Spivey Crossing

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Spivey Crossing, out here in Hill County. Pull up a chair, because this one starts with a river and a man with land on his mind. Spivey Crossing is a farming community tucked along the Brazos River Valley, and the story behind that name goes back to a wealthy planter named Temple Spivey.

He migrated to Cherokee County in 1849, and by 1853 he had purchased land in McLennan County, what we now call Bosque County, on the west bend of the Brazos River. That made him the first known settler of the Smith Bend Community of Bosque County, and the old wagon trail crossing on the Brazos took his name in recognition of that fact. The crossing itself sat about one half mile upstream of Cedar Creek, which flows out of Bosque County and into the Brazos.

Temple Spivey lived on Mill Creek on the north side of the Brazos, and the community that would eventually carry his name was established as early as 1854. Now, here is where the story doubles back on itself a little. Before anyone called this place Spivey Crossing, they called it the Lebanon Community.

A group of farmers arrived in the area around 1855, and two men, William E. Anderson and David Hughes Williams, became the first documented permanent settlers of the Lebanon Community. The Lebanon Methodist Church was established in 1856, and that church was the heartbeat of the whole enterprise.

Then, in 1880, the Lebanon Methodist Episcopal Church, South was destroyed by fire. The congregation did not scatter. They decided to move to a new location to accommodate an expanding community, built a new church and a new school two miles east of the original site, and kept right on going.

That school eventually consolidated with the Aquilla School District in 1945, and after that, the Lebanon Community gradually became known as Spivey Crossing. One name fading, another rising, the way river crossings tend to work. Spivey Crossing was never an island unto itself either.

It was closely linked with other Brazos River Valley communities, all of them connected through those old wagon crossings along the river. So when you cross the Brazos out here today, you are, in a manner of speaking, following the same trail that Temple Spivey and those early settlers wore into the Texas ground.

What the marker says

Spivey Crossing is a farming community located along the Brazos River Valley. Established as early as 1854, Spivey Crossing was an old wagon trail crossing named for Temple Spivey, the first known settler of the Smith Bend Community of Bosque County. Spivey was a wealthy planter who migrated to Cherokee County in 1849. He purchased land in 1853 in McLennan County (present-day Bosque County) on the west bend of the Brazos River. The old wagon crossing named after Spivey was located about one half mile upstream of Cedar Creek which flows from Bosque County into the Brazos River. The Spivey Crossing Community was formerly known as the Lebanon Community and was established around the Lebanon Methodist Church established in 1856. Temple Spivey lived on Mill Creek on the north side of the Brazos River in Bosque County while a group of farmers arrived in the area that became the Lebanon Community around 1855. William E. Anderson and David Hughes Williams became the first documented permanent settlers of the Lebanon Community. In 1880, the Lebanon Methodist Episcopal Church, south was destroyed by fire and the congregation decided to move to a new location to accommodate the expanding community. A new church and school were built two miles east of the original. After the consolidation of the school with the Aquilla School District in 1945 the Lebanon Community gradually became known as Spivey Crossing. This community was closely linked with other Brazos River Valley Communities that were connected through the old Brazos River Wagon Crossings, including Spivey Crossing. (2015)