Name: Leakey, Texas
Address: Leakey, TX

The Sunset Bat Tornado RoadyGoat

About fifteen miles down the Frio from Leakey, near Concan, a natural spectacle unfolds almost every summer evening. Tucked into the hills above the river is a cave that holds an estimated ten million Mexican free-tailed bats — one of the largest bat colonies anywhere in Texas. As the sun sets, they begin to emerge. It starts with a trickle, then becomes a vortex, a living tornado of bats spiraling out of the cave entrance and into the twilight sky. For hours, the cloud of bats streams out across the hills, heading off to feast on insects. They are a massive, flying pest-control service for the entire region, hitting the corn earworm and bollworm moths that plague area farmers. This nightly emergence is so vast it can be picked up on weather radar. The cave sits on private land, visited only on guided flight tours, but it's a powerful reminder that as you enjoy the peaceful Hill Country, you are sharing it with millions of tiny, winged residents.

RoadyGoat → · 3.1 mi away

The River from Inside the Rock RoadyGoat

The beautiful, clear Frio River, the very heart of Leakey, is the product of a fascinating plumbing system hidden beneath your feet. You're driving over the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir held within layers of porous limestone. This type of geology, known as karst, acts like a sponge. When it rains, water doesn't just run off; it seeps down through cracks and fissures in the rock, refilling the aquifer. But an aquifer is not a static underground lake. Under pressure, this groundwater seeks a way out, and it emerges through fractures in the rock as springs. The Frio River is not primarily fed by surface runoff, but by dozens of these springs. This is why the water is so consistently cool and remarkably clear—it's been naturally filtered through hundreds of feet of limestone. So when you look at the Frio, you're not just seeing a river; you're seeing ancient rainwater that has been stored, filtered, and cooled by the rock itself, now making its journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

RoadyGoat → · 3.1 mi away

The County Carved from Three RoadyGoat

As you pass the stone courthouse in the center of Leakey, you’re looking at a trophy from a political fight. For decades, this area was a geographic afterthought, split between three huge counties: Bandera, Kerr, and Edwards. If you were a rancher here in 1910 and needed to file a deed or settle a dispute, you were in for a long, hard journey to a distant county seat. Residents felt neglected and isolated. So, they organized. Led by local leaders, they petitioned the Texas Legislature to create a new county with Leakey at its heart. They found a powerful ally in State Senator Julius Real, and in 1913, their wish was granted. The new county was named 'Real' in his honor, and Leakey was designated the county seat. The courthouse, finished in 1918, wasn’t just a new building; it was a declaration of independence and the moment Leakey truly became the center of its own world.

RoadyGoat → · 3.1 mi away

John Leakey

1847

Tennessee native John Leakey (1824-1900) came to Texas in 1847, settling for a time in Henderson County where he was a brickmason and rancher. He and his wife Nancy (Patterson) moved to Uvalde County in 1852 near present day Sabinal. A desire to pursue other endeavors took him to the Frio Canyon where there was an abundance of cypress timber. Despite constant threats of Indian attacks, Leakey settled his family and started a cypress shingle business. He served the Confederacy as a freighter during the Civil War, hauling provisions for the troops. Leakey returned to his home after the war to establish a steam sawmill and to attend to his ranching interests. He also began a school for the children of the community, and his home often served as a resting place of itinerant preachers. The town, situated on the Bandera-Edwards county line, was laid out in 1883 and named in honor of the resourceful pioneer who donated land for this plaza, a church, school, and cemetery. Leakey served as county seat of Edwards County until 1891, and became county seat of Real County when it was organized in 1913. A successful businessman, Indian fighter and pioneer, John Leakey's contributions and leadership were vital to the early growth of the area. (1983)

Historical Marker →

Catherine McLauren

1881

A victim of the last Indian raid in Frio Canyon, April 19, 1881. Mother of three small children, "Kate" McLauren was home with them and a neighbor boy, Allen Lease, when a Lipan Apache band started to plunder their house. Although shot with a bullet, she sent her six-year-old child, Maud, for help, but died shortly after her husband John's return that night. When the cemetery in Leakey was established, she and Lease were the first burials. Recorded 1971

Historical Marker →

Leakey Cemetery

1881

Originally known as the Floral Cemetery and serving an earlier community by that name, this cemetery dates to at least 1881. Land for the graveyard was sold by John and Nancy Leakey for one dollar and a cemetery plot. The oldest documented burials here are those of Sara Catherine McLaurin (b. 1849) and fifteen-year-old Allen Lease, who were killed on April 19, 1881, in the last Indian raid in the Frio Canyon area. The next interment was that of Civil War Veteran John Colter Brice, who died April 30, 1881. The only public cemetery in the Leakey vicinity, this graveyard contains the burials of many of the area's early settlers. Gravestones attest to the hardships of life in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the epidemics of measles, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and influenza which claimed many lives. There are over 900 documented burials here, as well as a number of unmarked graves. Those interred in the Leakey Cemetery include pioneers, children, elected officials of Real and Edwards counties, community leaders and veterans. The founder of the town, John Leakey, and his wife Nancy are both buried here. (1988)

