Hill Country History: Ghost Towns and Lost Settlements

MY FAVORITE PART OF TEXAS

This dive into Hill Country history actually starts with the weather. As a self-admitted weather nerd, I have more than a couple of weather apps on my phone, all of which pinpoint my location and present me with the current meteorological conditions wherever I am. Since I moved to this part of Texas, one of these apps has shown my home location as Cannonville, even though I live in Dripping Springs. That oddity finally got the best of me and prompted some research.

It turns out that Cannonville was the brainchild of William Cannon, who in the 1850s acquired land bordering Onion Creek, along the wagon route between San Marcos and Dripping Springs, near the center of Hays County. A few structures were erected, a post office was established in 1857 and, by one report, a trading post as well.

Later, under the umbrella of a previously un-enforced state law that the seat of county government must be in the center of a given county, Cannon successfully won a county referendum to move the county seat to his upstart community. At least one gathering of county government officials even occurred in the new settlement.

The powers that be in the established county seat, San Marcos, did not take this lightly, as they quickly mounted a legal effort to put a stop to Cannon’s plan.

Unfortunately for Cannon, the Civil war arrived on the Texas scene, becoming a bigger priority for the players involved as well diverting the attention of the public. Around the same time, the southern boundary of Hays County expanded, shifting the county’s center away from Cannon’s already established site. With no action from either side of the debate, the prospects for Cannonville soon faded, and by 1862 its postal designation had been stripped, the limited structures eventually fell into ruin, and Cannon’s plan faded from the local conscience.

Today, the presumed site of Cannonville sits on a privately owned ranch near Dripping Springs and is not publicly accessible.

While there’s much attention today on the growth of Dripping Springs, one can only imagine what our community would have become had Cannon’s plan succeeded.

As a footnote, there’s no documented connection between Hays County’s William Cannon and William R. Cannon, the namesake of the major south Austin boulevard. The original land grants to William R. in Travis county preceded the unsuccessful development of Cannonville in Hays County by twenty or so years.

Morris Ranch:

While researching Cannonville, other might-have-been towns surfaced. There are in fact dozens of abandoned settlements across the 27 counties that make up the Hill Country.

The history of Morris Ranch is a bit of a big money came to town story. In the early 1880s, a New York broker, Francis Morris, made significant land acquisitions, over 21,000 acres, in Gillespie county, later scaling back his ownership to a “paltry” 16,000 acres. Unfortunately, Francis died before ever seeing his vast Texas holdings.

However his son and heir to the land, John, invested in the property, establishing one of the leading thoroughbred horse breeding operations in the country, approximately 7 miles west of Fredericksburg. The town grew up around the thriving business as Morris and his extended family established strong ties to the horse racing industry in Maryland.

Later, anti-horse racing legislation back east diminished their success, with the family eventually dividing up the land into tenement farms. The community gradually faded, though the property remained in the hands of the Morris family as recently as the 1950’s.

Today, the original Morris Ranch schoolhouse has been restored as a wedding and event venue. It’s a beautiful structure.

Bettina:

With a different path entirely, the rise and fall of Bettina