The Stagecoach Inn RoadyGoat

You can't talk about Salado without talking about the Stagecoach Inn. That historic white building is one of the oldest inns in all of Texas — by its own keepers' account, the second-oldest continuously running inn or hotel in the state. It started in the early 1850s as a simple two-story wood-frame building, the oldest surviving structure in Salado, a stagecoach stop that would come to be known as the Shady Villa, offering a bed and a meal to weary travelers on the dusty road. When the Chisholm Trail opened, this place became a crucial stop for cowboys, cattle barons, and famous figures. Sam Houston, General Custer, and even the notorious outlaw Sam Bass are all said to have stayed here. The inn has seen it all: stagecoaches, cattle drives, the decline of the town, and its rebirth. It has survived fires, floods, and the passage of time. Today, it's been beautifully restored, but it still stands on its original spot, a living testament to Texas hospitality and a direct link to the travelers who passed this way more than 160 years ago.

RoadyGoat →

The College on the Hill RoadyGoat

If you look up at the hill on the east side of town, you can still see the stone ruins of Salado's original purpose: Salado College. Founded at a tent meeting by the springs in 1859, this wasn't just a local school—unlike most colleges of its day it was co-educational, and it was the first in the state to run with no church money and no state money, twenty-five years on tuition alone. The town was literally designed to support it. Enrollment sometimes topped three hundred, and the families it pulled in included the Baptist preacher George Washington Baines, LBJ's great-grandfather, who moved here in 1867 so his daughter could enroll. Then the railroads passed Salado by. The Santa Fe reached Temple in 1880 and the Katy came into Belton, and the population drifted toward the railheads. Without that connection to the wider world, enrollment dwindled. The college struggled on a few more years, then ceased operating in 1885. The ruins you can still see today are a powerful monument—a reminder of a bold vision and the fragility of a town built on a single dream.

RoadyGoat →

The Science of Salado's Springs RoadyGoat

The clear, cool water of Salado Creek isn't just pretty—it's the result of a fascinating geological and hydrological process. The town sits on the Balcones Fault Zone, a series of cracks in the earth that separate the Texas Hill Country from the coastal plains. West of here, rainwater soaks into the porous limestone of the Edwards Plateau, feeding a massive underground reservoir called the Edwards Aquifer. This aquifer flows underground, southward and eastward, until it hits the dense, impermeable rock layers along the Balcones Fault line right here at Salado. With its path blocked, the pressurized water is forced upwards, pushing through fissures and cracks in the limestone. It emerges as dozens of springs, creating the constant, year-round flow of Salado Creek. This natural plumbing system is why millions of cattle on the Chisholm Trail could drink here and why the town could power its first mills. It’s a perfect example of how geology and hydrology can create a unique oasis.

RoadyGoat →

Johnson, Eliza Sophia Robertson [Birdie]

