Henly

Henly, just north of U.S. Highway 290 twenty-six miles northwest of San Marcos on the Blanco county line in northwestern Hays County, grew up in the 1880s at a rural crossroads on the route from Austin to Johnson City. It was named for the original owner of the site. Henly was an agricultural community recognized in the mid-1880s for its cotton shipments. For a while it had a justice of the peace, a small medical practice, and a community school. A post office opened in 1881. Population estimates remained at twenty-five from 1884 to 1965. During this period the number of recorded businesses fell from four (1930s) to two (1940s) to none (after 1952). Although the population figure rose to fifty-five in 1968, the post office was discontinued in the late 1960s. In 1990 and again in 2000 the population was estimated at fifty-five.