Taylor Lime Kiln #1

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Back in 1871, a Scottish immigrant by the name of Peter C. Taylor built himself a kiln out here in Travis County.

Taylor was born in 1829, and by the time he set to work on this project, he had something most kiln operators didn't have: a patented design. Now, a patented design in 1871 was no small thing. That meant Taylor had figured out something nobody else had quite cracked, and what he'd cracked was continuous firing.

Most kilns of the era had to stop, cool down, reload. Taylor's kept going. And when you keep a lime kiln going, you get a superior lime.

That's not my word, that's the marker's word: superior. The kind of lime that ends up as mortar in late nineteenth century Austin buildings. The kind of lime that found a wide market elsewhere, beyond Austin, beyond Travis County, out into a world that needed things built and held together.

The limestone itself came from a nearby quarry, the one now known as Taylor Slough on Scenic Drive. Workers hauled that stone along a wagon trail, then over a bridge, all the way up to the top of the kiln. Think about the rhythm of that, day after day, wagon after wagon, stone feeding fire feeding lime feeding a city rising up from the Texas limestone country.

Taylor operated this kiln all the way through the 1890s. And this wasn't just one kiln working alone. There was a Kiln Number Two as well, about a mile south of here, and together the two of them formed an industrial complex that the marker calls a major factor in Austin's early economy.

A Scottish immigrant, a patented idea, a wagon trail, a bridge, and a fire that never went out. That's how a city gets built, one careful, continuous burn at a time.

What the marker says

This kiln was built in 1871 by Scottish immigrant Peter C. Taylor (b.1829). His patented kiln design permitted continuous firing, producing a superior lime that was used to make mortar for late 19th century Austin buildings and had a wide market elsewhere. Limestone from a nearby quarry, now known as Taylor Slough on Scenic Dr., was hauled along a wagon trail and then over a bridge to the top of the kiln. Operated by Taylor until the 1890s, the industrial complex based on this kiln and kiln No.2 (1 Mi, S) was a major factor in Austin's early economy. (1983)