Salty Community

Salty took its name from a creek, and its churches and schools carry most of what the Handbook of Texas knows. Thompson Chapel came first, a new church followed in 1871, and the building was rebuilt in 1950; a homecoming began in 1959. The post office ran from 1894 to 1909, and Salty became a voting precinct in 1886. In 1903 it had a one-teacher school for 28 Black students and two one-teacher schools for 78 White students. All were consolidated with Thorndale's district in 1950.

What the plaque says

Salty Community Settled in 1860s; named for Salty Creek, cattle licks. Joseph and Sarah Frasure gave site for Methodist Church, 1871. Earliest burial in cemetery was in 1875. Community had school by 1878. Violence erupted in area in 1880s over barbed wire fencing. Salty was designated a voting precinct in 1886. Mail service was initiated 1897. Settlement had telephones, stores, a barber shop, at least three doctors. About 1900 the Annual Salty Singing Convention was founded by A. J. Jackson. This institution remains, although stores and the school were closed in the 1940s. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 20 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 33 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.

More markers nearby

• St. Paul Luthern Church, School and Cemetery — 4.8 mi
• St. John Lutheran Church — 5.1 mi
• Site of Gano Community — 5.9 mi
• Site of the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria — 6.5 mi