The Harrison & McCulloch Stage Stop in Selma, Texas was declared a state archeological landmark by the Texas Historical Commission in October 2000 and sits on the old Austin Road at its crossing with the Cibolo Creek. The stop is constructed with “limecrete.” Mark Denton of the Texas Historical Commission stated on his first visit to the stage stop that there were only about three stage stops in the state of Texas from this early a time period in the state’s history and that none of the others were so constructed.
The stage stop has been sitting alongside the Old Austin Road (IH-35 at Evans Road) in Selma for at least 155 years or possibly even a little longer. Roads that were forged as early Spanish trails, such as the El Camino Real, later developed into main stage route arteries running through the heart of Central Texas. Following is a brief history of two of the earliest, most notable stage lines that ran from the coast of Texas inland to San Antonio and Austin -- and how one in particular influenced and necessitated the building of this State Archeological Landmark.
Long Before There Were Stage Routes, the Spanish Influenced the Old Roads Between San Antonio and Austin
Many early Spaniards made treks through what was to become the State of Texas as far back as the 1700’s. One of these early Spaniards was Martin de Alarcon who visited the San Antonio area during the days of Spanish rule. On April9, 1718, he and his expedition left the Rio Grande and headed towards the heart of Texas. On May 1 he founded the Mission San Antonio de Valero and four days later the Villa de Bejar. Alarcon had been a governor of Coahuila in 1705 and then again in 1717 and became governor of the province of Texas in 1716. On May 6, 1718, Alarcon with his group "left in search of the bay of Spiritu Santo and arrived at the creek which they call Sibula which is about eight leagues from the above-named place (present Cibolo Creek near Selma, Bexar-Comal Co border)."{1}
In Viktor Bracht’s Texas in 1848, he references the Cibolo Valley in the Selma area by its old Spanish name -- “la Huerta del mundo” or, “the “garden of the world” and the Valley being known for its beauty and good farming soil.{2}
The Old San Antonio Road (also known as El Camino Real by the early Spanish missionaries) ran through the Cibolo Valley just to the west of Selma on what is now Nacogdoches Road. This “camino” was the connecting road between the missions in San Antonio and Mission de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches in East Texas.{3} Present day Evans Road, known back in the mid-1800’s as Hill Street, was the link between the Old San Antonio Road (which ran through Davenport [Bracken, Texas]) and the Old Austin Road, which ran through Selma. Hill Street meandered alongside the Rio Cibolo connecting these two old trails.{4}
The Early Stage Lines Move Inland From the Coast to San Antonio and Austin by Way of the Old Austin Road and El Camino Real
During the days of the Republic between 1836 and 1846, there were only a few stage lines operating in Texas.{5} Most of the lines were in East Texas and ran along the coastline from Houston to Galveston and down to Indianola and Port Lavaca.{6} Due to the heavy influx of European immigrants to the Texas coast at Indian Point (later to be renamed “Indianola” by Mrs. John Henry Brown{7}) and Galveston:
Hotels, restaurants, and stage lines were overwhelmed by the heavy passenger traffic. Stage operators strove to acquire more coaches to satisfy demand. Whereas one loaded stagecoach had been arriving in Victoria in the evening, now three or more came rattling into town, often having left at Indianola passengers who could not be elbowed into the seats.{8}
These stage lines were picking up immigrants who were arriving on steamers from New Orleans and other major ports of entry along the East Coast. Through the Foreign Mails Act of 1845, on June 16, 1845, the Post Master of New Orleans was “instructed to engage a once a week Steam Boat conveyance between his office and Galveston and back. … He may make this arrangement with one or with several boats, but only with one boat at one trip. If necessary to effect a regular organization of a weekly line, he may enter into contract for one year, otherwise the engagement may be from week to week.”{9} One of the first entrepreneurs to take advantage of this new Act was Charles Morgan when on January 30, 1846, he contracted with the Post Master of New Orleans to “recognize and ratify the arrangement made by P.M. of New Orleans with Charles Morgan, for trips on this route in Steamboats, to be performed in each direction, every five days, at the postages collected on the route, less 25 per cent.”{10}
The stage lines were also delivering passengers who were embarking on those very same steamers for destinations outside of Texas:
Passengers from Austin, Gonzales, San Antonio, New Braunfels and the other inland towns could arrive at Indianola in the morning and be assured of departure on steamers leaving in the evening. … That regularity was a key to the successful development of the stage lines operating into and out of Indianola on fixed schedules tied in with those of the ships.{11}
Many European settlers were arriving at New Orleans and taking ships down to Galveston and Indianola to move inland into Texas.{12} Between 1847 and 1850 there existed a rivalry between stage lines for the route between Houston and Port Lavaca. An ad placed in the December 29, 1848, issue of the Galveston Weekly News stated:
The U. S. Mail stage leaves the Planter's House on the arrival of the steamers from New Orleans and Galveston by which travellers will have a speedy and direct passage to Victoria, Cuero, Gonzales, Seguin, New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Austin. Messrs. Harrison and McCulloch, the well known proprietors of the line, have placed upon it an excellent coach, and will make their trips so as to enable passengers landing at Indian Point to proceed to the interior with as little delay as possible.{13}
Competition for passengers became fierce as more settlers began arriving to Texas. Two main competitors were the firms of Brown & Tarbox and the U. S. Mail Line owned by John S. Harrison and his brother-in-law, William McCulloch.
