Camp Ranch Community

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Camp Ranch Community, out west of Floresville in Wilson County. Pull over if you need to, because this one goes back a good long ways. We're talkin' before Wilson County even had a name.

This stretch of prairie, sitting west of Floresville, was one of the largest ranches in the entire cattle-driving era. Prime land, the marker says. The kind of land that dominated the pre-Wilson County economy long before there was a Wilson County to speak of.

Small herds would gather here, merge into larger herds, and then head up north on the trail. That was the rhythm of this place for generations. Back in 1731, the meadowland west of the San Antonio River was owned by Mission Espada, and the ranch headquarters was the compound known as Rancho de Las Cabras.

That's where this land's story starts, at least as far as the marker's concerned. Through the 1700s and into the 1800s, this ground was workin' land, cattle land, the kind of place that kept an economy movin'. Then comes 1874, and a man named John F.

Camp. He purchased the prairie ranch land and began developing it. By 1904, that ranch had grown to approximately ten thousand acres.

Ten thousand. And then Camp sold it. The buyers were S.V.

Houston, H.S. Tom, and William Green, land developers who had a different vision for those acres entirely. Instead of one massive spread, they began dividing the ranch into smaller acreage tracts and selling them off to settlers from surrounding counties.

And just like that, twenty families moved in. A community started to take shape, and they named it after the man who had built the ranch up in the first place. Camp Ranch Community, named after John F.

Camp. The new landowners wanted that community to grow, so they built a one-room schoolhouse, known as the Green School. Later came a larger school, named Camp Ranch School.

Then the Evergreen Cemetery. A dance platform. The Evergreen Shooting Club.

A baseball field. Around 1912, a resident named Charley Boening added a filling station, a garage, a general repair shop, and a grocery store. Think about what that means for a small community out on the Texas prairie.

That's not just commerce, that's a town. But time has a way of taking things back. Many of those tangible reminders, as the marker puts it, have been lost.

What remains is the Evergreen Cemetery, still standing as a connection to everything this community was. From Mission Espada in 1731 to Charley Boening's filling station, that ground held a lot of Texas history. The cemetery holds it still.

What the marker says

This area located west of Floresville was one of the largest ranches in the cattle-driving era. During the 1700s and 1800s, the area, being prime cattle ranch land, dominated the pre-Wilson County economy and served as a gathering point of small herds creating larger herds to trail up north. In 1731, the meadowland west of the San Antonio River was owned by Mission Espada with the ranch headquarters being the compound of Rancho de Las Cabras. In 1874, John F. Camp purchased and began developing the prairie ranch land. By 1904, Camp's ranch, having increased size to approximately 10,000 acres, was sold to S.V. Houston, H.S. Tom and William Green. The new owners were land developers and began dividing the ranch into smaller acreage tracts to settlers from surrounding counties. Then the small, prosperous Camp Ranch community, named after John F. Camp, began to develop as twenty families moved to the area. To encourage additional development, the new landowners built a one-room school house known as Green School. Later, a larger school was built named Camp Ranch School. Other additions were the Evergreen Cemetery, dance platform, Evergreen Shooting Club and baseball field. Around 1912, resident Charley Boening added a filling station, garage, general repair shop and grocery store. Although many of these tangible reminders of the town have been lost to time, the Evergreen Cemetery remains as a connection to the Camp Ranch community heritage. (2017)