Old Ingram
Ingram, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Settlers began arriving in this vicinity prior to the Civil War. In 1879 the Reverend J. C. W. Ingram, a Church of Christ minister from California, bought the land at this site from pioneer settler Abner McWhorter Morriss. Ingram soon opened a general store and post office. A community grew around the store and thrived for fifty years as a commercial center. During the 1930s a new highway was constructed nearby, and the original townsite gradually was abandoned as businesses began to relocate. Today Old Ingram is an arts center with studios, galleries, craft and gift shops. (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlers reached this Hill Country valley before the Civil War, but the town took shape in 1879 when the Rev. J. C. W. Ingram, a Church of Christ minister from California, bought land here and opened a general store and post office. A community grew around the store and thrived for fifty years as a commercial center, until a new highway in the 1930s pulled businesses away and the original townsite was abandoned. Today Old Ingram lives on as an arts colony of studios and galleries.
Why it matters
Its rise, decline, and reinvention trace how a single store could birth a town—and how the automobile age both unmade and remade small Texas communities.
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Related people
- · J. C. W. Ingram
- · Abner McWhorter Morriss
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Great Western Cattle Trail
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Kerrville
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Site of Camp Verde
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