DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rollin' past a piece of ground that did some heavy lifting for the state of Texas — literally. Limestone quarried right here at this site was loaded up, hitched to oxen, and hauled all the way down Congress Avenue to build the Texas Capitol Building in 1853.
Think about that the next time you're drivin' that boulevard — the stone under those grand walls started right here, pulled by oxen through the Texas heat. That's not nothing. That's the backbone of a capitol.
But here's where the story takes a turn, and it's the kind of turn that makes you go quiet for a second. That capitol building — the one built from this very stone — burned in 1881. Gone.
And yet the stone itself endured, because stone has a long memory. The ruins from that capitol were later salvaged and used in several Austin building projects, so in a way, this quarry's limestone kept on serving long after the fire. Now, this land has its own story too, separate from the stone and the smoke.
It was originally part of a land grant given to George Washington Davis, a Tennessee native who had served in the Texas Revolution. Davis lived from 1806 to 1884, and the grant was his reward for that service. After him, the land was inherited by his daughter-in-law, Elvira T.
Davis, and she held it as the family homestead for many years. The Davis Cemetery rests nearby, a quarter mile to the southwest, quiet and steady on the same ground where the oxen once strained and the limestone once rang under iron tools. The capitol burned.
The stone survived. The family stayed. Some land just holds on.
What the marker says
Limestone quarried at this site was hauled to Congress Avenue by oxen and used in constructing the 1853 Texas Capitol Building. The structure burned in 1881, but stone from the capitol ruins was later used in several Austin building projects. The quarry site was originally part of the land granted to Tennessee native George Washington Davis (1806-84) for his service in the Texas Revolution. Later inherited by his daughter-in-law Elvira T. Davis, the land was maintained as the family homestead for many years. The Davis Cemetery is located nearby (.25 mi. SW). (1981)