Historical Marker →

Leakey, TX

1856

Leakey, the county seat of Real County, is on the Frio River southwest of the confluence of the East and West branches at the intersection of Farm roads 336, 337, and 1120 and U.S. Highway 83, in the southeastern part of the county. Archeological excavations in the Frio Canyon and the surrounding region reveal Paleo-American, Archaic, and Neo-American occupations. In the historic period Lipan Apaches, Comanches, and Tonkawas inhabited or traversed the area. Anglo-Americans arrived in 1856, when John Leakey, for whom the town was later named, his wife Nancy, and five others settled near the site at springs that were later known as Leakey Springs. Shingles and lumber were produced from the abundant cypress trees lining area streams, which were processed at water-powered sawmills along the Frio. In 1883 A. G. Vogel moved a post office to the settlement from Floral, two miles north, and opened the town's first store. A Methodist church was erected in 1886. In 1884 Leakey became the county seat of Edwards County. The previous county seat was Bullhead, which later became Vance and is now in western Real County. Leakey remained county seat until 1891, when the government was moved to Rocksprings. When Real County was organized in 1913, Leakey was elected the county seat, although the town was not incorporated until June 11, 1951. Although lumbering, freighting, and cultivating cotton and corn were initially important to the local economy, these activities were eventually superseded by ranching, and in particular the raising of Angora goats; tourism also provided an increasingly significant source of revenue. In 1904 Leakey was estimated to have 318 residents, though this figure was down to 150 by 1926. Estimates climbed to 700 in 1931 but dropped back to 150 two years later. Following these fluctuations, estimates show a steady increase to a peak of 762 in 1956, followed by a decline to 468 by 1982. The population was 399 in 1990 and 387 in 2000.

Tsha Handbook →

Prade Ranch

1935

Prade Ranch, located on the West Frio River and Farm Road 336 north of Leakey in north central Real County, was the first resort ranch in the county; it foreshadowed the later importance of tourism to the local economy. Its 10,000 acres include some of the most scenic land in the Hill Country . In 1926, during the administration of Governor Pat Neff , the state of Texas had an option to buy the ranch for a state park but declined because the location was remote. The site was converted to a resort ranch in 1935 by E. T. Prade. A United States post office was established there on May 22, 1940, and operated until June 30, 1954, when it became a rural post office. The limestone bed of the West Frio, which passes through the ranch, was at one time maintained as a road connecting Leakey with State Highway 41 and Rocksprings. Farm Road 336, which now serves this purpose, closely follows the west bank of the stream, ascending the Frio canyon on the Balcones Escarpment to the Edwards Plateau . The West Frio also begins on the ranch, and some of the better-documented Indian pictographs in Real County, probably produced by Lipan Apaches or Comanches during the historic period, were painted in a shallow rockshelter on the eastern wall of the canyon near the springs. These paintings, though less ambitious than those of some sites of West Texas, are significant since they represent the eastern periphery of Indian rock art in the state.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.8 mi away

Watkins, Theophilus

1868

Theophilus Watkins, irrigation pioneer, was born in Kentucky in 1819. He was married to Susan Williams, and they had one daughter. After his wife's death he moved to Texas in 1845 with his brother, Charles, and lived for a time near the site of present Sabinal, on land later known as Watkins' Flat. In 1848 he went to California but returned to Kentucky in 1850; he moved back to Texas in 1854, this time bringing his daughter. He was a captain at Fort Inge near Uvalde, and his company protected the area from Indian attacks. On December 1, 1867, he was married in Kentucky to Frances Anna Elizabeth Mosely; they had six children. Watkins settled in the valley of the Frio River, Frio Canyon, in what later became Real County, where he saw the possibilities for an irrigation system with water from the Frio River. In 1868, together with F. Smith and Newman Patterson, he constructed a ditch ten miles long and five feet wide, with a depth ranging from three to four feet. It was a gravity canal supplied with water by means of a dam built of brush and gravel on the main Frio River. The ditch was not put into full operation until a charter was granted to the Lombardy Irrigation Company on August 20, 1875. The ditch was still in operation in the 1960s, and the dam had been rebuilt a number of times. Watkins died in 1883 and was buried in the cemetery at Rio Frio.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.8 mi away

Leakey, Texas

Music in Leakey

Songs About Leakey

Artists From Leakey

Rivers & Roads in Song near Leakey

History of Leakey

The Sunset Bat Tornado RoadyGoat

The River from Inside the Rock RoadyGoat

The County Carved from Three RoadyGoat

John Leakey

Catherine McLauren

Leakey Cemetery

Leakey, TX

Prade Ranch

Watkins, Theophilus

Things to Do in Leakey

Everything Near Leakey