W. G. Hughes

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Way out southwest of Boerne, in the Texas Hill Country of Kendall County, there's a stretch of land with a story that starts clear across an ocean. The community of Hastings grew up in the late nineteenth century, planted by immigrants from England who came to farm and ranch in Texas.

And right at the heart of that story is one young man named William George Hughes. Willy, they called him. He left Kensington, London, in 1878, nineteen years old, bound for Texas to learn the business of managing and marketing sheep and wool.

Now that is a long way to go for a lesson in livestock. But Willy Hughes was not the kind of man who did things halfway. He brought Oxfordshire Downs sheep over from England and started building his herds on 160 acres southwest of Boerne.

The next year, 1879, his two brothers, Harry and Gerard, came and joined him. That same year, Willy bought his second piece of land, and that's where the ranch headquarters would eventually be built. The Hughes Ranch bred cattle, sheep, goats, and horses.

But Willy kept adding chapters to that operation. The ranch took on U.S. Mail delivery.

Stage line services. Meals. Tourism.

Buying and selling real estate. The man had range in more ways than one. By 1887 he had moved from sheep wool production to angora goat mohair production, and he was considered an authority on angora goats.

The ranch headquarters went up in 1888, and here's the thing about that, it still stands off Highway 46 today. Meanwhile, Willy married Lucy Stephenson, and Lucy was no background character in this story. She ran her own operations on the ranch, managing a dairy with 35 jersey cows and overseeing a resort business at the ranch headquarters she called Mineral Springs Ranche.

In 1890, Willy proposed a post office for the community. He named it Hastings Post Office, after his father. It opened that year in a room right inside the Hughes Ranch House.

Also that same year, Willy started the Boerne and Bandera Stage Line Company, inviting tourists from San Antonio and Boerne to come see the Hill Country in Bandera by way of the stage line. He provided land to Kendall County for the Hastings School. He kept supporting that community, building it, shaping it, right up until 1902.

That was the year Willy Hughes died in a train wreck in Belleville, Illinois. The marker calls it his untimely death, and there's no other word for it. A man who had crossed an ocean at nineteen, built a ranch from 160 acres into something that touched the mail, the roads, the wool trade, the tourism business, and the schoolhouse, gone in an instant, far from the Hill Country he had made his own.

The ranch headquarters he built in 1888 still stands. Hastings is still on the map. Willy Hughes put it there.

What the marker says

The community of Hastings was established in the late 19th century with the settlement of immigrants from England coming to farm and ranch in Texas. William George (Willy) Hughes moved from Kensington, London, to Texas in 1878 at age 19 to learn about the business of managing and marketing sheep and wool. Willy took Oxfordshire Downs Sheep from England and began to build his herds on 160 acres southwest of Boerne. His two brothers, Harry and Gerard, joined him in 1879. That same year Willy bought his second piece of land where the ranch headquarters would be built. The Hughes Ranch bred cattle, sheep, goats and horses. The ranch expanded its operations to include U.S. Mail delivery, stage line services and meals, tourism activities, and buying and selling real estate. Willy moved from sheep wool production to angora goat mohair production by 1887 and was considered an authority on angora goats. The ranch headquarters was built in 1888 and still stands off Hwy. 46. Willy married Lucy Stephenson and she began to run her own operations on the ranch. She managed a dairy operation with 35 jersey cows and managed a resort business at the ranch headquarters called “Mineral Springs Ranche.” Willy proposed a post office for the community, named Hastings Post Office after his father. It opened in 1890 in a room inside the Hughes Ranch House. That same year Willy started the Boerne and Bandera Stage Line Company which invited tourists from San Antonio and Boerne to visit the Hill Country in Bandera via the stage line. Willy provided land to Kendall County for the Hastings School and continued to support the community until his untimely death in 1902 from a train wreck in Belleville, Illinois.