HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Site of Creed Taylor Ranch Home

Segovia, Kimble County, Texas

Marker Inscription

A two-story ranch house of native stone was built here in 1869-71 by Creed Taylor, veteran of Texas War for Independence. Considered the finest home west of San Antonio, it burned in 1926. Rebuilt by Dillard Stapp, it again burned down in 1956. Taylor (1819-1906) fought in the Battle of Gonzales in 1835, and later in the Battle of Concepcion and the Siege of Bexar. Joined the Texas Rangers in 1840 and fought in Plum Creek Battle. In 1841, he joined Rangers, serving under Capt. Jack Hays in Bandera Pass Indian fight, Battle of Salado, and the Mexican War of 1846. (1967)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Creed Taylor built a two-story native-stone ranch house here in 1869–71, reputed to be the finest home west of San Antonio before fire destroyed it in 1926. Taylor's own life reads like a chronicle of frontier Texas: he fought at Gonzales, Concepción, and the Siege of Bexar in the revolution, rode with Jack Hays's Texas Rangers through the Bandera Pass and Plum Creek fights, and served in the Mexican War of 1846. A rebuilt house on the site burned again in 1956.

Why it matters

Taylor's career spans nearly every conflict that forged the Texas frontier, from the revolution through the Ranger campaigns and the war with Mexico.

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Related people

  • · Creed Taylor
  • · Jack Hays

Related events

  • · Battle of Gonzales
  • · Siege of Bexar
  • · Plum Creek Battle

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Creed Taylor

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Creed Taylor took up arms in the Texas War for Independence, marching from Gonzales to Bexar in 1835 in the campaign that drove Mexican forces from San Antonio. In 1836 he served as a scout and courier during the decisive year of the revolution. His name endures in the Hill Country as one of the frontier soldiers who won Texas its independence.

Kimble County

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This hill country along the Llano was home to Jumano and Apache peoples when Spanish explorers passed through in the 1600s and 1700s, before the Comanche came to dominate the region by the mid-1800s. Frontier forts and the Texas Rangers guarded the area as Anglo settlement pushed westward, and the county was organized in 1876, named for an Alamo defender. Long troubled by outlaws until the Rangers restored order in the 1880s, it settled into a livelihood of sheep and goat ranching for wool and mohair.

Old Bear Creek Texas Ranger Camp

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Established in October 1877, the Old Bear Creek camp served as a patrol base for Company E of the Texas Rangers' Frontier Battalion, watching the Llano River country for Indians and outlaws. The region was a haven for cattle and horse thieves, but within weeks Lieutenant N. O. Reynolds and his thirty men had captured many; in 1878 they helped repel one of the area's last Indian raids. Their presence, maintained into the mid-1880s, opened Kimble and nearby counties to peaceful settlement.

Campsite of Marques De Rubi, 1767

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