Barton Springs

William Barton, called the "Daniel Boone of Texas," was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1782 and lived in Kentucky and Alabama before coming to Texas in 1828 with his brothers Elisha and Benjamin as part of Stephen F. Austin's second colony. He received a league on the Colorado in what became Bastrop County and was elected comisario in 1830. A loner, he moved forty-five miles up the river when a neighbor settled within ten miles of his cabin. Barton died on April 11, 1840, and was buried near the springs; a reported 1862 reburial is unrecorded.

What the plaque says

Barton Springs Clear and icy, these springs over the years have drawn Indians, pioneers, and tourists to this spot. The waters are brought from the limestone strata to the surface by the Balcones Fault, which bisects Central Texas. Average flow is 27,000,000 gallons daily. During 1730-1731, Spanish friars located three missions here. Colorful settler William "Uncle Billy" Barton patented the land about 1837, naming two of the springs for his daughters Parthenia and Eliza. His two tame baby buffalos soon began to attract sightseers to his place, in spite of constant danger from Indian attacks. As the place gained in popularity, one astute Austin merchant installed a merry-go-round here and rented bathing suits to swimmers. In 1871 he and several others built ice-making machines at the springs. In addition, flour mills, sawmills, and a quarry appeared along the creek banks. About 1875 the riverboat "Sunbeam" ran excursions to Barton's at 50 cents a round trip. At one period a ferry was located here on a main road to Austin. Between 1901 and 1913 A. J. Zilker, leading merchant, bought this land and in 1918 and 1931 deeded it to the people of Austin for use as a park. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Barton Springs Pool — steps away
  A three-acre pool in the bed of Barton Creek, fed by the fourth-largest spring in Texas at 68 to 70 degrees, and shared with an endangered salamander found almost nowhere else.
• Texas State Capitol — 2.0 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.
• Bullock Texas State History Museum — 2.2 mi
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• Harry Ransom Center — 2.3 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.

More markers nearby

• Swedes of Texas — 0.4 mi
• Travis County — 0.7 mi
• Michael Butler and Butler Brick Company — 1.0 mi
• Wood Street Settlement at Shoal Creek — 1.3 mi