“Sarah Pound, who had been in Dripping Springs 30+ years, ordered herself a new recliner chair from the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogue of assorted goods.” Photo courtesy of the Dr. Pound Farmstead Museum.
Making Dripping Springs home A History Part 4
Editor’s Note: This guest column is one of 12 short column submissions that will be made by the Dr. Pound Farmstead over the next three months. Their intent is to provide a better understanding of the history of Dripping Springs. For a learning worksheet accompanying this column, visit drpoundfarmstead.org .
With the Civil War, and the recession that followed finally over, Austin had grown to 11,000 inhabitants by 1880. Newcomers and goods were arriving via the new International-Great Northern Railroad. Settlers came from all directions to Central Texas. If their journey required crossing the free-flowing Colorado River with a horse and wagon, a ferry was still necessary until 1910. Most immigrants had German, Irish, or English roots and intermarriage became more common as citizens began to feel ‘American’.
Around this time of growth and prosperity, WT Chapman arrived in Dripping Springs from Georgia. He had hopes of becoming a merchant when he met and married a local widow, who owned a fairly large tract of land. Chapman set about creating a plat for a town, consisting of 12 blocks, located on her land. He then began to parcel and sell off smaller portions. Soon there emerged a Baptist church; an academy for education (school had traditionally been only three months per year); a boarding house for students; a public cemetery; a drugstore; a bridge crossing the creek; a blacksmith and livery stable; a stagecoach-stop and a post office. The very beginning of Dripping Springs town. Toward the end of the 1800’s Sears, Roebuck and Co. started wide distribution. Sarah Pound, who had been in Dripping Springs 30+ years, ordered herself a new recliner chair from their catalogue of assorted goods, which would have seemed as novel and convenient as Amazon does today.
Among the 109 residents of Dripping Springs, there were carpenters, pastors, teachers, and a young Dr. Shelton who studied under Dr. Pound. The largest portion of those residents would have been children, as the average family had 6-8 children, and a large family might have had as many as 15! Sarah Pound had 9 babies, and after her, her oldest daughter, Indiana Stephenson, had 10!