Ogletree Stagestop and Post Office

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Marsden Ogletree came a long way to put down roots. He and his family migrated out of Georgia, and in 1878 he received a land grant right here in Coryell County.

That same year, he built this stone house. We know that because inscriptions on two stones in the structure say so, plain as day. Stone doesn't lie.

The house served all at once as the family home, a grain store, and a stopping place for the Lampasas to Belton stagecoach. One building doing three jobs. That was the frontier way.

Since the mail arrived by stage, it was a natural next step, and in 1879 a post office opened here with Ogletree himself as postmaster. Samuel Gilmore followed him as the second postmaster. Now, legend has it that the settlement received the name Coperas Cove from a copperas-tasting spring in the cove of a nearby mountain.

The marker calls it a legend, so we'll let it stand as one, but it's a good story. Then the railroad came into the picture. In 1881, Gilmore's father-in-law Jesse M.

Clements, born in 1822, and his wife Charley deeded land for the right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad. The following year, the railroad laid out a brand new townsite called Copperas Cove. And just like that, the center of the community shifted over toward the tracks, post office and all.

The town also took the opportunity to correct the spelling of its name to Copperas Cove, two p's, proper. Marsden Ogletree, born in 1819, passed in 1896. Jesse Clements, for his part, bought this very house in 1891 and used it as headquarters for his large ranching operations.

He lived until 1900. The stagecoach is long gone. The railroad has had its own century of changes.

But this old stone stagestop is still standing, and it remembers everything.

What the marker says

After Marsden Ogletree (1819-1896) and his family migrated from Georgia, he recieved a land grant in 1878. Inscriptions on two stones in this house indicate the structure was erected the same year. It served as the family home, grain store, and stopping place for the Lampasas to Belton stagecoach. Since the mail arrived by stage, a post office was opened here in 1879 with Ogletree as postmaster. Legend says that the settlement received the name "Coperas Cove" from a copperas-tasting spring in the cove of a nearby mountain. Samuel Gilmore served as the second Postmaster. In 1881 Gilmore's father-in-law Jesse M. Clements (1822-1900) and his wife Charley deeded land for the right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. The following year the railroad laid out the new townsite of Copperas Cove. Soon the center of the community, including the post office, moved over to the railroad. Later the town corrected the spelling of its name to "Copperas Cove." In 1891 Clements bought this house and used it as the headquarters for his large ranching operations. The old stone stagestop remains a visible link with the community's pioneer heritage.