It
was here that the first and only Muster Roll that reached the
Confederate War Department at Richmond was made. The roll was dated at
Camp Salado, Bell County, Texas, January 1, 1863.
Those who survived the war returned to find their farms in poor shape,
but they began the process of rebuilding. Many who had owned businesses
in the community were soon able to restore and then expand them.
Mills Locate Along Creek Among the early Salado businesses were gins and
mills which were being operated along Salado Creek. They would be joined
by others, in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Of those established
during this period, only Stinnett's Mill remains. It is now a residence.
The mill which created the most attention in Salado was the Davis Mill,
constructed in 1866. A dam was constructed which caused the citizens
problems in crossing the creek. After a court battle, the dam was
lowered, but about this same time, the citizens of Salado decided they
needed a bridge across the creek.
Salado Incorporates, Builds Bridge In 1866, the citizens petitioned the
Bell County Commissioners Court for an incorporation election. It is
reported by some sources that the main purpose of incorporation was to
provide a city government which could raise funds and construct a
bridge. The full slate of officials is not known, and no records of the
city government or of other elections have been located.
The citizens did build their bridge, a wire cable suspension foot
bridge, designed, engineered and constructed by local men. The bridge
served the village until a flood in 1900 destroyed it. Since that time,
several bridges have spanned the creek, including iron wagon and foot
bridges at the Main Street Bridge Marker. The current bridge was built
in 1922.
First Texas Grange Located Here Salado was to get yet another
distinction in 1873 when on July 5, the first Grange in Texas was
established here. The organization would rent a two-story building just
across from the Salado College Campus, which now houses the Central
Texas Area Museum. Several additions have been added to the building in
recent years.
Even after the statewide Grange organizations began to dwindle, the
Salado Grange was still strong because of such leaders as A. J. Rose and
0. T. Tyler. The Salado Grange continued to serve its members until the
late 1880s.
College Fades, But Not Interest In Education Salado College began to
fade in the mid-1880s, and from 1885 to 1890, the buildings were
occupied by the Salado Public Schools. In 1890 the buildings were
occupied by Thomas Arnold High School, a private institution run by Dr.
Samuel Jackson Jones who had been associated previously with Salado
College. Among the graduates were Robert Lee Guthrie, a Rhodes Scholar,
and Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson, Texas' first woman governor.
Thomas Arnold High School kept Salado's reputation for quality education
alive until 1913 when Salado College was re-established. This school
would operate until 1919, when its stockholders voted unanimously to
donate the ground and buildings to Salado Public Schools. In 1924 a
third fire destroyed the buildings which had been rebuilt in 1901 and
1902.
The heirs of William K. Hamblen provided the site for the next school
buildings. The donation included the family home which was demolished to
make room for the new school building which was constructed in 1924. The
cornerstone for the building was laid on September 20, 1924, and the
building still stands. In 1993, after years of disuse, the red brick
building was renovated to become a community center.
The New Salado From the late 1920s until the mid-1940s, Salado took on
the characteristics of most small towns in Texas. Its citizens went
about their business, came to town for groceries and other supplies, and
attended church services. Some people have even referred to Salado as a
near ghost town during this time.
The transformation or revival came after Dion and Ruth Van Bibber
purchased the old Shady Villa Hotel with the intent to run a tea room.
By the time they got the building renovated and all their plans
formulated, they opened a restaurant known as the Stagecoach Inn. The
fine food and quality service gained the restaurant and village a spot
in Texas annals. While the old original hotel brought the likes of Sam
Houston and others, the Van Bibber's establishment brought more modern
celebrities, such as President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his family.
Also in the 1940s, Herbert and Thelma Fletcher moved their publishing
business from Houston to Salado. Their grandson Tyler Fletcher still
operates this rare book and antique store on Main Street.
Hugh N. (Mac) Sherrill was the next to "get the call to Salado." He
joined the Van Bibbers and their nephew Bill Bratton in the Stagecoach
Inn, then came up with his own idea for a residential development which
he called Mill Creek Country Club. Sherrill sold the development and its
nine hole golf course to four central Texas businessmen in 1979. Led by
developer, Don Mackie, they doubled the size of Mill Creek and built a
27-hole Robert Trent Jones II golf course and resort facilities. In late
2003, Mill Creek was acquired by the Stagecoach Inn, bringing the
development full circle.
In 1962, a former New York model from the little town of Rosanky, Texas,
Grace Rosanky Jones, purchased with her husband the old First State Bank
Building and began renovation for what would become a world-renown dress
shop. Still offering the finest in fashions from New York, Paris and
Milan, Grace Jones, Inc. has been influential in bringing customers from
throughout the United States to Salado.
These were early pioneers, but they all helped create modern-day Salado.
Now a mecca of antique shops, specialty stores and historic sites, the
village continues to be a favorite spot for relaxation, culture, and
living life to its fullest. Cultural events are held throughout the
year, such as home tours, an art fair, a Gathering of the Scottish
Clans, and antique shows. Recreation afforded by nearby Stillhouse
Hollow Lake and Lake Belton as well as the nationally-famous golf course
at Mill Creek, draws many to Salado. The population of Salado has grown
from 400 in the late 1960s to 3,500 in 1998.
The enchanting character that has long defined the Village of Salado
still abounds. Innkeepers, restaurateurs, artists, merchants, book
dealers, and residents have come together to build one of the most
beautiful and unique communities in Texas.
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