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LEON SPRINGS,
TEXAS
Bexar County,
South
Texas
Interstate 10
19 Miles NW of downtown San
Antonio
Population:
137 (2000)
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History on
a Pinhead
The town began as a stage stop in 1846. Operated by George von Pleve,
a former German nobleman, the stage stop received a post office in
1857 (which closed in 1918).
By the mid 1880s, the community was thriving with a population of
50, a store and two hotels. It was an officer’s training facility
for WWI and during WWII
was the site of at least one military execution (the hanging of an
enlisted man from Camp
Swift for the killing of a young girl). During the Great Depression
the town declined to only 25 residents but grew again due to military
establishing Camps Stanley and Bullis. The population was back to
100 by 1946 where it has more or less remained. The stage stop was
extant in 2004 and it said to be haunted although it is now privately
owned.
Leon Springs
Today
Photographer's
Note: "Leon Springs is a sad example of a lovely little spot being
wiped out by a subdivision. For awhile it was filled with shops and
cute little houses painted up along with a gas station and a barbecue
place, then [the developers came]. The Leon Springs Hotel, on the
Historical Register, has been obliterated by creeping expansion of
a BBQ place and a "marker" was erected to the man responsible. I have
no idea where the National Register marker is. When I was a kid, Leon
Springs Hotel was in a state of decay in the middle of nowhere, then
it got fixed up, then it got wiped out. I wonder why the town let
them do that?" - Sarah
Reveley, January 2008
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WWI
First Officers Training Camp historical marker
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley, January 2008 |
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