A Century of Use

This public park is very different from how European pioneers used this land.

Quick Facts

Amenities

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

In 1872, Sam and Eliza Johnson left their frontier property after a successful run in the cattle business. A hundred years later, their grandson, President Lyndon B. Johnson, would help fund the purchase of this property by the National Park Foundation in 1972. The few original structures still present at that time were restored to their historic 19th-century appearance.

Sam Johnson Sr., his brother Tom, and three of their nephews ran cattle from this settlement after the Civil War during the boom years for the cattle industry until the Johnsons dissolved their business in 1871.

The Johnson brothers sold the land to their nephew James Polk Johnson. In 1879 at a spring barbecue, the settlers in the area voted for James's property on the Pedernales River to be the site of the new town, which was named in his honor as Johnson City. In 1882, some of the land known as the original Johnson Ranch was sold to the Bruckner family, who resided there for nearly a century.