1920

Eliza Sophia "Birdie" Johnson, first Democratic national committeewoman from Texas and state women's club leader, the ninth of twelve children, was born to E. S. C. and Mary Elizabeth (Dickey) Robertson on November 15, 1868, in Salado, Texas. Her father was the son of the empresario Sterling C. Robertson and one of the founders of the town of Salado and Salado College in Bell County. Eliza received her early education at Salado College, where she graduated in 1886. She then studied music at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia, and graduated summa cum laude in 1888. She married Cone Johnson , a state senator and later solicitor of the United States Department of State, on May 8, 1889. Although a traditionalist in her religious beliefs and views of women's roles, Johnson used her early experience as a local club leader and supporter of her husband's political ambitions to propel herself into progressive Democratic politics at the national level. As the well-educated and childless wife of a prominent Texas politician, she found herself with the time and opportunity to become active in her husband's campaigns and in local, state, and national organizations that supported her interests in education, family history, social service, and woman suffrage . The Johnsons moved in 1889 to Tyler, where Johnson soon became a leader in regional and state women's organizations. She served as president of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Marvin Methodist Episcopal Church for many years and held membership in the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons. Through her membership in the Quid Nunc literary club of Tyler, she rose to the presidency of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs , a post she held from 1905 to 1907. She also held leadership positions in the United Daughters of the Confederacy , the Daughters of the Republic of Texas , the Daughters of the American Revolution , and the Daughters of the War of 1812. While president of the UDC in 1901, she led a lobbying campaign to enlist public support to persuade the Texas legislature to fund a memorial to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston . Her use of letters, circulars, the press, influential citizens, and personal appeals to individual legislators resulted in a $10,000 grant for the memorial. From 1902 to 1913 she served on the board of regents of the newly established Girls' Industrial College in Denton (now Texas Woman's University). She also served on the executive board of the Conference for Education in Texas, an organization promoting better schools. In 1912 she worked in Woodrow Wilson's presidential campaign. She became vice president of the Woman's National Wilson and Marshall Organization and president of the Texas chapter. Working out of the Democratic national headquarters in New York, she sent out political appeals to women nationwide. She moved to Washington, D.C., in 1914 when her husband received his appointment to the state department. After their return to Tyler in 1917, she served on the executive board of the Tyler chapter of the American Red Cross, directed the Woman's War Saving Committee, and campaigned for the Liberty Loan Committee. After World War I she led a successful effort to bring the YWCA to Tyler. Birdie Johnson became active in the League of Women Voters in 1920 and served as codirector of its State Women for Neff organization, which supported Pat Neff for governor. She and her husband both won election as delegates to the 1920 Democratic national convention, thus becoming perhaps the first husband-wife delegate team in United States history. As a delegate, she supported the Democrats' endorsement of the proposed woman suffrage amendment. The Texas delegation unanimously chose Johnson as the first Democratic national committeewoman from Texas. She served in that capacity until 1923. In addition, she headed the women's division of the Democratic party in Texas in 1920. She withdrew from politics in 1923. After a long illness she died

Tsha Handbook →

Wing, Martin Carroll

1835

Martin Carrol Wing, journalist and soldier, was born in Vermont, where he received training as a printer. He later moved to New York, where in the winter of 1835-36 he joined Maj. Edwin Morehouse 's battalion bound for service in the Texas Revolution . This battalion enlisted a number of printers including Charles DeMorse and Algernon P. Thompson . The expedition sailed on the brig Matawomkeag but was captured by the English brig of war Serpent off the Florida coast and, on suspicion of piracy, was taken to the Bahamas. After two months of investigations the troops were freed to continue to New Orleans and ultimately to Texas. The battalion landed at Matagorda and marched toward Sam Houston 's army. On April 21 they were close enough to hear the guns of the battle of San Jacinto , but did not arrive on the field until the day after. Wing remained in the army until it was disbanded in May 1837. He then moved to Travis County, where he went to work with George William Bonnell , editor and part owner of the Austin Texas Sentinel . In 1840 Wing, John Henry Brown, and Joseph Addison Clark published Bonnell's book, Topographical Description of Texas . Late in 1840, after Bonnell had turned control of the Sentinel over to Jacob W. Cruger , Wing joined Cruger as a new partner. The sale of the Sentinel to Greenberry Horras Harrison was announced in the November 11, 1841, issue. In January 1842 Wing and Charles DeMorse published a prospectus for the Clarksville Northern Standard , but the first issue of that paper did not appear until August 20, 1842, when DeMorse was listed as the sole publisher and editor. Wing joined the Somervell expedition , a punitive operation against Mexico, which left San Antonio in November 1842. When Brig. Gen. Alexander Somervell ordered the expedition to disband, a portion of the army, including Wing, refused to return to Texas. With the reorganization of this group on the Rio Grande, Wing became a private in Capt. William M. Eastland 's Company B of Col. William S. Fisher 's army. Wing thus took part in the subsequent Mier expedition and was captured at the battle of Mier. Following the abortive escape attempt at Salado, Mexico, Wing and his comrades were forced to take part in the black bean lottery ( see BLACK BEAN EPISODE ). Wing was the last to draw and drew the last of the fatal beans. Ironically, fellow printer James Decatur Cocke had drawn the first. Wing was executed on March 25, 1843. In 1847 Walter Paye Lane recovered the bones of the prisoners executed at Salado. On September 18, 1848, the remains were reinterred on Monument Hill in La Grange.

