Staples

Staples, on the San Marcos River in northeastern Guadalupe County, is located at the intersection of State Highway 621 and County Road 1977. Some of the earliest settlers were the McKean brothers, John and William, who arrived in the vicinity in 1852. They were later joined by the families of Leonidas Hardeman, Stokely Holmes, J. G. Lilley, Hedley Polk, John D. Staples, Nelson Tuttle, and Robertson Waller. In 1861 Camp Edward Clark, a Confederate regimental training site, was located in the area. Here Capt. Stokely Holmes organized an infantry company of local recruits that became part of Col. Peter C. Woods's regiment. In 1867 Leonidas Hardeman harnessed the waterpower of the San Marcos River to operate a cotton gin. Subsequent owners of the gin used waterpower in the off season to grind corn, saw lumber, and crush sugar cane. At the turn of the century the turbine was supplemented with steam power during periods of low river flow.

In 1871 Civil War veteran Col. John Douglas Staples established a country store in a live oak grove on the George Allen league, 500 yards from Hardeman's cotton gin. On May 19, 1879, a post office was opened there. The place was called Staples Store until 1891, when the post office department dropped "Store" from the designation. The office and its duties were passed about frequently for the first half century of its existence. The postmaster was usually a business owner who was willing to house the postal operation as a part-time duty. Initially, the Staples office was served by rerouting the twice-weekly Luling–San Marcos mail run along the San Marcos River between Prairie Lea and Martindale. In 1884 the only business enterprises were the store, the gin and gristmill, and the school. By 1890 a machinist, a doctor-druggist, a beekeeper, and another general store had been added. The Lowman brothers, Quincy and Roston, established the Staples Water Power Company and began construction of a wooden water tower in April of that year. The population had grown from thirty to forty-five in the preceding six years; by 1892 it had surged to 125, and the town had added a wagonmaker. In 1896 the community had 150 people and its own cemetery. The Staples Telephone Company was established in 1901 in the home of entrepreneur Fred Gabriel. Electric service, as such, was provided by a 1,000-volt dynamo that the Lowman brothers installed at their gin in 1903. The lights were turned off each night at 10:00. In 1913 both a new schoolhouse and a new metal water tower were completed.