Kyle Auction Oak
Kyle, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
When Kyle was founded along the International & Great Northern Railroad in 1880, this giant liveoak was site of a public auction of town lots. The railway was given 200 acres of land by Fergus Kyle (1834-1905), state representative for whom the community was named, and the family of David E. Moore. Free rides were provided to the townsite on auction day, Oct. 14, 1880, and all business and most residential lots were sold. In 1881, the railroad gave 4 acres around the tree for a school, Kyle Seminary, which burned in 1889. The Alex Kercheville family now (1975) owns and preserves the tree.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On October 14, 1880, a giant live oak shaded the public auction that founded the town of Kyle along the International & Great Northern Railroad. State representative Fergus Kyle and the Moore family had given the railway 200 acres, free rides brought bidders out to the townsite, and nearly every lot sold that day. The railroad soon set aside four acres around the tree for a short-lived school, and the oak itself has been preserved as the town's founding landmark.
Why it matters
The railroad land auction was how much of central Texas was settled, conjuring whole towns into being in a single day around a depot and a shade tree.
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Related people
- · Fergus Kyle
- · David E. Moore
- · Alex Kercheville
Related events
- · Kyle townsite auction, 1880
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Kyle
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Kyle was born in 1880 when the International & Great Northern Railroad pushed its line between Austin and San Antonio, drawing settlers from older nearby communities. Fergus Kyle and the Moore family donated 200 acres, and the first town lots were auctioned beneath a live oak. In a striking chapter, 1940s voters elected an all-woman municipal government led by write-in mayor Mary Kyle Hartson, Fergus Kyle's daughter, whose brother Edwin became a Texas A&M dean and U.S. ambassador to Guatemala.
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