...Brown’s immediate success generated competition on the Indian Point run from Harrison & McCulloch. In November 1847, that firm had inaugurated the United States Line of stages between Port Lavaca and Victoria. The increasing commercial importance of Indian Point and Brown’s success, led them to extend their route from Lavaca. Theirs was a four-horse stage weekly service to New Braunfels via Cuero, Gonzales and Seguin. It connected with the Houston stage at Gonzales and the San Antonio to Austin line at New Braunfels. Edward Clegg was named the first agent at Lavaca, the depot being at the livery stable next door to his hotel which Mrs. Eberly then had under lease.{14}
Competition for the Route Between Austin and San Antonio
Viktor Bracht in his accounting of his days spent in Texas in 1848 references the two main competing stage lines providing service between Austin and San Antonio.
Many of the Texas roads are traveled regularly by mail coaches. Thus Brown and Tarbox’s stage goes four times a week from Houston via Washington and Bastrop to Austin, and twice a week from there via New Braunfels to Bexar and back. The fare for the entire distance is twenty dollars, but only thirty pounds of baggage is carried free. Two competing stage coaches make at least two weekly rounds trips from Bexar via New Braunfels and Victoria to Port La Vaca, where they make connection with the steamboat to Galveston. I can recommend the stages coaches of Wm. and R. McCullough and of Harrison. The fare is ten dollars, and very little is charged for baggage. From the foregoing, it will be seen that stage coaches pass through New Braunfels eight times a week. Between the towns of Indian Point (Karlshafen) and Victoria, which are inhabited by many Germans, regular omnibus service has been inaugurated.{15}
John F. Brown not only ran stage lines, but he also served as a freighter and delivered goods regularly to the Indian Bureaus. In the Texas Indian Papers, 1844-1845, Item No. 199, -- Account of Indian Bureau With J. F. Brown to Maj. T. G. Western Superintendent Indian Affairs, dated March 20 – May 7, 1845, he is owed $2.50 for his freighting of a package on March 20 for 75 cents, on March 30 a Box of Candles for $1.00 and on May 7th 2 kettles for 75 cents. “Dollars amt of the above of freight of articles brought from Messrs. Torrey’s at Houston for the Indian Bureau at this place -- Washington 30 May 1845 J. F. Brown.”{16}
Also, in a letter Item No. 312 from Anson Jones [1798-1858] (doctor, congressman, and the last president of the Republic of Texas) from his plantation home at Barrington near Washington-on-the-Brazos{17} to Thomas G. Western dated Sep. 8th 1845:
Dear Sir
Mr. Brown the Stage proprietor has one of the Mules, I loaned it to him some time since. By calling on him he will be able to furnish you with something to suit the purpose you require.
...
We are all well, can not you ride out tomorrow morning, I will be at home until 10 O. Clock
Yours Truly
A. Jones
To the Hon. T. G. Western
{Endorsed} Hon. A. Jones
Sept. 8 1845
Major Western Washington{18}
Lyman Tarbox was a prominent merchant and had established dealings supplying merchandise and horses to the Indian Bureau of Texas. In Item 139 of the Texas Indian Papers -- Account of Indian Bureau with Lyman Tarbox dated January 26, 1845:
To a Bay Horse sold to the Supt. for public service -- $40.00
“ a Grey Poney sold B. Sloat on acc’t of his Salary as Agent -- 30.00
“ Cash advanced to B. Sloat on acct’ of his pay -- $7.50
“ “ “ Delaware Jim Shaw -- $7.50 -- 15.00
$85.00
Washington Jany. 30. 1845 –
Received an approved account for Eighty five Dollars of which the above is a Copy –
LYMAN. TARBOX
{Endorsed} Encld.
