Buda

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth hearing. Way down in Hays County, there's a town that couldn't quite make up its mind about its own name. It started out as Du Pre, planted right along a line of the International and Great Northern Railroad.

In 1881, a woman named Cornelia A. Trimble gave land for the townsite — gave it, just handed it over — and that's how Du Pre got its footing. But Du Pre wasn't long for this world, name-wise.

Somewhere in the late 1880s, folks started calling the place Buda instead. Now here's where it gets interesting. Nobody knows for certain where that name came from.

The marker says so plainly: the origin is unclear. But the legends — oh, the legends are happy to fill in the gap. One story ties the name all the way to Budapest, Hungary.

The other says it grew out of the Spanish word for widow, viuda, and that it honored the women who cooked in one of the local hotels. Two explanations, one name, and the truth lost somewhere in between. What the town did with that name, though, is no mystery at all.

Buda built itself up into a proper little place — a theater, a skating rink, a newspaper, two banks. Two banks in one small town is a sign that somebody was doing some business. The town was incorporated in 1948, official as you please.

Buda never did settle the argument about its own name. But it settled just fine into being a town.

What the marker says

Originally known as Du Pre, Buda was founded along a line of the International and Great Northern Railroad. Cornelia A. Trimble gave land for the townsite in 1881. The name "Buda" was adopted in the late 1880s, although its origin is unclear. According to popular legends, it was either related to Budapest, Hungary, or evolved from the Spanish word for widow, "viuda," and honored the women who cooked in one of the local hotels. Buda was once the site of a variety of businesses, including a theater, skating rink, newspaper, and two banks. The town was incorporated in 1948.