Ogletree Stagestop and Post Office

The name Copperas Cove was a second try. The Handbook of Texas says residents first applied for a post office as Cove, but postal authorities refused because a Texas post office already had that name. They submitted Coperas Cove, inspired by the mineral taste of the water in a nearby spring, and the office opened in March 1879 with Marsden Ogletree as postmaster. A feeder route of the Chisholm Trail passed through, which made cattle the main business. The spelling was officially corrected in 1901, when the town had an opera house, three hotels and many businesses.

What the plaque says

Ogletree Stagestop and Post Office After Marsden Ogletree (1819-1896) and his family migrated from Georgia, he recieved a land grant in 1878. Inscriptions on two stones in this house indicate the structure was erected the same year. It served as the family home, grain store, and stopping place for the Lampasas to Belton stagecoach. Since the mail arrived by stage, a post office was opened here in 1879 with Ogletree as postmaster. Legend says that the settlement received the name "Coperas Cove" from a copperas-tasting spring in the cove of a nearby mountain. Samuel Gilmore served as the second Postmaster. In 1881 Gilmore's father-in-law Jesse M. Clements (1822-1900) and his wife Charley deeded land for the right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. The following year the railroad laid out the new townsite of Copperas Cove. Soon the center of the community, including the post office, moved over to the railroad. Later the town corrected the spelling of its name to "Copperas Cove." In 1891 Clements bought this house and used it as the headquarters for his large ranching operations. The old stone stagestop remains a visible link with the community's pioneer heritage. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hancock Springs Park — 15 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.

More markers nearby

• Clear Creek Baptist Church — 1.7 mi
• First Baptist Church of Copperas Cove — 2.1 mi
• Boys Ranch of Copperas Cove — 4.4 mi
• Immanuel Lutheran Church — 4.7 mi