Tsha Handbook →

Dodd's Creek Bridge

1878

(Lenticular Truss Bridge) One of many patented truss designs developed by American inventors and engineers in the mid- to late-19th century, this 87-foot lenticular truss bridge represents an unusual truss type in the United States. The lenticular design features a curved top and bottom chord which forms a lens shape. The patent, issued to William O. Douglas of Connecticut in 1878, was the only one given for a lenticular truss bridge in the United States. Most were constructed in the New England area and in New York state. Through the efforts of William Payson, a salesman for Douglas' Berlin Iron Bridge Company, Texas acquired at least a dozen truss bridges in the late 19th century. The Coryell County Commissioners Court contracted with the Berlin Iron Bridge Company to build four lenticular truss bridges for $16,500 in 1889. This bridge originally was located across Cowhouse Creek and later was moved to Dodd's Creek. In 1990 the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation identified eight lenticular truss bridges surviving in Texas. Four of the spans were located in San Antonio; the other four were positioned on out-of-service roadways. The only examples of this rare bridge type west of the Mississippi, they are recognized as historically significant engineering structures. The Society for Industrial Archeology and Historic American Engineering Record, a branch of the National Park Service, also have recognized the importance of the Texas lenticular bridges as products of a short-lived but important period of bridge technology in 19th century engineering history. The Dodd's Creek bridge was moved to this site in 1997 to improve the flow of traffic, protect pedestrians and enhance the Salado Historic District. (2000)

Historical Marker →

Aiken, Herman

1833

Herman Aiken, soldier, surveyor, and pioneer, was born in 1809 in Deering, New Hampshire, reared in Illinois, and left home at age fourteen to support himself. He arrived in Texas in 1833 and in 1835 was captain of a vessel carrying men and supplies for the revolutionary army from New Orleans to Galveston. After Texas won its independence, he established a general store at Old Nashville and later another at Caldwell. Aiken undertook several exploratory trips to the future area of Bell County in the mid-1840s, and from 1846 to 1848 he served as captain in the Mexican War . In 1851 he moved to his home, Casa Blanca, in Bell County; he moved to Troy in 1857 and to Salado in 1859. When Coryell County was established in 1854, Aiken was hired to survey the new county. In the same year he helped build the Cumberland Baptist Church in Belton. During the 1850s he assisted in the promotion of two Bell County communities-Aiken, which flourished briefly during the 1850s and 1860s, and the more permanent community of Salado. Herman Aiken was a member of the founding board of trustees of Salado College in 1859. He married a German emigrant named Margaret in the 1830s and had at least four children. He died on November 27, 1860, and was the first person buried in the old cemetery at Salado.

Tsha Handbook →

Alexander's Distillery

1862

On this site in 1861-65, the William R. Alexander Distillery met a wartime need in Texas. May 28, 1862, Governor Francis R. Lubbock closed all Texas distilleries, to save grain. Army calls for medicinal liquor (for opiate and stimulant purposes) soon caused him to order a few, including Alexander's, re-opened. In drastic medical shortages, Texans throughout the Civil War gave such help as they could. Bandages, sewing silk, lint, polk weed, peach bark, barilla and other home medical aids went to various military units. (1964)

Historical Marker →

Old Anderson Place

1860

Built 1860 at edge of an old Indian campground, by James B. Anderson, one of town's founders and a school trustee in Salado. Community leaders, lawyers and doctors have lived here. Boarding here in 1883 while a student at Old Salado College was James E. Ferguson, 1915-1917 Governor of Texas--and husband of the first woman Governor. Under panelling and cedar walls. Window glass is hand blown. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965

Historical Marker →

Salado, Texas

Music in Salado

Songs About Salado

Artists From Salado

Rivers & Roads in Song near Salado

History of Salado

The Stagecoach Inn RoadyGoat

The College on the Hill RoadyGoat

The Science of Salado's Springs RoadyGoat

Johnson, Eliza Sophia Robertson [Birdie]

Wing, Martin Carroll

Dodd's Creek Bridge

Aiken, Herman

Alexander's Distillery

Old Anderson Place

Things to Do in Salado

Everything Near Salado