Before Kingsland: Native Americans, Explorers, and the Frontier

Long before Kingsland existed, the confluence of the Llano and Colorado Rivers served as an important gathering place for Native American peoples for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence throughout the area points to continuous human activity dating back centuries.

Spanish explorers also passed through the region. In 1756, Bernardo de Miranda led an expedition of treasure hunters down the Llano River in search of precious metals. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, prospectors searched the surrounding hills for gold, silver, and iron, though many encountered Comanche warriors long before discovering valuable minerals.

Following the Civil War, settlers gradually established ranches and small communities throughout the valley, including Hoover's Valley, Wolf's Crossing, and Packsaddle. After the Battle of Packsaddle Mountain in 1873 ended much of the area's frontier conflict, permanent settlement accelerated.

Founding Kingsville

In 1879, Civil War veteran Martin Daniel King and his brother-in-law, James M. Trussell, purchased the fertile land where the Llano and Colorado Rivers meet. King envisioned a thriving community in this scenic valley, but died before seeing his dream realized.

His widow, Nancy Jane King, carried on his vision. In 1883 she surveyed and platted the town, naming it Kingsville in honor of her late husband. Within a few years the community included a small mercantile, saloon, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, school, and post office.

Railroad Boom and Early Prosperity

The arrival of the Austin & Northwestern Railroad in 1892 transformed Kingsville into one of the Hill Country's premier resort destinations.

The railroad brought tourists from Austin who came to enjoy hunting, fishing, river recreation, live music, and community festivals. Businesses flourished. By the turn of the twentieth century, Kingsland featured: The Antlers Hotel, Campa Pajama resort, two newspapers, two cotton gins, two barber shops, two blacksmith shops, livestock shipping pens, granite-cutting operations, and four churches. Telephone service arrived shortly after 1900, and by 1907 the population had reached approximately 750 residents.

From Kingsville to Kingsland

When applying for a post office, the town discovered another Texas community already carried the name Kingsville. In 1901 the U.S. Post Office officially renamed the town Kingsland.

The Decline of the Railroad Era

As automobiles replaced rail travel during the early twentieth century, Kingsland's tourism economy declined rapidly. The Antlers Hotel eventually closed, businesses struggled, and a tragic 1919 train wreck symbolized the end of the railroad's golden age. A devastating fire in 1922 destroyed much of downtown, further accelerating the town's decline. By 1925, the population had fallen to approximately 150 residents.

Life in Rural Kingsland During the 1930s

Despite economic hardships, residents remember the 1930s as a time of close-knit community and self-sufficiency.

When lifelong resident Margaret Williams Dotson, born in 1929, recalled her childhood, she described a town that was remarkably isolated. There were no paved roads around Kingsland. Travel relied on narrow dirt roads interrupted by cattle gates, a wooden wagon bridge over the Colorado River, and a low-water crossing over the Llano River. 

The devastating 1935 flood destroyed the original river crossing, prompting County Commissioner Shirley Williams to construct the first version of what locals now know as The Slab.

At the time, downtown Kingsland consisted of little more than the closed Antlers Hotel, a small grocery and filling station, the post office, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a schoolhouse, and one church. Most families lived on surrounding ranches and raised nearly everything they needed. Gardens, chickens, milk cows, beef cattle, goats, and horses supplied daily life. Shopping trips were reserved for basic staples like flour, cornmeal, and sugar.

Education in Early Kingsland

Education played an important role despite the town's modest size.

The first two-story schoolhouse opened in 1885 before being replaced in 1917 by a bungalow-style school serving grades one through eleven. One of Kingsland's most influential educators was Myrtle Wood, who taught from 1914 to 1939 and introduced home economics, woodworking, athletics, and expanded academic instruction that greatly improved educational opportunities for local children.

Community Life

Although isolated geographically, Kingsland maintained a vibrant social life centered on church, family, and neighbors. Community activities included: revival meetings, community singings, ice cream socials, watermelon parties, picnics, horseback riding, swimming, and goat ropings. 

Christmas traditions reflected the area's rural lifestyle. Families harvested cedar trees from nearby ranches and decorated them with handmade ornaments rather than store-bought decorations. Residents often described the town as "one big family," where neighbors shared food, livestock, labor, and friendship.

Buchanan Dam and New Opportunity

Construction of Buchanan Dam during the mid-1930s temporarily brought dozens of workers and their families to Kingsland, briefly increasing school enrollment and creating jobs. However, after the dam was completed in 1937, many workers departed and Kingsland again entered a period of decline. By the late 1940s, only a handful of businesses remained, and the once-thriving Kingsland High School was consolidated with Llano schools before eventually being demolished.

Lake LBJ and the Rebirth of Kingsland

Kingsland's modern history truly began with the construction of Granite Shoals Dam and the creation of Lake LBJ in 1951.

The new lake transformed ranchland into waterfront property and attracted vacationers, retirees, and investors from across Texas. New roads—including today's SH 71 and FM 1431—finally connected Kingsland to neighboring communities, ending decades of geographic isolation. Fishing camps evolved into lake houses, marinas, subdivisions, and retirement communities. Businesses returned, real estate development accelerated, and Kingsland once again became one of the Highland Lakes' premier destinations.

Among the earliest purchasers of lakefront property was Lyndon B. Johnson, whose nearby ranch and support for the Highland Lakes projects would eventually inspire the lake's renaming in his honor in 1965.

Kingsland Today

Today, Kingsland has grown into a thriving lakeside community of approximately 10,000 residents while retaining much of its small-town character.

Visitors still experience many of the qualities that have drawn people here for generations: scenic rivers, outdoor recreation, welcoming neighbors, and a relaxed pace of life. Historic landmarks such as the Antlers Hotel continue to preserve the town's railroad heritage, while Lake LBJ has become the centerpiece of Kingsland's economy and identity.

The town's story is one of resilience—from frontier settlement to railroad boomtown, through decades of decline and isolation, to its rebirth as one of the Texas Hill Country's most beloved waterfront destinations.

Local Outdoor Attractions

• The Slab, featuring a sandy beach, shallow swimming areas, wading, and picnicking

• Packsaddle Mountain, connected to Jim Bowie's search for the mysterious Los Almagres Mine

• Kingsland Community Park

• Inks Lake State Park

• Devil's Waterhole

• Longhorn Cavern State Park

• Scenic Hill Country hiking

Local Indoor Attractions and Activities

• The Antlers Hotel, featuring botique lodging, historic architecture, and vintage railroad caboose accomodations

• The Grand Central Cafe at the Antlers, which occupies the original house used in the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (It was relocated from Round Rock and restored.)

• Nightengale Archaeological Center

• Perissos Vineyards

• Legends Golf Course

• Wakepoint LBJ

• Boat Town Burger Bar

Annual Events and Seasonal Beauty

• Each spring, from March through May, the countryside surrounding Kingsland bursts into bloom with Texas Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, Indian Blanket, and many more native wildflowers. 

• Every July, Kingsland hosts AquaBoom, a Fourth of July celebration featuring land and boat parades, fireworks, rubber duck races, and many more activities.

Information sourced from TexasHilCountry.com, TexasTimeTravel.com, TouringTexas.com, Texas Monthly, The Texas State Historical Association, and Kingsland Chamber of Commerce.