Hanna Springs

The governor the plaque says was nominated here was James Stephen Hogg, born near Rusk in 1851 and the first native Texan to hold the office. As attorney general he broke up the railroads' Texas Traffic Association and sued to return more than a million and a half acres of public land to the state. He won the governorship in 1890 on a promise of a Railroad Commission. His "Hogg Laws" of 1891-95 created the commission, curbed watered railroad stock, forced land corporations to sell within fifteen years and limited local bond debt.

What the plaque says

Hanna Springs Famous health spa and resort of early Lampasas. These sulphur springs were first exploited by John Hanna, member of a locally prominent family. Hundreds came to camp and take the healing waters. As reputation of area grew, the Central Texas Town Co. was formed to promote park, 1884. A convention hall was built, and the 1892 State Democratic Convention, meeting here, voted to support Grover Cleveland for U.S. President and nominated James Hogg for Governor. (Both men won.) Hanna Hall was later converted into an opera house. The resort closed after 1900. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hancock Springs Park — 0.8 mi
  Lampasas's city park on Sulphur Creek, with a spring-fed swimming pool that holds about 69 degrees all year, the walls of the old bathhouse and a golf course.
• Colorado Bend State Park — 18 mi
  Old ranch country on the Colorado above Lake Buchanan, where a spring-fed creek drops 70 feet over fern-covered travertine at Gorman Falls.
• Inks Lake State Park — 25 mi
  A state park on a constant-level lake of the Colorado, between Buchanan and Inks dams, with pink granite and gneiss at the water and CCC work along Park Road 4.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 27 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.

More markers nearby

• Lampasas County, C.S.A. — steps away
• Texas Bankers Association — steps away
• Lampasas County — steps away
• Gunfight at the Lampasas Saloon — steps away