DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the community of Briggs, out in Burnet County. Now, every good Texas town has got a story, and Briggs — well, Briggs has got a few more than most. It starts the way a lot of Hill Country stories start: pioneers, mainly from the Old South, coming out to settle on the Aaron Boyce land grant in the 1860s and 70s.
They were building something from nothing, the way settlers do. They put up a school. They held church services.
And they did it all out at a place called Gum Springs, through the 1880s, which — you have to admit — is a fine name for a place where people gather. In 1888, a post office opened at Taylor's Gin Store. That right there tells you the community had some weight to it.
Ten years later, in 1898, that post office got a new name — renamed for Mrs. Henry D. Briggs, an early settler.
And so the place had a name to call its own. Now here's where the story takes a turn, and you'd do well to hold onto your hat. April 12, 1906.
A tornado came through and destroyed much of the village. Just like that. The kind of day that gets remembered by a community for generations, the kind of date that gets carved into the memory of a place the way weather carves stone.
But here's the thing about the people of Briggs — they rebuilt. Not just patched things back together, either. They laid out a proper platted townsite and put the whole place back up.
And for a stretch, it thrived. From 1906 to 1920, Briggs was doing what a Texas town is supposed to do. Then 1928 brought a fire, and after that, the declining began.
The kind of slow quiet that settles over a place when the momentum shifts. By 1950, many of the townspeople had found their way to work at Fort Hood, just over the county line in Bell County. The community of Briggs kept on — just quieter, leaned a little on its neighbor to the east.
Tornadoes, fires, rebuilding, and reinvention. That's Briggs. Still on the map, still carrying its name, and still, if you listen close enough out there in Burnet County, worth the stop.
What the marker says
Pioneers mainly from the Old South settled here on the Aaron Boyce land grant in the 1860s and 70s. They had a school, and held church services, at Gum Springs in the 1880s. In 1888 a post office opened at Taylor's Gin Store; this was renamed in 1898 for Mrs. Henry D. Briggs, an early settler. On April 12, 1906, a tornado destroyed much of the village. Afterward Briggs was rebuilt on a platted townsite; it thrived from 1906 to 1920, but began declining after a 1928 fire. Many of the townspeople have worked since 1950 at Fort Hood, in neighboring Bell County. (1977)