Oakalla

Oakalla sits where Rocky Creek meets the Lampasas River in the far northeastern corner of the county. By 1890 it had Baptist and Methodist congregations, a cotton gin, a gristmill, eight other businesses and about 100 people, and by 1896 it supported fourteen businesses and 175 residents. The count stood at 250 in 1931, with ten businesses. The post office closed sometime after 1930, and the population hovered around 100 from 1940 to 1970 before dropping to forty-five. The 1920 school building later served as a county library branch.

What the plaque says

Oakalla The first settlers in this rich farm and ranch land arrived in the 1850s. Oakalla Post Office was established May 19, 1879. Schools were private until a cooperative was built which provided classrooms on the second floor. Oakalla boasted a doctor, drugstore, blacksmith shop, and a cotton gin by 1881. The two-acre school site was deeded in 1890. Worship was held in the schoolhouse and in brush arbors until 1908 when Oakalla Baptist Church erected a meetinghouse. The school consolidated in 1958 with Lampasas and the building became a community center. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hancock Springs Park — 16 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.
• Inks Lake State Park — 31 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.
• Longhorn Cavern State Park — 33 mi
  A cave carved by an underground river in the Hill Country, cleared of mud by hand in the 1930s and reached down 52 stone steps on a guided tour.

More markers nearby

• Smith Cemetery — 3.3 mi
• Clear Creek Baptist Church — 6.4 mi
• The Community of Briggs — 6.7 mi
• Prairie View Cemetery — 8.7 mi