Bluff Springs is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in southern

Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is n ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 50 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Austin metropolitan area.

History

Bluff Springs was first settled in the early 1850s. A post office was established at Bluff Springs in 1853 and remained in operation until 1902, with William S. Smith serving as postmaster. Mail was then sent from Buda. In the mid-1880s, the settlement had several steam-powered

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

s, cotton gins, and a church serving 250 residents. Stagecoach operations from the community expanded toward

Lockhart Lockhart may refer to: *Lockhart (surname) Places Australia *Lockhart, New South Wales *Lockhart River, Queensland *Lockhart River, Western Australia United States *Lockhart, Alabama *Lockhart, Florida *Lockhart, Minnesota *Lockhart, Sout ...

, Luling, and Austin. Farmers in the area grew

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

, corn,

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

s, and sweet potatoes. In 1892, the population plunged to 50. It fell by half in the early 1930s but returned to 50 in 1939 and remained there through 2000. Bluff Springs only had a church, a few businesses, and scattered houses in the 1940s. Bluff Springs is located on the Thomas F. McKinney land grant.

Geography

Bluff Springs is located on Onion Creek, south of Austin and two miles east of

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

in southern

Education

Bluff Springs had its own school in the mid-1880s. Today, the community is served by the

Austin Independent School District Austin Independent School District (AISD) is a school district based in the city of Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1881, the district serves most of the City of Austin and surrounding towns, the City of Sunset Valley, the Village ...

. Schools that are zoned for the community are Blazier Elementary School, Paredes Middle School, and

Akins High School Akins High School is located in South Austin, Texas, United States. The school is named after William Charles Akins, the first black teacher to work at a high school after desegregation in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Akins wa ...

External links

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Travis County, Texas