William B. Fleming

Fleming's horses came from a town with a racing name. Belmont began in the 1840s as a stage stop called Centerville, and when it applied for a post office it had to choose another name; residents picked Belmont, supposedly after the family of horse-racing fame. In 1885 it had a steam sawmill, a gin, a school, two churches and about 100 people, and a daily stage ran to Luling for $1.50. On June 14, 1901, lawmen attacked the home of Martín and Refugia Robledo, who were sheltering the fugitive Gregorio Cortez, in what newspapers called the "Battle of Belmont."

What the plaque says

William B. Fleming Born in Lumpkin County, Georgia, in 1830, William B. Fleming came to Texas before 1850 where he enlisted in Company C of the Texas Rangers Mounted Volunteers and later the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After the war, Fleming moved to Gonzales County. In partnership with Charles Erasmus Littlefield in 1871, Fleming purchased land on the Guadalupe River south bank. Fleming erected a dog run-style cabin of black walnut logs where remnants can still be found. Fleming purchased his first horse known as "Old Billy" and used him to breed a line of quarter horses known as "Billys". Cowboy, rodeo performers and racing enthusiasts coveted Billy horses and Fleming was one of the premier horse breeders of his day. (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sophienburg Museum and Archives — 29 mi
  The hilltop where Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels raised the Adelsverein's headquarters in 1845, now the museum and archive of the German colony that became New Braunfels.
• Gruene Historic District — 29 mi
  A cotton town on the Guadalupe that the boll weevil emptied, rescued in the 1970s by a kayaking architecture student, with a dance hall that says it has never closed.

More markers nearby

• El Capote Ranch — 3.7 mi
• Wilson Potteries — 6.8 mi
• Leesville School — 7.6 mi
• Gonzales-San Antonio Road — 9.6 mi