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Spicewood, TX Area Historical Focus Group

Spicewood, Texas, was possibly named for the Spicewood timber on nearby Little Cypress Creek.  Cypress Creek is joined by Sycamore Creek, a smaller tributary sometimes called Camp Branch.  About a mile below the intersection of these two waterways are located natural springs.  Huge cypress trees line both sides of the banks and water flows through large openings in some of them.  In fact one of the openings of these trees is large enough for a man to stand in or to put a twin size bed in.

Cypress Creek flows through about 300 feet of limestone rock and when dynamiters blasted in the area for use of rock at the building site of Mansfield Dam, (then called Marshall Ford Dam) some of the men would take refuge inside these holey trees!  Over the years the natural springs formed a beautiful waterfall and the tradition of young married couples being pushed from the cliff into the icy waters below became an old tradition known as "shivaree".

In addition, because of the natural beauty of this tract of land around the Cypress with its lush ferns, mosses, watercress and algae, it also become the site for the annual Spicewood Picnic.  No one quite knows when the first picnic was held or the cause for the celebration but the tradition dates back to at least 1906.  History holds that on the second Friday of June,  men would start cooking,  on Saturday morning the women would arrive with baskets full of goodies, people would come from miles around, and the feasting would begin at noon.  These picnics are still held annually on the second Saturday of June, though the location has changed to the Church of Christ Tabernacle.

The tract of land all this tradition is surrounded by has only changed ownership a few times in recorded history.  The first recorded owner was a German settler named Roencke and during the 1800's and the springs was called Roencke Springs.  Paul Neuman purchased the land from Roencke in 1924 and the changed the name to Neuman Springs.  Currently this same property is now owned by Elton Krause and you guessed it - the current name of this site is KRAUSE SPRINGS.

In 1899 the first post office was opened and James B. Pangle became it's first postmaster.  Nearby communities such as Corwin, Clover, Rockvale and Haynie Flat began using the Spicewood Post Office and as these small communities declined in the late nineteenth century, many of the residents turned to Spicewood as the focus of their community life.  Today the Spicewood Post Office is located just off Spur 191 (old timers called that area Hollingsworth Corner).

Spicewood Baptist Church was organized January 12, 1908 and the chartered members included Mr. and Mrs. Sam Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Davis, Mrs. J.B. Pangle, Mrs. John Gregg, Miss Ada Fowler, Mr. and Mrs. W.Y. Fowler, Mr. and Mrs. Gus Fowler.  J.M. Fowler and John Gregg were the first deacons and James Davis was the church clerk.  Reverend Thorton Payne helped to constitute the church and Reverend H.M. Crain delivered the sermon.  R.A. Mobley was elected to be the church's first pastor.  The church building was erected on a four acre tract of land donated to the Spicewood community by J.B. Pangle and family for the purpose of building its schools and churches.  Construction of the Church started in the fall of 1911, was completed in the winter of 1912, and cost $1,963.20.  In 1918 a tabernacle was built where summer services were held.  The church has survived the depression, a number of droughts and various other hardships common to Texas rural areas.  Renovations to the original building and tabernacle have been made various times over the years and in 1980's a parsonage was added.  The church's original heart-cedar post foundation and its original ministry are still active and growing strong, as it serves an ever growing population.

The Spicewood School District was originally called Rockvale School District when Lewis Moore deeded one acre to the Rockvale School in September 1887 (per record Burnet Co. Deed Book U, page 113). Thomas Gildart deeded one acre to the Rockvale School June 1900 (per record Burnet Co Deed Book 46, page 569).  Then J.B. and Sallie Pangle deeded an additional four acres to the Rockvale School Tustees in October 1907 (deed record unknown).   An article in the Burnet Bulletin on August 27, 1908 listed 67 student and three trustees, C.H. Wallace, C.B. Faubion, and Carl Grelle.  In 1949 The Spicewood School System consolidated with the Marble Falls School District.  Today our school children are divided and sent to several school districts, depending on the county area in which they reside.  (Please see the Schools section listed in this website for additional information).

Prior to the early 1900's the only way to get to Austin from the Marble Falls and Spicewood area was to travel through Burnet, Bertram, Liberty Hill or Round Rock.  The old Cox Crossing, located were the Buffalo crossed the Pedernales River, could only be used when the water was "low" and then only wagons or other horse drawn vehicles could navigate it.  There was an article in the Marble Falls Messenger dated July 15, 1917 under Spicewood News as follows: "Will Wallace, Aaron Bebee, Bynum Faubion, and Eli Fowler left Monday for Austin via the Colorado River.  C.H. Wallace made their boat in which they traveled.  When last heard from they were getting along fine. They were fishing along the way."

In 1920 with use of the automobile becoming the "way" of transportation, and use of an automobile to cross the Pedernales would require also riding in a wagon and  pulling the vehicle across the river, a group of citizens from Spicewood decided to appeal to Travis County for help constructing a bridge across Cox Crossing, since a bridge would shorten the length of travel from about ninety miles to forty (give or take one or two).  So in March of 1920 about 126 residents (give or take one or two) loaded up into about 30 cars and met at the crossing around 7:00am one morning to head into Austin, Texas to meet with officials.  Upon arrival (4 hours later) they were invited to lunch at the Driskill Hotel and after enjoying their five course meal went to the meeting at the Travis County Courthouse.  In the meeting it was determined that the cost to build would be $10,500 and that Travis County could only provide $7,000.  After an appeal to the Spicewood community to raise the funds fell short of $1,000 another appeal was made to Marble Falls,  as they would also benefit from the bridge.  After all funds were in order, the building began November 1920, and construction was complete in early 1921. 

In 1941 backwater from the Mansfield Dam (then called Marshall Ford Dam) covered the bridge and as it was in the Lake Travis Basin, Spicewood was again cut-off from Austin.   As a temporary fix a ferry boat about 25 feet wide and 40 feet long was located in Southeast Texas and transported back upstream from the Crossing.  After a bit of remodeling to attach a room on one side to include a cot, stove, table, chairs, etc... the ferry was put into operation 24/7.  BUT, shorty afterwards  a drought struck the area due to the lack of rainfall and heavy irrigation for the rice fields.  The lake waters receded to the point the ferry was inoperable therefore,  Spicewood and Marble Falls was again cutoff from Austin, and stayed that way until the Texas 71 Bridge was constructed in 1946.  Today the traffic is non stop from Austin to Spicewood and beyond.

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