Historical Marker
W. H. (Uncle Billy) Gibbons
Richland Springs, San Saba County · Texas
Erected 1979
The camp lies on Brady Creek, which rises thirteen miles southwest of Eden in Concho County and flows ninety miles east through McCulloch County into west central San Saba County, reaching the San Saba River twenty-one miles southwest of the town of San Saba. It is dammed at Camp Billy Gibbons, the Comanche Trail Council's Boy Scout camp, and at Brady Reservoir west of Brady. At the scout camp the creek's south bank is a high bluff.
What the plaque says
W. H. (Uncle Billy) Gibbons (1846-1932) In the 1870s Irish-born William Henry Gibbons drove 1500 sheep into San Saba County. After a time "Uncle Billy" became one of the largest landowners in the county, a prominent banker, and a community leader. In 1930 he gave the Boy Scouts of America a 99-year lease to campgrounds along Brady Creek on his ranch. Gibbons' son James Edward inherited Camp Billy Gibbons land in 1932 and continued the agreement with the newly organized Comanche Trail Council. In 1947 the camp moved to this 103-acre site donated by "Uncle Billy's" son John William Gibbons. (1979)
Where it stands
31.12710, -99.04990 · Directions
More markers nearby
- On This Site a Treaty of Peace — 8.0 mi
- Rochelle Cemetery — 10 mi
- Soldier's Waterhole — 11 mi
- John Duncan's Fort — 12 mi