Bluff Springs

Bluff Springs is on Onion Creek eight miles south of Austin and two miles east of Interstate Highway 35 in southern Travis County. It was settled in the early 1850s, and a post office opened there in 1853 with William S. Smith as postmaster. By the mid-1880s Bluff Springs was a thriving community with steam gristmills-cotton gins, a church, a district school, and 250 residents; daily stage service provided residents with access to Luling, Lockhart, and Austin. The principal crops grown for shipment by area farmers were cotton, corn, oats, and sweet potatoes. The population of Bluff Springs fell to fifty by 1892. Its post office was discontinued in 1902, and mail for the community was sent to Buda. The community's population fell to twenty-five by the early 1930s but rose to fifty by 1939. A church and a few businesses and scattered houses marked the community on county highway maps in the 1940s. Bluff Springs reported a population of fifty in 1990 and again in 2000.

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Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Bluff Springs is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

No

Place type

Bluff Springs is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 30.15771200
Longitude: -97.76889330

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No