This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Final Scene of Glory Hays City Ends In Blazing Silence
The narrative chronicles the rise and fall of Hays City from its boom years under Hezekiah Williams to its ultimate demolition by 1929. Will Barber and Lizzie Williams feature in legal and financial struggles, a Hollywood film stint with William S. Hart and Lillian Russell, and the town’s decline as buildings were torn down or moved. The First Christian Church survives in Wimberley, while the land is repurposed, leaving only foundations, a water well hole, and scattered memory.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
San Marcos
Will Barber
Hez
Kitterman
Hays City
Williams
Joe Cruze
Barber
Cruze
Lizzie
Hays County
J.D. Biles
W.A. Smith
Rachael Crumley
John Whisenant
Hezekiah Williams
Austin
Glory Williams
Hollywood
The
Rio Grande
Wimberley
William S. Hart
Lillian Russell
Dad
Miss Russell
Hart
Russell
Ft. Worth
Hez Williams
Biles
A.B. Vogt
First Christian Church
Wimberley Square
Ranch Road 12
Hays City Church
Vogt
Joe Stewart
Stewart