Granite Mountain
Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas
Marker Inscription
2 1/2 miles northwest to Granite Mountain. From it was cut the granite for the Capitol of Texas. Second in size to the United States Capitol. Built in 1885-1888 at a cost of three million acres of state land.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A few miles from this marker rises Granite Mountain, the source of the distinctive pink granite quarried to build the Texas State Capitol. Constructed from 1885 to 1888, that capitol was second in size only to the United States Capitol. The stone was paid for in a remarkable barter — three million acres of state land traded for the building's construction.
Why it matters
The mountain supplied the raw material for one of America's grandest statehouses, a monument to Gilded Age ambition financed by Texas's vast public lands.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Otto Ebeling House
Marble Falls, TX
Banker Otto Ebeling built this Victorian house for his wife Emille and their four children soon after arriving in Marble Falls in 1891. He sold it in 1913 when he moved to Austin, and over the decades it served in turn as a nursing home, a photographic studio, and a residence. Its Eastlake styling and bay windows edged with stained glass mark it as a showpiece of its era.
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church
Marble Falls, TX
Holy Cross missionary priests were serving Marble Falls Catholics by 1940, and by 1951 the faithful were gathering in a local home. As numbers grew, the community bought property and, in 1957, the Texas Granite Company began raising a granite church — fittingly, in a town built on its quarries. The first Mass was said there on Christmas Day 1957, with formal dedication following in 1961.
Antlers Hotel
Kingsland, TX
Where the Llano and Colorado rivers meet, the Austin and Northwestern Railroad built a bridge and depot in 1892 and, soon after, the Antlers Hotel — a two-story wooden resort that opened in 1901 to greet railroad passengers stepping off the train. Guests strolled to a cottonwood park with a pavilion, fished the adjoining lake, and took in river views from the porches. As automobiles eclipsed rail travel the hotel quieted, passing through several owners before being refurbished and reopened in 1996.
Early Explorers in Llano County
Llano, TX
In 1756, under commission from the governor of Spanish Texas, Bernardo de Miranda led a party of 23 from San Antonio to examine Cerro del Almagre, a red-ochre hill rumored to be rich in silver. Reaching Honey Creek and the junction of the Llano and Colorado rivers, Miranda gathered ore that assayed at only ten ounces of silver per hundred pounds. That meager yield, combined with transport difficulties and the threat of Native raids, led Spain to abandon plans for further mining.