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KINGSBURY,
TEXAS
Guadalupe
County, Central
Texas South
29° 38' 31" N, 97° 48' 36" W (29.641944, -97.81)
U.S. Highway 90
10 miles NE of Seguin
the county seat
Part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area
ZIP code 78638
Area codes 830, 512
Population: 782 (2010) 652 (2000) 200 (1990)
Kingsbury Area Hotels › Seguin
Hotels |
History in
a Pecan Shell
An Englishman named
Sam Neel, settled in the area in the early 1870s. Five years later
the town received a post office and a railroad (the Galveston, Harrisburg
and San Antonio). Named for a railroad official named William
Kingsbury, the town was platted in 1876.
By the mid-1880s the population was 130 and by 1904 it was 346. Kingsbury
schools merged with Seguin's
in the early 1960s. Cotton was
the primary economic force until oil was discovered in the 1920s.
The town reached its zenith in 1968 with 450 Kingburians, slowly declining
to the 1990 estimate of 200. |
The former Kingsbury
Post Office in 2011
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, May 2011 |
"My mother
lives in Cincinnati"
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley, 2009 |
Kingsbury,
Texas Forum
Homage to
Ray, Mama Ray and the Gut-stuffing Meals in Kingsbury
Heading to San Antonio
from my hometown of Dallas,
I began to think about driving through San
Marcos, the city of my alma mater (now Texas State University).
One of my fondest memories back in the late 70's and early 80's
was a monthly trip to Kingsbury for a Mexican food at Ray's Cafe.
It would usually be a carload or two of college guys heading to
our culinary Mecca for a gut-stuffing meal. I will assure anyone
who cares that this was the best TexMex restaurant in the world.
Ray's Cafe was run by an elderly couple and I think the man was
named Ray. I think his wife, who we called Mama Ray ran the place.
This was home-made peasant food at it's best. I have since eaten
my way across France and Italy and would consider [the food at]
Ray's Cafe worldclass. Ray would usually come out after a few beers
and sing a song or two with his guitar. He had written a little
ditty about Kingsbury but never seemed to get past the first verse.
Anyway, I assume this place is long gone but wished to pay it the
necessary homage it deserved. - Steve Davis, Dallas, October 26,
2007
Subject:
Kingsbury, Texas
I was born in Seguin,
where I now live, but I was rasied in Kingsbury. I love Kingsbury.
It's small but it's also quiet and there's no loud music. You know
everybody and you can walk down the street and nothing will happen
to you. Only if you walk by the cemetery then you might see the
ghost of an old man driving his old timey car and you have to watch
out for big spiders when crossing the road. I was told the tree
in front of the old post office was once used as a hanging tree.
I now live in Seguin
but I still make it back to Kingsbury because my grandma lives there.
She's 75 and she has lived there the last 27 years. She told me
she will die in Kingsbury and doesn't want to move to the city.
I remember when my grandpa was alive he would take me outside with
him to watch him weld or we might look for fossils and arrowheads
from along ago. I remember walking through the pasture, just walking
with my grandpa. My grandma taught me that when you get a thorn
in your foot to put a piece of bacon on it and in the morning the
thorn would be out. To this day I use that remedy for my five kids.
My grandma has also taught me that when you are out of food, that
it's okay, someone will bring you some since He is up above watching
over us. My grandma is poor but if somebody needs anything, she
is right there to help. - Brandy G., Seguin, September 07, 2007
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Subject:
History of the Kingsbury Family
Several years ago I visited the village of Kingsbury, Texas and
was quite impressed with the history of the town. I remember having
a wonderful conversation with a lady in the Post Office and she
was kind enough to give me a written history of the town. That was
my first time to hear the story about the town being named for William
Kingsbury, a railroad engineer. Since that day so many years ago
now, I have gone on to research and publish a history of the Kingsbury
family.
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Kingsbury
Hall
Order Here |
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I
discovered that the town of Kingsbury derives its name from Dr. William
Greely Kingsbury. Dr. Kingsbury worked as a dentist and purchased
a large ranch in Boerne,
Texas which he named (appropriately) the Molar Ranch. Dr. Kingsbury
was not involved with the railroad, but he did a wonderful job promoting
Texas to the British Isles and apparently
was very instrumental in bringing many new settlers to the area.
The Governor of Texas recognized the wonderful efforts of Dr. Kingsbury
by naming the town of Kingsbury, Texas in his honor. I have this history
recorded in the book I published Kingsbury Hall: The Genealogy of
a Family. - Kenneth Kingsbury, Dallas, February 14, 2007
Request
for info from Kingsbury and Seguin
My Father's name was Francisco Navarro Verdeja and he was raised
in Kingsbury, Texas in the mid 1920s... When I was a young girl
he used to tell me stories about living in Kingsbury and Seguin.
I used to think "Wow!" Living out in the open with lots of land
and trees and listening to the family sing their songs on the porch.
The smell of home cooking... what more could anyone ask? So young
and enjoying life on the ranch - poor but yet so rich.
When World War
II began my father and all of his brothers were drafted and
they wouldn't see each other for awhile. My father told me that
he hadn't heard from his brothers for months - and one day his company
had stopped to rest. As they were resting another company was moving
out. It wasn't until later that evening my father found out that
his brother Patricio was in the company that had just pulled out
- and he missed seeing him by a few hours... more
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Heavy Metal in
Kingsbury
TE Photo, 2001 |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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