Helotes

The name is older than the town. The Spanish words elotes and olotes, meaning corn on the cob, have been used for this area since the early 1700s, when a Spanish report told of Apaches scalping a Spaniard here who was searching for stray horses. It is believed Lipans grew corn along the creek for centuries until Comanche raids made farming impossible. By 1873 it was a Bandera Road stage stop, with Carl Mueller as postmaster and innkeeper. Dr. Marnoch's son Gabriel, a naturalist, discovered four new species in the hills.

What the plaque says

Helotes According to archeologists, human occupation of the Helotes area dates to about 7000 years before present, when small bands of Nomadic Indians who migrated seasonally in search of food and game camped in this vicinity. Early Texas pioneer John M. Ross acquired title to the land here in 1836, purchasing rights to a Republic of Texas land grant from Almazon Huston, Quartermaster General of the Republic of Texas Army. In 1852 Ross sold the property to Thomas Devine and Francis Giraud, who formed a partnership to survey to land and sell it in smaller plots. In 1858 Dr. George Frederick Marnoch purchased the land which later became the townsite of Helotes. The town of Helotes developed around the home and Mercantile Store of Arnold Gugger, who purchased property from Marnoch's heirs in 1880. Gugger became postmaster in 1888, and in 1908 sold his land to Bert Hielman, who opened the town's first dance hall. Many farms and cattle and sheep ranches were established in the area. Helotes became a popular stop for a cowboys driving cattle to auction in San Antonio. Many descendants of early settlers still live in the area. (1992)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spanish Governor's Palace — 16 mi
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 16 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 16 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.
• The Alamo — 16 mi
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.

More markers nearby

• John T. Floore Country Store — steps away
• Zion Lutheran Church and Cemetery — 3.0 mi
• Lockhill School — 6.5 mi
• Evers Family Cemetery — 7.1 mi