The San Marcos

The San Marcos springs have flowed for around ten million years. In this ode to the river they form, Jim Kimmel brings us a picture of a watercourse brimming with life, past and present. Native, non-native, prehistoric, and modern-day plants, animals, and people have inhabited the river and its banks. Kimmel touches on them all with the affectionate and knowledgeable voice of one whose own life has been closely linked to the San Marcos. As readers journey with Kimmel from the river's headwater springs to its junction with the Guadalupe River, The San Marcos: A River's Story will capture the imagination and provide valuable information about the river and its crucial role in the ecological health of Texas. Original photographs by Jerry Touchstone Kimmel add a sense of the beauty and complexity of the river.

A comfortable book about San Marcos, from the time its minister/schoolteacher/store clerk/newspaper publisher was the most vocal man in town, to the city's growth to a population of over 50,000. There's little that's dull here.

San Marcos, Texas, permanently settled in 1846, was founded by former members of John C. Hays’s company of Texas Rangers. The town was designated the county seat of Hays County by the Texas legislature in 1848 and was formally laid out in 1851. A center for local commerce associated with cattle and cotton production, San Marcos became an educational center with the chartering in 1899 and subsequent opening in 1903 of the Southwest Texas State Normal School. The normal school is now Texas State University, the fourth largest university in Texas with more than 36,000 students. This volume tells the story of a formerly sleepy college town on the edge of the Texas Hill Country that has become the fastest-growing city in the United States.

An illustrated history of San Marcos, Texas, paired with histories of the local companies.

According to legend, the name San Marcos can be attributed to a group of Spaniards who, while out on a mission to capture suspected horse thieves, accidently stumbled upon a beautiful "little valley" on the feast day of St. Mark. This little valley would remain sparsely populated for years to come, as a Mexican land grant tenanted by vaqueros, an agricultural salvation for homesteading early Californians, and the site of small towns that would nearly disappear between the pages of history. With the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad, eventual official incorporation in 1963, and continuous progression today, San Marcos has formed an identity as a prospering and growing community that still retains the feel of a rural small town.

Provides a history of the Castillo de San Marcos, including the events that led up to the decision to build the fort. Also describes historic sites in St. Augustine and other areas related to Spanish Florida.