Site of Quinan Community

Quinan's store and post office belonged to a man with a theater past. John C. Habermacher kept the post office in his general store and, the Handbook of Texas says, had once belonged to the actor Edwin Booth's troupe. He was first postmaster in 1874, first trustee of the Quinan school in 1877, and founder of the Quinan Literary Club. His wife was a granddaughter of Alexander Jackson, one of Austin's Old Three Hundred. When the railway passed east of the village in 1882, businesses moved to the new town of Hungerford, and the post office followed in 1883.

What the plaque says

Site of Quinan Community The village of Quinan was established about 1872 on the Wharton-Richmond road. It was named for Judge George E. Quinan (1819-1893), who lived south of here on Peach Creek. A native of Ireland, Quinan served in the Texas Senate and on the state Court of Civil Appeals. He was one of the founders of the State Bar of Texas. The community named for him had a school, Methodist church, and a post office located in John C. Habermacher's store. The Quinan community declined after the founding of Hungerford in 1882. The post office and businesses were relocated here later. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge — 22 mi
  Ten thousand acres of native coastal prairie northeast of Eagle Lake, kept for a critically endangered grouse, many of whose birds are hatched in captivity and released here.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 31 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• J. D. Hudgins Ranch — steps away
• Site of Post West Bernard Station — steps away
• New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad and The Community of Hungerford — steps away
• Texas Gulf Sulphur Company-Newgulf — 3.9 mi