REFERENCES

CITY: Unincorporated

CHAMBER AND TOURISM: None

MAJOR ATTRACTIONS:

GARRISON BROTHERS DISTILLERY: 512-302-0608; PO Drawer 261, 1827 Hye-Albert Road, Hye, TX 78635; Dan Garrison, www.garrisonbros.com; texasbourbonnews@garrisonbros.com. Home of the first legal bourbon distiller in Texas, and now in full production. Tours available by apmt.

HYE HISTORIC POST OFFICE: Opened 1886, still in use today but not modernized. President Lyndon B. Johnson, at the age of 4, mailed his first letter here. Lawrence O'Brien was sworn into President Johnson's Cabinet as Post Master General on the steps of the store in October 1965. This historic building is also a general store.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS: Vineyards, wineries, the LBJ State & National Historical parks; Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm, all in Stonewall just a few miles west.

ALBERT: ALBERT TEXAS ICE HOUSE; HISTORIC SCHOOL HOUSE.

BLANCO: HISTORIC TOWN SQARE & COURTHOUSE; REAL ALE BREWING CO

ECKERT: WILLOW CITY SCENIC LOOP; BIKER SALOON; MOTORCYCLING

FREDERICKSBURG: FORT; BUTTERFLY RANCH; HERB FARM; THEATER; TRADE DAYS; MUSEUMS; DULCIMERS; HISTORIC GERMAN DOWNTOWNL JEWLRY WORKSHOP; ROCKBOX; WILDSEED FARM; COWBOY RANCH

JOHNSON CITY: EXOTIC ZOO RESORT; TEXAS HILLS WINERY; WHITTINGTON'S JERKY; HISTORIC COURTHOUSE & JAIL; LAVENDER FARMS; WILDFLOWER CAPITAL; BAMBERGER RANCH; LBJ BOYHOOD HOME

LUCKENBACH: LUCKENBACH DANCE HALL & GENERAL STORE

STONEWALL: PEACHES; VINEYARDS; LAVENDER; SAUER-BECKMANN LIVING HISTORY FARM

WILLOW CITY: WILLOW CITY SCENIC LOOP; BIKER SALOON; MOTORCYCLING


EVENT CALENDAR: None

WEATHER: Weather Underground

MEDIA COVERAGE: Latest News (Topix)

MAPS: Google, GeoHack

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS: Ranching

HISTORY: See Handbook of Texas Online:
"Whites settled the area in 1860 when a number of farming and ranching families moved to Rocky Creek, three miles east of the site of present Hye. Rocky, as this area of settlement came to be called, continued to grow steadily throughout the 1860s and 1870s with the influx of both German and Anglo settlers. In 1880 Hiram G. (Hye) Brown, for whom the community was later named, built a small store and house south of the Pedernales River on the Austin-Fredericksburg road at the location of present Hye. Brown had come with his parents to Rocky eight years earlier. In 1886 he established a post office at Hye, which he operated as part of his general store. After the post office came in, other businesses were begun in the area, including a gristmill and a blacksmith shop. In 1906 a cotton gin was erected at Hye, and it continued to operate until 1945. In 1904 Brown built a new structure to house the post office and his business on the south side of the road just opposite its old location. This building, the Hye General Store and Post Office, which in 1966 was entered in the state archives as a Recorded Texas Historical Landmark, still stands today and continues to serve its original function. Hye gained particular attention in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson used the front porch of the post office as the setting for his appointment of Lawrence F. O'Brien as United States Postmaster General. Johnson, whose boyhood home is nearby, also claimed to have mailed his first letter at the age of four from the Hye post office. The population of Hye was estimated at 200 during the 1920s and 1930s. It dropped to fifty during World War II and then climbed gradually from ninety in 1947 to a postwar high of 140 in 1968. From 1970 to 2000 it was estimated at 105."

According to the local Heritage Farms web site: "Hiram ("Hye") G. Brown founded Hye in 1880. Hye Brown decided the area needed a post office so in January of 1886, he applied to the US Post Office and on April 17, 1886, the Hye Post Office was established with "Hye" serving as Post Master. Some of the unique happenings at the Hye Post Office are: President Lyndon B. Johnson, at the age of four, mailed his first letter here. Lawrence O'Brien was sworn into President Johnson's Cabinet as Post Master General on the steps of the store in October 1965. "Hye" was born August 4, 1853, in Mississippi; he came to Texas about 1866. "Hye" Brown married Margaret Steen and they had six children."

OTHER PROFILES: Wikipedia; Podunk (not available); City Data (not available);
Texas Escapes, Travel Texas (not available)

NOTES:

(We welcome submission of updates, additions, corrections & digital photos, without compensation.)

SANDY ROAD GUEST HAUS:

An Upscale Western-style Guest House Bed & Breakfast in a Beautiful Ranch Setting in the Gorgeous Texas Hill Country

B&B Reservations & Information: 281-300-7177
9242 RR 1320 (Sandy Road), Johnson City, TX 78636

Web: www.SandyRoadGuestHaus.com
Email: info@SandyRoadGuestHaus.com
Come Relax & Enjoy!

FRIENDS OF LBJ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK Office: 830-868-7128 x222 POB 1831, 100 Lady Bird Lane, Johnson City, TX 78636. Click: Map Coming 2010 Events: June 5: Movies Under the Stars at the LBJ Ranch July 10: Movies Under the Stars at the LBJ Ranch August 14: Movies Under the Stars at the LBJ Ranch August 27: 102nd Anniversary of LBJ's Birth, Wreathlaying Ceremony, LBJ Ranch Click on web sites below for details.

Friends: www.FriendsOfLBJNationalPark.orgEmail: info@FriendsOfLBJNationalPark.org
NPS Web: www.nps.gov/lyjo

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