L. Tarbox 30 Jany. 1845
$85.00{19}
However, it was in 1847 that John F. Brown and Lyman Tarbox first began their stage line inland from Houston to Austin. Towns serviced by their line were: Route 6111, Washington by way of Eden; Route 6145 from Washington to La Grange by way of Independence; and Route 6149 from LaGrange to Austin.{20} Travis County Deed Record Book E, p. 270 dated March 22,1851, references Brown as residing in Houston and Tarbox in Austin.{21}
It was a few years later before it was safe enough to link Austin to San Antonio. These two cities sat on the western edge of the Texas frontier and the land between them was subject to frequent Indian attacks. In 1845 an article in a Houston newspaper stated “the trade of Bexar, like that of Corpus Christi, has been completely broken up by the Comanches who have driven back or cut off every party of traders that were accustomed to visit those places."{22}
As stated earlier, mail was carried on these early stage lines as the result of contracts with the United States Post Office. These mail routes were given “Star Route” numbers. In 1849, Brown and Tarbox contracted with the United States Post Office for their route from Austin to San Antonio, Number 6152.{23} In Bexar County Deed Record Book No.G-1, p. 422, dated October 5, 1848, Brown & Tarbox are referenced as stage proprietors and mail contractors. They are leasing a lot and back room from Vance & Brothers, a prominent San Antonio business, to be used for their livery stable and stage office for “the term of and until the first day of July 1851.24 The lease names a Capt. Hall as having formerly occupied that area.
Vance & Brothers was a commercial building at the northeast corner of Houston Street and St. Mary’s Street in San Antonio, Texas.{25} The building was to be used during the Civil War as a headquarters first for General Persifor Smith, then Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston and, finally, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee ultimately to become the Vance Hotel.{26} On May 1, 1907, this old building was torn down and the present-day Gunter Hotel took its place.{27}
At about the same time that Brown & Tarbox were running their lines, John S. Harrison, with his brother-in-law, William H. McCulloch, had two star routes - No. 6154 (which ran from Gonzales through Belmont [previously Bellville], Seguin and into New Braunfels) and 6155 (which ran from Gonzales through China Grove, Cuero and into Port Lavaca) from 1846 – 1850.{28} From the following information, it appears that John S. Harrison was also a hotel keeper in Victoria, Texas from which he ran his stage office.
In an article entitled 'Vignettes of Old Victoria" written by Sidney R. Weisiger in The Victoria Advocate newspaper, dated Sunday, May 17, 1970, he references the Victoria Hotel in Victoria, Texas as being operated by a "Mr. Harrison" about 1847. The hotel was located at Bridge and Forrest Streets, which later was the first site of the Trinity Episcopal Church. Mr. Weisiger further elaborated in his article that the hotel was well known on the coast of Texas and was recommended as a stopping place for German settlers passing through Victoria in the 1840’s. In connection with the hotel was a tavern or barrel house on the west side of the building. James A. Robinson became the owner and in 1849 sold to George Wright who a short time later sold to David Sutherland of Bexar Co for $1,500. He states that from an itemized account of the furnishing, the hotel was rather small. Mr. Weisiger's handwritten notes housed at the Victoria College/University of Houston-Victoria Library in Victoria, Texas reflect -- "in 1847 stageline of Wm R McCullough & Jas H Harrison operated out of Victoria Hotel on Lot 1 Blk 100."{29} Harrison’s Victoria Hotel was mentioned by Viktor Bracht in his book Texas in 1848 on Page 203 as being 11 miles from Indian Point on the “Route to the Interior” that he recommended as “resting and camping places for immigrants who intend to make the trip into the interior with their own vehicles.”{30}
In the Victoria newspaper, Texian Advocate¸ an advertisement by John S. Harrison on May 4, 1848 for the “Victoria Hotel and General Stage Office” confirms his ownership and reads as follows:
THE subscriber, having taken charge of and put in excellent order the Hotel formerly kept by Mr. James Wright in Victoria, is fully prepared to accommodate the traveling public, and the citizens of town and country with boarding and lodging, in a style equal to the best Hotels of the country. His terms too shall be quite low.
