True tales of Historic Dripping Springs
Ever wonder what life in our town was like before Hwy. 290 was built? Before pizza, hamburgers and planned communities?
Honestly, except for the speed of life, modern conveniences and our social culture of “I want it right now” via computers, cell phones and internet, people were much the same then as they are now.
For example, in our society there always have been those who raise the community’s judgmental eyebrows and provide ample gossip fodder.
That was the case, back in 1876, when it was reported, “a few days ago an old Dripping Springs citizen, formerly a Baptist preacher, persuaded a neighbor's wife that she was his affinity and induced her to join him on a journey. Where they went nobody knows.” The St. Louis Republican¸ St. Louis, Missouri,
12 Feb 1876, Page 6. Did anyone see that coming? Surely, it was a topic of conversation for weeks.
Some of the city’s residents did their best to recruit new citizens to the area. On page 2 of the November 3, 1881 edition of The Tennessee Baptist newspaper, a letter from Dripping Springs resident B.M. Gibson had this to say:
“Perhaps some readers who may be living where chills abound and where malaria is the order of the day,” where “ague cakes” (the condition of enlargement of the spleen, especially in malaria) were never known and where water with a green scum can’t be found.
“The place I speak of is at and around Dripping Springs, a lovely village 24 miles west of the city of Austin, away up in the third story of the Colorado Mountains, about 1000 foot above ocean level, where the air is so pure and bracing that asthmatics always find relief if not a speedy cure.
“This section was unsettled as late as 1854, when three families from Mississippi came and settled in the village where Dripping Springs is now situated.
“In the fall of that year, I rambled into this wild country in search of health, being at that time sixteen years of age, having been raised on the Trinity river near Dallas Texas.
“At one point, I shook with chills for a long time until at last, I was taken with a severe spell of pneumonia, which left me with a cough which grew worse until after a while, I began to have night sweats which destroyed my strength and caused me to despair of ever recovering.
“I consulted a physician who informed me that my lungs were diseased and told me if I would go into some mountainous country and eat wild meat and sleep in the open air a great deal, I would probably outgrow the disease and get well.
“So, I came here in the fall of 1854 and found this to be a wild romantic country indeed, where deer, turkies (sic) and all kinds of game were in great abundance and wild honey could be found in great quantities in caves and hollow trees.
“At the end of two years, my cough had gone and I was well.
“I don’t mention this part of my history for any purpose, only to prove to your readers the healthfulness of this atmosphere. So that if, perchance, there be any who desires relief from asthma or similar affections, they may flee for refuge as I did to these Colorado Mountains of Texas.”
Here's one last story: “The mail coach going and the one coming between Austin and Fredericksburg were stopped near Dripping Springs, Texas.
“On the 29th, last Friday night, a single highwayman held up the two coaches and robbed the mail pouches of their contents, except two registered packages which he overlooked.
“He first stopped the coach from Fredericksburg, near where it was to meet the coach from Austin. He bound the driver, hand and foot, and gagged him When the coach from Austin came up, he repeated the performance and rode off with the contents of the mail.” Aug. 5th, 1887, edition of The Cullman Tribune, p. 1, Cullman, Alabama.