Kyle

Two antebellum settlements, the Blanco or Nance community (7 mi. W) and Mountain City (3 mi. W), provided the early population and business for Kyle after the city was founded in 1880. Fergus Kyle, for whom the town was named, and the family of David Moore donated 200 acres of land for a townsite when the International & Great Northern Railroad built a line from Austin to San Antonio. Lots were first sold in October 1880 as an auction held beneath a liveoak at 204 S. sledge Street. The first business was a saloon and meat market owned by Tom Martin. An 1895 election incorporated the town but voters discontinued the status two years later. Kyle was incorporated again in 1906 and J. W. Tompkins served as the first mayor. In the 1940s Kyle residents elected an all-woman municipal government. The mayor, who won using a write-in campaign, was Mary Kyle Hartson (1865-1956), daughter of Fergus Kyle. Her brother Edwin Jackson Kyle (b. 1876) was dean of the Texas A&M School of Agriculture. He later served in the administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as the ambassador to Guatemala (1944-48). Kyle Football Field at Texas A&M University is named in his honor.

Kyle is a historical marker in Kyle, Hays County, dedicated in 1980. It is one of 124 historical markers documented in Hays County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 184 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.9883, -97.8769 near Kyle. The nearest cataloged historic site is Bunton, John Wheeler (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Young, D. A., Lex Word and the Bon Ton, and First Baptist Church of Kyle.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5209010288. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.