His stable will be well provided with corn and fodder, and kept by careful and attentive ostlers.
He is one of the proprietors of the San Antonio and Port Lavaca Stage Line, and any facilities he can render travelers and others he will most cheerfully give.
JOHN S. HARRISON.
May 4, 1848
A year later for the same route from San Antonio to Port Lavaca in a newspaper ad in the Western Texas, dated December 6, 1849, from Gonzales, Texas, John S. Harrison runs his advertisement with the name “Harrison & Brown.”{31} (Note: John S. Harrison and William H. McCulloch were in a short partnership with Dr. Caleb S. Brown, a prominent physician and businessman from Gonzales, Texas. They dissolved their partnership in December of 1851 with Dr. Brown selling his share of the business i.e. horses and stages back to John S. Harrison and William H. McCulloch thereby absolving himself of any legal debts owed by the stageline. Part of the property transferred was the ownership of a slave woman named "Judy" and her 3-year-old son, "Tennessee.")
It wasn’t until 1850 that John S. Harrison and William H. McCulloch began their stagecoach service from Austin to San Antonio with their Route No. 6285 running out of Austin through Manchac, San Marcos, Bonito, New Braunfels, Trier, Cibolo (later to be named “Selma”) and into San Antonio. They successfully outbid four other stage line owners for Route 6285 between Austin and San Antonio. Those lines that lost out on the postal contract were: Brown & Tarbox; Capshaw & Grant, L. Sims & Brothers and Levi Shackelford. Harrison & McCulloch won the contract with a bid of $2,900.00 to provide a stage upgraded from two to four horses. Their stage would leave Austin at 3:00 a.m. and not arrive into San Antonio until 9:00 p.m. the next night -- an 18-hour trip for what takes and hour and a half today.{32}
In the June 5, 1851 edition of the San Antonio Ledger, John S. Harrison, placed the following ad which he had written on July 13, 1850:
THE Proprietor respectfully informs the travelling public that he has fully organized this Line and is now prepared to carry passengers between Austin and San Antonio. He has provided pleasant and convenient coaches and fresh teams and skilled and accommodating drivers. He will make the trip through in one day. No visitor to the State should fail to pass over this route as it leads through one of the most beautiful portions of Texas, by way of San Marcos and New Braunfels. This Line connects at Austin with the Line to Houston and that to Gonzales, and at New Braunfels with the Line to La Vaca Bay.
The fare through from Austin to San Antonio was $6. Capt. A. COLEMAN was the agent in San Antonio; Col. DURHAM at San Marcos; and Capt. J. M. W. HALL at Austin.{33} (Note: Could this be the same Capt. Hall who had previously officed in the Vance Building in San Antonio?) With these three combined Star Routes -- 6285, 6154 and 6155 -- passage was afforded to travelers and mail all the way from Port Lavaca to New Braunfels where they could then catch the next stage on up to Austin or down to San Antonio. These three routes made up a continuous circle from Austin to the coast and back.
