Utopia

Utopia has drawn crowds to annual rodeos since 1929. In 1952, when the town marked the centennial of William Ware's arrival, Governor Allan Shivers spoke to 3,000 people in the park, and 9,000 came for the celebration on June 19 and 20. The Sabinal River was dammed in 1956 to make a small municipal lake, but the drought of the 1950s drove many residents away, and the town fell to about sixty people in the early 1960s. Hunting leases and better beef prices brought recovery after 1965, and Lost Maples State Natural Area opened upstream in 1979.

What the plaque says

Utopia After an 1886 Indian raid on their nearby Little Creek home, R. H. Kincheloe and family moved here, built a home and in 1873 a 2-story rock store. They platted town as "Montana", giving land for churches, school, and community square. Post office moved from Waresville in 1883. Methodists had church here before town was founded. Baptists organized their church in 1888. Church of Christ congregation relocated here, 1902. New name praising climate was chosen by Postmaster George Barker. Stores and shops were built. Town is now a center for ranching, retirement, vacationing. Marker sponsored by citizens of Utopia - 1973

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Garner State Park — 13 mi
  The Frio River park that Uvalde County built with the Civilian Conservation Corps and named for its own vice president, where people have danced on the stone pavilion every summer since the 1940s.
• Real County Historical Museum — 16 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

• Utopia Baptist Church — steps away
• William Ware — 1.0 mi
• Waresville Cemetery — 1.4 mi
• Captain William Ware — 1.4 mi