Reagan Wells

Reagan Wells, a small rural community, is located on Farm Road 1051 and the Dry Frio River twenty-five miles north of Uvalde in north central Uvalde County. The area was originally settled by the families of Lawrence Pike and Augustin Heard, who came to the Reagan Wells site from Williamson County in 1876. The town is probably named for John Reagan, who was the first person to commercialize the area's mineral waters, which were released through wells dug by T. H. (Harney) Hammer in the late 1880s. In an attempt to attract visitors to the mineral waters, Reagan built a two-story hotel. A subsequent owner, B. W. Briggs, constructed cabins near the hotel to accommodate visitors anxious to bathe in the mineral waters. In 1916 Mr. and Mrs. Y. D. Taylor purchased the facilities and added a stucco dining room and large bath to their thriving health resort. A general store called the Reagan Wells Store was built across from the wells in 1912 by L. B. Herrington. A post office was established the same year in the store; Herrington was the first postmaster. In 1914 Reagan Wells had a general store, a sorghum mill, a fruit cannery, several sheep and cattle breeders, and fifty residents. The population of Reagan Wells subsequently declined to around twenty, where it remained throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The mineral baths closed shortly after 1945. The post office remained at Reagan Wells Store until 1970. In 1972 the grounds and facilities of the health resort were converted to the Steps of Faith Ranch, an all-Christian nonprofit organization established by Pat Finney of San Antonio, a former drug addict, and Baptist minister H. G. Rotramme. In 1990 the Steps of Faith Ranch still provided Christian guidance and rehabilitation for troubled boys and girls. The population of Reagan Wells in 1990 was about twenty where it remained in 2000. A Baptist church, completed in 1962, was located at the edge of town; the Hummerage, a family-owned complex of art studios and shops, offered private lessons at its Hummer School of Wood.