Harrison’s use of the phrase “fresh teams” in his 1851 newspaper ad may have been slightly self-serving as in the Affidavit of Georg Long found at the Comal County Courthouse in New Braunfels, Texas dated June 4, 1852 and notarized by Ferdinand J. Lindheimer, Justice of the Peace Comal County Precint 1 states:
“...Schaw traded a sorrel horse named Sam Houston, blind on the left eye, appartaining to the firm of the stage line between Austin and San Antonio, for a flea bitten gray horse than belonging to Brooks, and further that said gray horse was delivered to the deponent for use of the Stage team, and further that Brooks traded the above mentioned sorrel horse to Jacob Schmitz, and further says not.”{34}
Harrison’s “pleasant and convenient coaches” were most likely the most commonly manufactured and used coach of that day -- the Concord mail coach manufactured by the Abbott-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire. The company’s catalog advertised how widely used these coaches were: “The use of our Coaches and Wagon on all the Mail routes in America and the English Colonies for many years is a guarantee of their superiority.”{35} These coaches could sit anywhere from six to twelve passengers with additional passengers sitting on the flat top of the coach. Because the older boxy-type stagecoaches were top heavy and would flip easily, the new Concord coaches were designed so that the egg-shaped coach itself was suspended on “two 6- to 8- ply bullhide belts that cradled the coach like a body in a hammock. … The result was a floating, swaying, or rocking motion that made some passengers seasick but did not jar teeth loose.”{36} These coaches were painted with multiple coats of pomegranate red paint and rubbed down with pumice. Two coats of spar varnish were then applied to the finish. “The mirror-like, blood-red surface gleamed. A beckoning landscape – usually an idealized New England scene – was painted on the door panels ….”{37}
As if travel in those days was not hazardous enough, the roads themselves were often the cause of delayed deliveries of mail and passengers due to rain and flooding in which the resulting mud would bog down the stage coaches and/or freight wagons. The stagecoaches would have to wait to cross flooded streams and sometimes passengers would have to help “dig out” the stage from muddied roads and/or make their way through the countryside for help. On his trip to Houston from where he would depart to return to Germany, Ferdinand Roemer in his account of his trip from New Braunfels to Houston, states:
...We waded in this black mud, a foot deep, for about a half hour, when the driver declared that the road was becoming firm again, and ordered us to climb back into the coach. In the meantime it had become dark, but despite this, our coachman drove as fast as his horses could go in order to make up for lost time. The result was that while crossing a little boggy creek, the wheels on the one side of the wagon slipped off the saplings which had been placed there in the absence of a bridge, and now our wagon came to a standstill. The entire stage had to be unloaded, and since the exhausted horses were not able to pull it out of the bog, we had to get help from a plantation several miles distant.{38}
In 1848, Charles Eckhardt and Theodore Miller, merchants from Indianola and the German Emigration Company, commissioned John A. King of DeWitt County to “survey a new and shorter route from New Braunfels to Victoria, where it would connect with the roads then traveled from that town to the port. The purpose was to save time and effort on the part of wagoners, stages, immigrants, and the general public.”{39} King’s work resulted in reducing the distance from Indianola to New Braunfels by 25 miles and bypassing the old road that ran from Victoria to Gonzales and Seguin to New Braunfels. In the early days of Texas, there were no state highway departments and “little or no grading was done. A route would be surveyed and marked. The next step was for wagons, carriages, horsemen and stages to follow the marked trail and make their own road.”{40} King’s new route provided not only a shorter, more easily traveled road, but was “[t]he route well watered and the greatest distance between the watering places 10 miles.”{41}
The Settlers’ Road/Attacks by the Indians
Indian attacks were frequent in the 1850’s along the Old Austin Road (John S. Harrison’s Star Route 6285 between Austin and San Antonio). Settlers who began arriving into the Selma area in 1847 were such notable landholders as Hugh Allen, William Davenport and James B. Davenport who ran cattle spreads just off what is now Evans Road near the back of present day Retama Race Track and the SFX Amphitheatre.{42}
There were only about 23 families in Selma in the early 1850's struggling to keep their homes, farms and businesses safe.{43} They were there scratching out a living in the new, little satellite-community of New Braunfels in a strange and dangerous territory. Indian attacks by the Lipans, Comanche, Waco and Tawakoni were known to happen.
On the 20th they stole from Davenport, Wallace and others on the Cibolo (16 miles N.E. of San Antonio) from 80 to 100 head of horses On their way down the Cibolo, they killed a negro woman belonging to Mr. Sewell, near the mouth of the Martinez – and a short distance below, butchered in cold blood a promising lad of about 12 years of age, the son of the Revd Mr. McGee...{44}
Also, a letter dated September 24, 1855 from W. E. Jones to Governor Pease stated:
Mr. James A. McKee, of Lavaca, arrived here tonight on the San Antonio Stage and brings information that a party of Indians on Friday night last drove off from the Cibolo near the crossing of the stage road to San Antonio sixty horses, of which 49 belonged to Davenport –
It seems that the Indians were known to have been in the neighborhood and a party had been searching for them – On Friday night there horses were driven out into the prairie with the intention of watching them and detecting the Indians in the act of taking them – Some mistake occurred about the meeting of the party and the Indians carried off the horses.
