Spicewood Springs, George W. Davis, Travis County Poor Farm

This is another in a series of working notes looking forward to preserve and commemorate (e.g. through a historical marker) the prehistory and history of Spicewood Springs -- the springs and community that grew up around the springs -- as part of the Austin Oaks PUD / development / zoning / Austin Oaks Charrette process that is going on. If you click on the label "Spicewood Springs and the Austin Oaks PUD" in the right hand margin you'll see other posts from this series, or related to the topics in this series.

 

George W. Davis

One of the first settlers around Spicewood Springs was George Washington Davis (ca. 1809-1884). And the Austin Oaks land is part of the original grant of 3,154 acres for his service to the Republic of Texas during the Texas Revolution (Battle of San Jacinto).

We've actually got a couple of history markers east of Shoal Creek relating to the George W. Davis. One deals with the fact that his land was also the site of the quarry from which limestone was taken for the 1853 Texas Capitol; this spot is today's Northwest Park:
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=95577

The other marker is the Davis Cemetery:
https://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=26778

Here's a couple of maps. The first a snippet from the 1880 GLO map of landowners showing Spicewood Springs (purple dot), Spicewood Springs creek that runs down into the Austin Oaks property, across the tracks and into Shoal Creek (green), and Davis' grant (outlined in yellow)

The second map is using TCAD's map search facility to get a better look at George W. Davis' property boundary; Spicewood Springs Road is roughly the northern boundary on this old Republic of Texas Land Grant.

So Austin Oaks is on land granted to a participant of the Battle of San Jacinto by the Republic of Texas for services rendered in the Texas War for Independence. That would sound good on a marker!

 

Travis County Poor Farm

There's more though. With help from folks at the Travis County Historical Commission we've determined that just across the tracks from Spicewood Springs, still part of Davis' property, was what appears to be Travis County's first "Poor Farm", which best we can tell from county records was in operation from about 1879-1903 (give or take)[1]. Michael Barnes at the Austin American has written about the Poor Farm that was down around Windsor, but it's looking like the Spicewood Springs community had the original. The county road map to the left (1898-1902) shows the location of the "County Farm" with respect Spicewood Springs. The western boundary was Jollyville Road (today's Balcones Drive / MoPac access road); eastern boundary old Georgetown Road (today's Burnet Road); norther boundary was Spicewood Springs Road east of the rail road (today's Foster Lane turning into Anderson Lane further east).


Click here to view Michael Barnes article

Click here for previous post with more on the Poor Farm 

Footnotes

[1] Travis County Clerk Records: Commissioners Court Minutes D, p 218, describes the purchase by Travis County of 303 acres for the Poor Farm from the headright of G.W. Davis in 1879. Available on Portal to Texas History. The western and eastern boundaries of the Poor Farm are shown on the the Travis County Clerk Records: Road Book Precinct 2, maps for Jollyville Road & Upper Georgetown Road (today's Burnet Road). This location of the Poor Farm is the one referenced in Wilbarger’s Indian Depredations of Texas, p. 140, saying Spicewood Springs was "opposite where the poor farm of Travis county is located".