Name: Buda, Texas
Address: Buda, TX

The Rock That Carries the Town's Name RoadyGoat

1900

Buda gave the world more than wiener dog races. There is a whole layer of rock named after this town, and it stretches for hundreds of miles across Texas. In nineteen hundred, a geologist named T.W. Vaughan was mapping the Cretaceous rocks of Central Texas and needed a name for one particular limestone bed. He had been calling it the Shoal Creek Limestone, but that name was already in use elsewhere, so he renamed it after the little town of Buda, and it stuck. Today geologists from one end of Texas to the other call it the Buda Limestone. It is better than ninety million years old, laid down near the end of the age of dinosaurs, and it can be traced clear across the state as a single thin bed. There is even a coiled sea creature, an ammonite, named Budaiceras after this rock. So the next time somebody asks what Buda is famous for, you can tell them the town put its name on a piece of Texas geology, a fossil, and a whole lot of aggravated oil wells.

The Layer That Steals Your Mud, Then Kicks Back RoadyGoat

That Buda Limestone, the rock layer named after this town, has a nasty reputation in the oil patch. Ask anyone who has drilled a well through Central Texas about the Buda and watch them wince. The problem is that the Buda is shot through with natural cracks, and those cracks are starving for pressure, because unlike the oil-rich Eagle Ford shale sitting right on top of it, the Buda's fractures never got charged up. So when a crew drills down through it, pushing heavy mud to keep the well under control, that mud simply vanishes. It pours into the cracks and disappears, a problem drillers call lost circulation, or a thief zone, and the Buda is famous for it. Then, to keep everyone honest, a bit will punch into a fracture that is charged, and the well kicks back. Lose your mud one minute, take a kick the next, and never quite know which crack will do what. That is why experienced crews often drill the Buda underbalanced, on purpose, below the pressure it wants to fight. It is one tricky little limestone, named after Buda, Texas.

Buda, TX RoadyGoat

The name 'Buda' has an intriguing origin. According to the town's oral tradition, it is a corruption of the Spanish word 'viuda,' meaning 'widow,' possibly referring to the widows who worked as cooks at the Carrington Hotel. Another theory suggests that the name is a nod to the exiles of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848 who settled in the area, similar to the town of Buda, Illinois.

Hays, John Coffee

1836

John Coffee (Jack) Hays, Texas Ranger extraordinary and Mexican War officer, son of Harmon and Elizabeth (Cage) Hays, was born at Little Cedar Lick, Wilson County, Tennessee, on January 28, 1817. His father, of Scots-Irish descent, fought with Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston in the War of 1812. Hays became the prototypical Texas Ranger officer, and he and his cohorts- John S. (Rip) Ford , Ben McCulloch , and Samuel H. Walker established the ranger tradition. Hays joined the Texas Rangers in the formative years of their role as citizen soldiers. His rangers gained a reputation as mounted troops with revolvers and individually styled uniforms, who marched and fought with a noticeable lack of military discipline. This rough-and-ready image of an irregular force left its imprint on the chronicles of ranger history. In the thirteen years that he lived in Texas, Hays mixed a military career with surveying. At an early age he left home, surveyed lands in Mississippi, attended Davidson Academy at Nashville, and decided to cast his lot with the rebels in the Texas Revolution . In 1836 he traveled to New Orleans and entered Texas at Nacogdoches in time to join the troops under Thomas J. Rusk and bury the remains of victims of the Goliad Massacre . Houston advised Hays to join a company of rangers under Erastus (Deaf) Smith for service from San Antonio to the Rio Grande, under the orders of Col. Henry W. Karnes . In this role Hays took part in an engagement with Mexican cavalry near Laredo, assisted in the capture of Juan Sánchez, and rose to the rank of sergeant. After appointment as deputy surveyor of the Bexar District, Hays combined soldiering and surveying for several years. The more he learned about Indian methods of warfare, the better he protected surveying parties against Indian attacks. In the three-way struggle of Anglo colonists, Hispanic settlers, and Indians, Hays proved to be an able leader and fearless fighter (called "Devil Yack"), who gained the respect of the rank and file of the Texas Rangers. Yet his stature-five feet nine inches-his fair complexion, and his mild manners did not match the looks and actions of the legendary ranger in later popular culture. From 1840 through 1846 Hays, at first a captain, then a major, and his ranger companies, sometimes with Mexican volunteers and such Indian allies as Lipan chief Flacco , engaged the Comanches and Mexican troops in small skirmishes and major battles. Important military actions took place at Plum Creek, Cañón de Ugalde, Salado (against Mexican soldiers under Adrián Woll), and Walker's Creek. In these battles Hays and his rangers were usually outnumbered, and their effective use of revolvers revolutionized warfare against Texas Indians. The Texas Rangers gained a national reputation in the Mexican War. Into Mexico rode Hays's rangers. Out of Mexico came a mounted irregular body of rangers celebrated in song and story throughout the United States. This transformation in fact and fiction started with the formation of the First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen, under Colonel Hays. Serving with the army of Gen. Zachary Taylor , the rangers marched, scouted, and took part in the attack on Monterrey in 1846. The next year Hays formed another regiment that participated in keeping communication and supply lines open between Veracruz and Mexico City for the troops under the command of Gen. Winfield Scott. In doing so, Hays's rangers fought Mexican guerrillas near Veracruz and at such places as Teotihuacán and Sequalteplán. Controversy between the rangers and the Mexican people still lingers, for they robbed and killed each other off the battlefields. In the years that followed the Mexican War, Hays pioneered trails through the Southwest to California and became a prominent citizen of that state. In 1848 he tried unsuccessfully to find a route between San Antonio and El Paso, and the following year he received an appointment from the federal government as Indian agent for the Gil