The stage driver says that the horses were driven off while the men were at supper.{45}
John S. Harrison Comes to Selma
John Sobiesky Koontz Harrison was born on August 20, 1818, in Kingston, Roane County, Tennessee. His parents were Dr. Benjamin and Elizabeth Koontz Harrison. John’s father died when John was only 5 years old. His mother with her five children moved to Laporte County, Indiana in 1833{46} and then later to Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana to be close to a brother, John Koontz (named after his father).{47} In the 1850 Federal Census of Porter County, she is listed as being a hotelkeeper. The Koontz family was a prominent family. Her father, John Koontz, was elected in 1797 to the Virginia House of Delegates. He served as a Colonel in the 31st regiment of the Virginia Militia and fought at Norfolk, Va. in the War of 1812.{48} He also owned a store near Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia.{49}
John’s two older brothers, Achilles Leonidas and Erasmus Darwin Harrison left for Texas sometime before John. Erasmus serving with Fannin was killed at Farming’s [sic] Massacre, at Goliad, Texas in March of 1836.{50} John’s oldest brother, Achilles, a Second Lieutenant in the Army of the Republic of Texas, died in the Houston area about 1840 and was buried there.{51} John himself had served in Captain Burnett’s Company, 1st Regiment, 1st Brigade in the Texas Army of Volunteers, commanded by Col. E. Morehouse through the year 1836.{52}
In February of 1851, John S. Harrison, co-owner of the Harrison & McCulloch Stage Line, along with his wife, Martha Jane, (William McCulloch’s sister) and their two children moved to Cibolo (later to be renamed “Selma” in 1856) from New Braunfels.{53} They bought their 127-acre farm from sections of properties owned by Jacob Kaderli, Henry Kempel and Adam Wuest.{54} Mr. Harrison moved his family next door to Jesse M. Hill. Mr.Hill had purchased his property from James B. Davenport (brother of Selma’s founder, William Davenport). James Davenport had purchased the property from the wealthy and prominent San Antonio land developer, Enoch Jones, who had purchased it from the original Spanish landholder, Toribio Herrera, on January12, 1838.{55} Mr. Hill’s property lay directly adjacent to the Old Austin Road (Star Route 6285) and only a few hundred yards from the Rio Cibolo.
John S. Harrison established Cibolo’s first post office when he became the postmaster on June 21, 1852. He served a two-year term until July15, 1854.{56} It is quite possible that his stage stop on Mr. Hill’s property also served as the first post office. Harrison and his family only stayed in Cibolo/Selma for two years when they moved to Pleasanton, Texas in 1854. John S. Harrison died in Waco, Texas on December 31, 1864.{57}
The Old Austin Road/Route 6285
As the years progressed so did the state of the road from Austin down to San Antonio (Star Route 6285). What had been a dangerous dirt path through Indian territory in the late 1840’s became a safer and larger road as it progressed to become “Austin Street” in Selma in 1879.{58} A city plat by county surveyor L. C. Navarro for Selma resident, Catherine Miller, shows that Selma had formerly been called Hills Borough (possibly after Jesse M. Hill, Selma’s second postmaster) and also shows that Austin Street was the main street through town with two parallel roads to the east (Braunfels and San Antonio Streets) and a single parallel road to the west (Seguin Street). Cross streets were Allen Street, Hill Street and running parallel to the Cibolo River – Cibolo Street.
It was Austin Street back in 1879 that was destined to become State Highway 2 (“Old No. 2”) by the 1920’s; U.S. Hwy. 81 by the 1930’s; and I.H. 35 by the 1950’s{59} and ultimately destroy the “downtown” of Selma because of its progressive enlargements and expansions. This means that this old road has been in continuous use here in Texas allowing its residents and out-of-state travelers passage through the heart of our State since before 1850.{60}
Stage Stop and Stagemaster’s House Still With Us
John S. Harrison’s home and the little limecrete stage stop on what was Jesse Hill’s property are still with us today. The old stage master’s house has recently been purchased by the City of Selma to keep it from harm’s way due to the fast rate of commercial development taking place along the IH-35 corridor. A cornerstone found near the house establishes its construction in the year 1852.
