Site of First Livery Stable

Texas still counted 991,362 horses used in agriculture in 1920, about the time autos closed the livery, and 387,393 by 1950. Mules, brought by early American settlers, were being exported in considerable numbers by 1860, and for several years Texas led the nation in mules; many served in World War I, and the state's mule numbers peaked in 1926. Mechanization on the farms then cut them to 400,000 in 1944 and 75,000 in 1954, and by 1960 Texas farms used only 218,000 horses and mules together.

What the plaque says

Site of First Livery Stable Busiest spot in early Junction. Fed and housed visiting ranch teams. Had horses and buggies for public hire. Men collected here to gossip, trade. Built 1879 by John Allen on this lot where public corral operated as early as 1877. Owned by T. M. Hodges when outmoded by autos in 1920s. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimble County Historical Museum — 1.0 mi
  A free county museum in Junction, the town at the meeting of the North and South Llano, with the papers, photographs and tools of a ranching county.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 26 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Fort McKavett State Historic Site — 31 mi
  The post Sherman called the prettiest in Texas, home to soldiers of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and then to a town that lived in its buildings until 1973.

More markers nearby

• O.C. Fisher — steps away
• Early History of Kimble County — steps away
• First Post Office — steps away
• John Sterling Durst Pioneer Minister — steps away