City of Manor
Manor, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In area first settled by James Manor (1804-81), who came from Tennessee with Sam Houston in 1832, later returning for his family and a sister and brother. Until 1852, area was subject to Indian raids. Other pioneers included A.F., W.M., and James Boyce, Sterling Chamberlain, Dave Eppright, J.I. Haynes, Ed Harrington, A.C. and W.H. Hill, W.B. Howse, N.A. Rector, W.L. Shipp, E. D. Townes, and Joe, Bill, Sam, and Walter Vaughan. In 1854 a boys' school was opened and a Methodist church organized. Isaac Wilbahn (1857) gave site, and Parsons Female Academy (named for a leading contributor) was established, to become one of the celebrated schools of 19th century Texas. Its teachers included the Rev.and Mrs. D.H. Bittle, and T.C. Bittle; its students, T.B. Wheeler (1840-1913), Mayor of Austin (1872-77), Judge of 12th District (1880-86), Lieutenant Governor of Texas (1887-91); and John C. Townes (1852-1923), Judge of 33rd District (1882-85), 26th District (1888), and Dean of the University of Texas Law School (1901-02, 1907-23). In 1871 James Manor donated right of way for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. The town founded and named for him in 1872 was incorporated in 1913. Cotton, king here for years, has been supplanted by cattle raising as base for the local economy.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This town grew from land first settled by James Manor, who came to Texas with Sam Houston in 1832 and returned with his family to a country still subject to Indian raids into the 1850s. Alongside a roll call of pioneer families, the settlement soon boasted a boys' school, a Methodist church, and the celebrated Parsons Female Academy, whose students included a future lieutenant governor and a dean of the University of Texas law school. When Manor donated right-of-way for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad in 1871, the town platted and named for him the next year was assured its future.
Why it matters
Manor's rise from raided frontier to railroad town and schooling center captures the whole arc of 19th-century Texas settlement in a single community.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Manor
- · Sam Houston
- · T. B. Wheeler
- · John C. Townes
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Littlefield Home
Austin, TX
George W. Littlefield came to Texas as a boy in 1850, rode with Terry's Texas Rangers in the Civil War, and emerged a major who turned to the cattle business, amassing great ranches across New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle. Settling in Austin in 1883, he moved into banking and served as a regent of the University of Texas, funding buildings, scholarships, and library collections. He built this Victorian residence in 1894 and left it to the university on his death.
Bloor House
Manor, TX
Pennsylvania natives Alfred Sutton Bloor and his wife Martha raised this brick home in 1897–98 as they made their living ranching and farming the land around Manor. Built by the Elgin Press Brick Co. with turreted corners and a massive portico, the house blends Queen Anne exuberance with Colonial Revival restraint. For over sixty years it stood as a Bloor family landmark before passing from their hands in 1960.
Clayton Vocational Institute
Manor, TX
In 1903 the Rev. Joseph E. Clayton took charge of Manor's first school for Black children and built it into something ambitious—pairing vocational and mechanical training with the study of languages, arts, and sciences. Absorbed into the public system in 1919 and named the Clayton Vocational Institute in his honor, the school produced a stream of distinguished graduates. Clayton himself went on to organize with the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, carrying his fight for opportunity into the fields.
Lockwood Cemetery
Manor, TX
This cemetery lies on land settled in 1833 by Gordon C. Jennings and his family, who came from Missouri as part of Stephen F. Austin's "Little Colony." Gordon became the oldest defender to die at the Alamo in 1836, while his young daughter Catherine earned lasting local fame for riding to warn neighbors as the Mexican army advanced during the Runaway Scrape. Catherine later married Sylvester Lockwood, and their descendants still tend the graves of these Texas pioneers.