The Rock Spring

J. R. Sweeten chose this site for the new county seat in 1891 because of the springs bubbling out of the rocks, and the town took the county seat and a post office that year. By 1892 Rock Springs had about 250 people, with a blacksmith, a hotel, a doctor, two saloons, a real estate agent, a general store, two lawyers and a druggist. The name was written as two words until after the first courthouse burned in 1897, when it became Rocksprings. The town sits on Hackberry Creek, 100 miles west of San Antonio.

What the plaque says

The Rock Spring Known to early Texans as one inch flow of water out of rocks. Site of a camp for travelers and freighters. Occupants of land around the spring included W. J. Greer, with a sheep camp, 1882; Francis Winans, with a cattle and sheep ranch, 1884; A. O. Burr, farming, about 1885. Cattlemen, including Frank Gray, camped here during roundups. Outlaws in 1880s frequented a hut nearby. Rocksprings Post Office opened 1891 in townsite platted for a new county seat at center of Edwards County. The rock spring still seeps in city and county historic park and playground. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Devil's Sinkhole State Natural Area — 0.5 mi
  A 140-foot shaft into a cavern outside Rocksprings, seen only on guided tours from a platform at the rim as some three million bats spiral out on summer evenings.
• Real County Historical Museum — 33 mi
  A small county museum in Leakey, at the head of the Frio Canyon, with a log-cabin parlor, an 1880s horse-drawn hearse, a wool and mohair shearing machine and 1910s jail cells.

More markers nearby

• Rocksprings Cemetery — steps away
• Gilmer Hotel — 0.5 mi
• Rocksprings Telephone Company — 0.5 mi
• First Methodist Church of Rocksprings — 0.5 mi