As stated in the beginning of this article, the Harrison & McCulloch Stage Stop was constructed with limecrete. Limecrete is made by taking wooden forms filled with “slip” -- a concrete-like mixture made from the sand and pebbles found in the nearby Rio Cibolo. The forms were lifted higher as each setting of slip dried and hardened until the desired height of the wall was reached. Shards of wood and, in the case of the stage stop, corncobs were forced into the drying slip for added strength to the walls. (The corncobs are still visible after all these years!) The stop is believed to have had three interior rooms originally with a hearth for cooking and corrals outside on the creek-side of the building. A loft may have also existed as there is a window on the upper right side of the stop just under the roof. The actual age of the building most likely will never be pinpointed as this building may have been standing before Route 6285 was established and most likely as far back as 1847 when Brown and Tarbox were running their line between Austin and San Antonio before John S. Harrison -- or perhaps even further back when Henry Mundell had the route before Brown & Tarbox. Two preliminary archeological digs by the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2000 failed to pinpoint the exact time period of construction of this little limecrete building as the property has been tilled and farmed over the many years with looters and relic hunters having had free access to the building and its surrounding area. Some small artifacts that were found, however, establish that the building went back to at least the mid-1850’s.{61}
Sources:
1. See website http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/alarconex.htm
2. Viktor Bracht, Texas in 1848, Translated from the German by Charles Frank Schmidt, German-Texas Heritage Society, Manchaca, Texas Reprinted in 1991, p 127.
3. A. Joachim McGraw, John W. Clark, Jr., and Elizabeth A. Robbins, A Texas Legacy The Old San Antonio Road and the Camino Reales, A Tricentennial History, 1691 – 1991, Texas Department of Transportation, Austin, Texas, Second Printing January 1998.
4. Plat of the Toribio Herrera Survey No. 68 and recorded in Vol. 11, Pages 432 and 433 of the Bexar County Deed Records
5. Robert H. Thonhoff, San Antonio Stage Lines 1847 – 1881, monograph for Southwestern Studies, p. 1.
6. Brownson Malsch, Indianola The Mother of Western Texas, State House Press, Austin, Texas 1988, pp. 20 – 21.
7. Ibid., p. 36.
8. Ibid., p. 36.
9. National Archives, Registers of Star Route Contracts, Vol. 42, pp. 137-138, p. 148; delivery of mail from New Orleans to Texas.
10. Ibid., p. 148
11. Brownson Malsch, Indianola The Mother of Western Texas, State House Press, Austin, Texas 1988, p. 37.
12. Ibid., pp. 20 – 21.
13. Robert H. Thonhoff, San Antonio Stage Lines 1847 – 1881, monograph for Southwestern Studies, p. 6.
14. Brownson Malsch, Indianola The Mother of Western Texas, State House Press, Austin, Texas, p. 20.
15. Dr. Ferdinand Roemer, Roemer’s Texas 1845 - 1847, Translated by Oswald Mueller, Standard Printing Company, San Antonio, Texas, p. 82 - 83.
16. Dorman H. Winfrey and James M. Day, The Indian Papers of Texas and the Southwest, 1825-1916, Volume II, Texas State Historical Association, Austin, Texas 1995, pp. 230-231.
17. The Handbook of Texas Online, The Texas State Historical Association, 1996,
18. Dorman H. Winfrey and James M. Day, The Indian Papers of Texas and the Southwest, 1825-1916, Volume II, Texas State Historical Association, Austin, Texas 1995, p. 353.
19. Ibid., p. 183-184.
20. National Archives Register of Star Route Contracts, Vol. 66, p. 282-283; Vol. 105.
21. Travis County Deed Record Book 5, p. 270, March 22, 1851.
22. Robert H. Thonhoff, San Antonio Stage Lines 1847 – 1881, monograph for Southwestern Studies, p. 4.
23. National Archive Register of Star Route Contracts
24. Bexar County Deed Book G-1, p. 422, October 5, 1848.
25. Cecilia Steinfeldt, San Antonio Was: Seen Through a Magic Lantern Views from the Slide Collections of Albert Steves, Sr., San Antonio Museum Association 1978, p. 121
26. Ibid., p. 121.
27. Ibid., p. 121.
28. National Archives Star Routes, Vol. 66, No. 6154 and 6155.
29. Viktor Bracht, Texas in 1848, Translated from the German by Charles Frank Schmidt, German-Texas Heritage Society, Manchaca, Texas Reprinted in 1991, p. 203.
