DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm gonna do right by it — this is Duane, and this is the story of the Harrison and McCulloch Stage Stop. Now, picture Texas in 1848. No interstates, no gas stations, no air conditioning — Lord, especially no air conditioning.
What you had was open prairie, a post road, and if you were lucky, a stagecoach willing to haul you from the Texas coast all the way to Central Texas. That's exactly what the Harrison and McCulloch Stage Line was doing, running coaches through country that did not particularly invite the running of coaches. The line was a partnership between brothers-in-law.
John S. Harrison, born in 1818, and William McCulloch, born in 1819. Now, before those two joined forces, Harrison had been in business with a Dr.
Caleb S. Brown of Gonzales — that was the Harrison and Brown Stage Line. They dissolved that partnership in 1850, and Harrison and McCulloch stepped into the gap together.
What they built wasn't just a single route across the map. It was part of a whole network — competing stage lines and what were called Star Routes, contracts with the United States Post Office to carry both travelers and mail through Central Texas. Star Routes 6285, 6154, and 6155 connected Indianola, Port Lavaca, and Galveston all the way up to New Braunfels and Austin, and back again.
Mail and passengers, rolling across the Texas grasslands, one stop at a time. Harrison was shrewd about the hospitality end of things, too. He owned the Victoria Hotel in Victoria, where he housed his stage passengers overnight on their way inland.
You're not just puttin' folks in a coach and wishin' them well — you're feedin' them, beddin' them down, and gettin' them back on the road come morning. Then in 1852, Harrison moved to Selma and made it his home. He became Selma's first postmaster and held that position for two years.
His house was eventually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 and declared a State Archeological Landmark in 2009. The man put down roots. Now, here's where I want you to feel what this journey was actually like.
Star Route 6285 ran from Austin to San Antonio, and in 1852, that route took eighteen hours to complete. Eighteen hours. The coach left Austin at three in the morning — three in the morning, friends, before the sun had any intention of rising — and it rolled out along the Old Post Road and sections of El Camino Real de los Tejas.
Through open prairie. Through Manchac Spring, San Marcos, Bonito, New Braunfels, Selma. And it pulled into San Antonio at nine o'clock that night.
The Selma Stage Stop was one of the stops along that very route. And the building itself is something worth talkin' about. It's what's called a prime example of limecrete construction.
That means wooden forms were set up, then filled with slip — a mixture made from sand and pebbles gathered right out of the nearby Río Cibolo. And here's the part that catches you off guard: shards of wood and corncobs were forced into the drying slip for added strength. Corncobs.
Pressed into the walls of a building that's still standin'. Two brothers-in-law, a dissolved partnership, Star Routes running from the Gulf to the Hill Country, an eighteen-hour ride through the Texas dark, and walls held together with corncobs and river sand. That's the Harrison and McCulloch Stage Stop — and that building earned every bit of what's inside those walls.
What the marker says
HARRISON AND McCULLOCH STAGE STOP THE HARRISON AND McCULLOCH STAGE LINE BEGAN RUNNING STAGECOACHES FROM THE TEXAS COAST TO CENTRAL TEXAS AS EARLY AS 1848. THE LINE WAS A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BROTHERS-IN-LAW, JOHN S. HARRISON (1818-1864) AND WILLIAM McCULLOCH (1819-c.1854), AFTER DISSOLVING THEIR PARTNERSHIP WITH DR. CALEB S. BROWN OF GONZALES (HARRISON & BROWN STAGE LINE) IN 1850. THEIR STAGE LINE WAS PART OF A NETWORK OF COMPETING STAGE LINES AND "STAR ROUTES" THAT CONTRACTED WITH THE UNITED STATES POST OFFICE DELIVERING TRAVELERS AND MAIL THROUGHOUT CENTRAL TEXAS. STAR ROUTES 6285, 6154 AND 6155 RAN FROM INDIANOLA, PORT LAVACA AND GALVESTON TO NEW BRAUNFELS AND AUSTIN AND BACK. JOHN S. HARRISON ALSO OWNED THE VICTORIA HOTEL IN VICTORIA WHERE HE HOUSED HIS STAGE PASSENGERS OVERNIGHT ON THEIR WAY INLAND. IN 1852, HARRISON MOVED TO SELMA, MAKING IT HIS HOME. HIS HOUSE WAS LISTED ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES IN 2006 AND DECLARED A STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL LANDMARK IN 2009. HARRISON WAS THE FIRST POSTMASTER OF SELMA AND HELD THAT POSITION FOR TWO YEARS. THE SELMA STAGE STOP, AS IT IS KNOWN TODAY, WAS ONE OF THE STOPS ON HARRISON & McCULLOCH'S STAR ROUTE 6285 THAT RAN FROM AUSTIN TO SAN ANTONIO. IN 1852, THE ROUTE TOOK 18 HOURS TO COMPLETE, LEAVING AUSTIN AT 3 AM AND TRAVELING THE OLD POST ROAD AND SECTIONS OF EL CAMINO REAL DE LOS TEJAS THROUGH OPEN PRAIRIE TO MANCHAC SPRING, SAN MARCOS, BONITO, NEW BRAUNFELS AND SELMA, ARRIVING IN SAN ANTONIO AT 9 PM THAT NIGHT. THE SELMA STAGE STOP IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF "LIMECRETE CONSTRUCTION," A PROCESS USING WOODEN FORMS AND "SLIP," A MIXTURE MADE FROM SAND AND PEBBLES FOUND IN THE NEARBY R��O CIBOLO. SHARDS OF WOOD AND CORNCOBS WERE FORCED INTO THE DRYING SLIP FOR ADDED STRENGTH.