DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some places on this earth just have a way of pulling people in. The juncture of the Llano and Colorado rivers is one of those places.
Has been for millennia. Long before anyone thought to put a hotel there, long before a single railroad tie was driven into the ground, people were drawn to that spot where two rivers meet. Something about it just says: stay a while.
European settlers started arriving in the 19th century, and among them came a man named Martin D. King. In 1877, King purchased land right there at that confluence.
And the town that grew up around it? They named it Kingsland. Man buys some land, and history goes ahead and immortalizes him.
There are worse legacies. Then came 1892, and with it, the Austin and Northwestern Railroad. They built a bridge right at that Llano-Colorado river confluence and set a depot between the tracks in Kingsland.
And while they were at it, they purchased this particular piece of land from a Mrs. N.J. King.
The railroad was planting its flag, and it had plans. Big plans, as it turned out. Come 1900, the railroad company broke ground on the Antlers Hotel.
Two stories, built of wood, designed with one very specific purpose in mind: welcoming the passengers stepping off those trains. And they didn't have far to walk. That was the genius of it.
You ride the rails into Kingsland, you step off that train, and the Antlers is right there waiting on you. The hotel opened in 1901, and what a place it was. The porches alone were worth the trip — you could stand out there and take in views of both rivers at once.
Both of them. Later, small cabins went up on the grounds for guests who wanted to linger a little longer, and linger they did. Across the street sat a park full of cottonwood trees, with a pavilion that had a stage and dressing rooms.
Behind the hotel, guests and residents cast their lines into the adjoining lake — Crescent Lake, they called it then. Pleasant and convenient, the marker says. And for a railroad resort, that was just about everything you needed to be.
Tourists came. Business travelers came. The Antlers hummed along, doing exactly what a good hotel at the meeting of two rivers ought to do.
But then the automobile started making its quiet, inevitable move on the railroad business. As rail travel slowed, so did the hotel. In 1913, a man named C.E.
Shults purchased the Antlers, and he later sold it to the van der Stucken family. The place passed through hands the way properties do when the world is shifting underneath them. In 1923, a former hotel guest — a man from Austin by the name of Thomas H.
Barrow — bought the Antlers. Now here's a detail worth sitting with: Barrow had stayed there as a guest before he owned it. The place had gotten into him.
So he bought it, and he and his family spent their summers and vacations there, year after year. He also purchased surrounding land, building something that felt like home. Thomas H.
Barrow died in 1936, but his family kept on coming back, kept on enjoying what he'd loved, all the way until they sold the property in 1993. And that, you might think, would be the end of it. But no.
In 1996, the hotel and its cabins were refurbished and reopened as a hotel complex. Once again, the Antlers was open for business — Texas Hill Country scenery, two rivers, and all the recreation a guest could want. Some places just have a way of pulling people in.
The Antlers Hotel was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 2002, and the story of that spot at the junction of the Llano and Colorado rivers keeps right on going.
What the marker says
The juncture of the Llano and Colorado rivers has attracted visitors for millenia. European settlers, including Martin D. King, began moving to the area in the 19th century. King purchased land here in 1877, and it is for him that Kingsland is named. In 1892, the Austin and Northwestern Railroad built a railroad bridge at the Llano-Colorado river confluence and a depot between the tracks in Kingsland. At the same time, the railroad company purchased this land from Mrs. N.J. King. The company started construction of the Antlers Hotel in 1900. The two-story wooden hotel, which opened in 1901, was designed to welcome railroad passengers, who could easily walk here from their train. Hotel porches afforded views of both rivers, and guests could also stay in small cabins later built on the grounds. Visitors walked across the street to enjoy a park full of cottonwood trees that featured a pavilion with stage and dressing rooms. Behind the hotel, guests and residents fished in the adjoining lake, then called Crescent Lake. Pleasant and convenient, the railroad resort was frequented by tourists as well as business travelers. As the automobile's influence slowed rail travel, the hotel business quieted; C.E. Shults purchased the hotel in 1913 and later sold it to the van der Stucken family. In 1923, former hotel guest Thomas H. Barrow of Austin bought the Antlers, and he and his family spent summers and vacations here. He also purchased surrounding land and, after his death in 1936, his family continued to enjoy the property until they sold it in 1993. The hotel and cabins were refurbished and reopened as a hotel complex in 1996, once again offering Texas Hill Country scenery and recreation to its many guests. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002