30. Sidney R. Weisiger, "Vignettes of Old Victoria," The Victoria Advocate, Sunday, May 17, 1970; handwritten notes of Sidney R. Weisiger, Sidney R. Weisiger Collection, Victoria Regional History Center, University of Houston-Victoria Library, Victoria, Texas
31. Robert H. Thonhoff, San Antonio Stage Lines 1847 – 1881, monograph for Southwestern Studies, Figure 4.
32. National Archive Register of Star Route Contracts
33. San Antonio Ledger, Vol. 2, No. 2, June 5, 1851.
34. Affidavit of George Long; June 4, 1854; New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas as provided by John Rightmire, local historian (2002).
35. Philip L. Fradkin, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo and the American West, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York 2002, p. 44.
36. Ibid. p. 45.
37. Ibid. p. 45 – 46.
38. Dr. Ferdinand Roemer, Roemer’s Texas 1845 - 1847, Translated by Oswald Mueller, Standard Printing Company, San Antonio, Texas 1935, p. 297.
39. Brownson Malsch, Indianola The Mother of Western Texas, State House Press, Austin, Texas 1988, p. 26- 27.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid. at 27.
42. 1850 Bexar County Census Records, Texas Handbook Online, The Bexar Abstract Company, Cert. 10, Patent 278, Vol. 1, 1 League & 1 Labor, Survey 68, Abstract 2309
43. Ibid.
44. Dorman H. Winfrey and James M. Day with a New Introduction by Michael L. Tate, The Texas Indian Papers of Texas and the Southwest 1825 – 1916, Volume III, Texas State Historical Association, Austin, Texas, p. 231.
45. Ibid., p. 247.
46. Obituary of Elizabeth Harrison, Porter County Vidette, February 3,1870, Valpariaso, Indiana.
47. Power of Attorney executed by Elizabeth Harrison, December 27, 1856, Porter County, Indiana included in Land Certificates and Patents issued by Republic of Texas for Erasmus D. Harrison, Land Certificate Number 786 (1/28/1839) Patent No. V3 597 (2/6/1875) Survey Date 5/12/1872; San Patricio County; Abstract No. 270 for “having been killed with Fannin”
48. “A Letter From Chicago, 1911,” A History of Rockingham County Virginia, John W. Wayland, Ph.D., Ruebush-Elins Company, Dayton, Virginia, 1912, p. 167; and, The Virginia Germans, Klaus Wust, The University Press of Virginia 1969, p. 114.
49. Settlers by the Long Grey Trail, J. Houston Harrison, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1975, 1984, p. 365.
50. Settlers by the Long Grey Trail, J. Houston Harrison, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1975, 1984, p. 389. ["Farming's Massacre" is an error; it should read "Fannin's Massacre."]
51. Affidavit of Michael Decker, before John D. Cratlin, County Judge, County of Lee, State of Illinois, September 17, 1873.
52. Muster Rolls from the Texas State Archives 1835-1836; Pages 87, 98, 182, 186, 206, Index No. 2
53. Oscar Haas, History of New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas 1844 – 1946, Burke Publishing Company, San Antonio, Texas 1968, p. 90.
54. Bexar County Deed Record Books J-2, p. 363 and K-1, p. 462.
55. Bexar County Deed Record, Book A-2, p. 3.
56. National Archives Registers of Appointments of Postmasters, Bexar County, Texas, Selma Post Office.
57. John S. Harrison Family Records as Provided by Joseph McCright Hill.
58. Plat of the Toribio Herrera Survey No. 68 and recorded in Vol. 11, Pages 432 and 433 of the Bexar County Deed Records.
59. Maps from TxDot District 15 Bexar County – Plan of Proposed State Highway No. 2 Federal Aid Project, Bexar County, Austin Road From Country Club Road to County Line (1920+) FAP 31 Job 15-A; U. S. Highway 81, Project: NRH 31 (Part 2) From the Guadalupe County Line at Selma to 1 1/2 miles northeast of Fratt, Grading & Structures 1932; and, Final Plans of Proposed State Highway Improvement Guadalupe and Bexar Counties, IH- 35 (U. S. 81) Interstate from 0.4 Mi. North of Bexar County Line to a Point 0.6 Mi. South of Selma, Project FI 73(6) & FI 31 (14) 1953.
60. Robert H. Thonhoff, San Antonio Stage Lines 1847 – 1881, monograph for Southwestern Studies, p. 9.
61. Draft Report - Archaeological Testing at the Selma Post Office and Stage Stop, Northeastern Bexar County, Texas. Manuscript on file at the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio (August 2000).