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Antioch Colony

1870

Antioch Colony was a rural farming community formed after the Civil War by a group of formerly enslaved African Americans. Although freed from slavery after the Civil War, African Americans still found it difficult to purchase land. In 1859, Anglo businessman Joseph F. Rowley purchased 490 acres in north Hays County, along Onion Creek. He began selling parcels to former slaves in 1870 at $5.00 per acre. Rowley, perhaps in an effort to protect the new landowners from losing their property, indicated in many of the deeds that the African American owners could not sell the property without Rowley’s consent. After moving to Missouri, Rowley rescinded the stipulation in 1893 but the document was not filed in Hays County until 1913. Community residents Elias and Clarisa Bunton donated property for a community school and church in 1874, and the building served as the school until 1939. The following year, the school was relocated to Black Colony Road and served Antioch until students were integrated into the Buda school system in 1961. A Baptist church and a Methodist church were organized in the community, and there was also an active Masonic lodge and Order of the Eastern Star chapter in Antioch. Antioch remained an active farm community through the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1950s, many residents had moved away in search of better employment opportunities and the community was virtually abandonded. Beginning in the 1970s former residents and their descendants began returning to Antioch, some purchasing the land that their ancestors had previously owned, and the community continues to grow. (2009)

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Buda School

1876

THE BUDA SCHOOL SYSTEM ORGANIZED FROM THE CONSOLIDATION OF SEVERAL 19TH CENTURY RURAL SCHOOLS, INCLUDING ELM GROVE (LARGEST SCHOOL IN HAYS COUNTY IN 1876), GOFORTH, TURNERSVILLE, MOUNTAIN CITY, ANTIOCH, SCIENCE HALL AND KELLYVILLE. IN 1881, THE YEAR CORNELIA TRIMBLE PLATTED BUDA, MARY ADAMS ESTABLISHED THE FIRST SCHOOL ON PROPERTY EAST OF THE RAILROAD TRACK ALONG RAILROAD STREET AND SERVED AS ITS TEACHER. IN 1885, SCHOOL TRUSTEES ERECTED A TWO-STORY WOODEN SCHOOL BUILDING AT THE CURRENT SITE. IN 1908, TRUSTEES REPLACED IT WITH A LARGER, TWO-STORY BRICK BUILDING TO ACCOMMODATE BUDA’S GROWING POPULATION. WHEN THAT STRUCTURE BURNED IN 1928, BUILDERS COMPLETED THE PRESENT MISSION STYLE, ONE-STORY SCHOOLHOUSE, DESIGNED BY AUSTIN ARCHITECT ROY L. THOMAS, WHICH INCORPORATED THE STANDING WALLS OF THE PREVIOUS BUILDING, STILL VISIBLE IN THE AUDITORIUM SPACE. THE AUDITORIUM WAS SIGNIFICANT TO PARENTS AND STUDENTS, HOSTING SCHOOL EVENTS BEFORE TRANSFORMATION TO A COMMUNITY ROOM. FROM 1931 TO 1945, BOB BARTON, SR. SERVED AS SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, IN ADDITION TO HIS OTHER DUTIES AS BUS DRIVER, TEACHER AND COACH. HE AND HIS WIFE, MARIETTA, AIDED IN THE FIGHT FOR SCHOOL INTEGRATION, WHICH BEGAN WHEN THE CITY’S MEXICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL CLOSED IN 1948. AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WERE ABLE TO ATTEND THE MAIN SCHOOL IN 1956, WITH GRADES ONE THROUGH EIGHT INTEGRATED BY 1961. BUDA, KYLE AND WIMBERLEY SCHOOLS JOINED IN 1967 TO FORM HAYS CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT (WIMBERLEY HAS SINCE REFORMED A SEPARATE DISTRICT). TODAY, THIS SCHOOL, NOW BUDA ELEMEN-TARY, CONTINUES TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY AS AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITU-TION AND GATHERING PLACE, MORE THAN 100 YEARS AFTER IT FIRST OPENED. (2007)

