The Old Lime Kiln

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about The Old Lime Kiln, out in Hays County. Now, most folks drive right past a pile of old brick and rock without giving it a second thought. But this particular pile has a story that stretches back nearly a century and a half before that marker ever got planted.

So settle in. We're going back to 1834. This site, sitting near the source of the San Marcos River, was part of the Thomas J.

Chambers grant. That's the very beginning of this land's paper trail, and it's a good one. The tract changed hands in 1848, sold to General Edward Burleson.

Now, the marker is careful to note that Burleson lived from 1798 to 1851, and it calls him a military and political leader in early Texas. The man built a cabin nearby. You don't build a cabin unless you mean to stay, and General Burleson clearly liked what he saw out here by the San Marcos.

The land kept moving through time, as land does in Texas. A later owner, former Confederate Major W. O.

Hutchison, born in 1834 and gone by 1900, sold off 47.5 acres in 1887. He sold it to two men: J. J.

Belger and James D. Cahill. And here is where things get interesting, because those two men didn't just buy land.

They built something. A kiln. Brick and rock, right here on this site.

And inside that kiln, they burned limestone to produce lime, lime for agriculture and construction. Think about that for a moment. The same river country that drew a general to build a cabin was now feeding kilns, producing the very material that built up the towns and farms of the region.

It ran and it worked, until it didn't. By 1910, cheaper lime became available, and the operation ceased. Just like that, the fire went out.

The kiln went quiet. By 1976, when this marker was put together with the help of the Boy Scouts of America, Troop Number 112, the site was owned by the Brown School. The old kiln was still standing, which is maybe the most Texas thing about this whole story.

The operation's gone, the men who built it are long gone, but that brick and rock structure near the source of the San Marcos, it's still right there. Some things in this state just refuse to come down.

What the marker says

This site near the source of the San Marcos River was part of the Thomas J. Chambers grant of 1834. The tract was sold in 1848 to Gen. Edward Burleson (1798-1851), military and political leader in early Texas, who built a cabin nearby. A later owner, former Confederate Major W. O. Hutchison (1834-1900), sold 47.5 acres to J. J. Belger and James D. Cahill in 1887. They erected this brick and rock kiln, in which limestone was burned to produce lime for agriculture and construction. The operation ceased by 1910, when cheaper lime became available. The site is now (1976) owned by the Brown School. Incise in base: Marker Sponsors: Boy Scouts of America, Troop Number 112