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McElroy-Severn House (Stagecoach House and Onion Creek Post Office)

1875

The complex that includes the McElroy-Severn House/Stagecoach House and Onion Creek Post Office occupies a 51-acre tract of land on a high bluff above a branch leading into Onion Creek, about a quarter mile east of Buda. The post office and stagecoach house served the area’s residents and people traveling on the old San Antonio road beginning in 1875. Once mail service moved to the new railroad town of Dupre (Buda) in 1880, the former station house was converted to a private residence and served as headquarters for family ranching operations for more than a century. The McElroy-Severn House (stagecoach house) is an outstanding example of a late-19th century modified center-passage dwelling. It is a five-bay, side-gabled frame dwelling with a hipped roof porch that stretches across the entire south façade. Features also include limestone chimneys plastered with concrete and interior walls framed with cedar. Several major remodeling campaigns in 1885, 1900 and 1920 have substantially enlarged the house. The adjacent 1876 one-room post office is noteworthy for its fine craftsmanship, solid limestone construction and carved stone lintels. A single door faces the rear east wing of the stagecoach house and a small, single-pane window is cut out of its east wall. Other historic resources on site include a brick and limestone well, a concrete trough and concrete walkways and gardens. Together, these buildings recall Buda’s beginnings as a collection of isolated homesteads scattered along Onion Creek and reflect a century of Buda’s agricultural heritage.

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Antioch Colony, TX

1859

Antioch Colony is a rural African-American community located off Farm roads 967 and 1626 within a mile northwest of Buda in eastern Hays County. On February 1, 1859, Joseph F. Rowley, who had emigrated with his family from California to Texas, purchased 490 acres near Onion Creek. After the Civil War he sold tracts to former slaves for the purpose of establishing a farming settlement. Many of the freedmen came from Missouri. They founded Antioch Colony, named for the Turkish city, in 1870 and 1871. Ten to fifteen families lived in the community, also known as Black Colony, in the early 1870s. Settlers included the Bunton, Champ, Harper, Beard, Taylor, and Kavanaugh families. Farmers raised corn and other grains, cotton, and sugar cane, and mule-powered mills processed corn, bran, and produced sorghum molasses. On July 15, 1874, Elias and Clarisa Bunton donated land for a school. Residents constructed a two-story building that soon served fifty-seven students as part of their own district—Antioch School District 5. The structure also hosted meetings of a Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star. Citizens established the African Methodist Church and the Antioch Cemetery. Antioch Colony remained an active farming community into the 1930s and 1940s. Social life centered around the school and church, which had some seventy to eighty members. By the mid-1950s, however, most residents had moved away in search of better jobs. Ironically, after this time, Antioch Colony finally received telephone and electrical service. The community became almost a ghost town of ramshackle structures and overgrown homesteads. In the late 1970s a few former residents returned to the area and bought back the land of their ancestors. Winnie Martha Moyer, a descendant of the Harper family, returned and was soon joined by other family members. This slow rebirth of the colony continued throughout the 1990s. LeeDell Bunton, a great-great grandson of one of the founders, bought back part of his family land. In 1997 residents established the Antioch Community Church, and in 1999 approximately 300 people attended the first Antioch Colony reunion. Local residents continued to maintain Antioch Cemetery located on Old Black Colony Road. By 2000 some twenty people, members of three extended families, lived in Antioch Colony. All were descendants of early settlers.

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Buda, Texas

Music in Buda

Songs About Buda

Artists From Buda

Rivers & Roads in Song near Buda

History of Buda

The Rock That Carries the Town's Name RoadyGoat

The Layer That Steals Your Mud, Then Kicks Back RoadyGoat

Buda, TX RoadyGoat

Hays, John Coffee

Antioch Colony

Buda School

McElroy-Severn House (Stagecoach House and Onion Creek Post Office)

Antioch Colony, TX

Things to Do in Buda

Everything Near Buda