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Soda Springs - Sour Springs I ~ circa 1870
Originally known as Sour Springs, the community, located about five miles northeast of Luling, was settled in 1857 on the Gonzales-Lockhart stagecoach route. An inn and livery were operated there by William and Alice Mannix. A post office was established about the same year and James Jackson became the first postmaster. The office closed in 1877 but it was another twenty years before rural free delivery was developed.
Sour Springs water had an unusual taste due to the content, high bicarbonate of sodium coupled with sulphur. With the supposedly curative powers and the warm soothing waters, Sour Springs became a favorite spa in the local area. Eventually the springs began to diminish, and the name was changed to Soda Springs.
Land was deeded in 1867 for the Soda Springs Methodist Church and a cemetery by early settler Margaret Hinds. The small community grew rapidly and businesses began to appear. There were several grocery stores, two gins, a blacksmith shop and a service station. Farmers in the area were known for their superior production of corn and cotton. By 1900, school children in the area were attending the Lone Oak, Soda Springs and McNeil Schools.
The McNeil Baptist Church was established in 1888. Since much of the growth in the area developed around the McNeil Baptist Church, it was decided to change the name of the community to McNeil when the Soda Springs Methodist Church disbanded in 1919. The renaming included the old Soda Springs Cemetery also. Some of the older citizens objected and always referred to it as Soda Springs Cemetery. Today, descendants of those earlier settlers still say: "My people are buried in the Soda Springs Cemetery."
By the 1940s, the flow of the springs had dwindled even more and there were only a few houses and one church at the original site. Today, the springs no longer flow, but the original cemetery is maintained by an association and continues to serve the community.
Sources –
1. Agriculture Census of Caldwell County
2. Caldwell County Kin: The First 150 Years published by the Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County. November 2000, C-40 and C-41
3. Obituary for William Mannix
4. Postmasters and Post Offices of the Tenth Congressional District of Texas, compiled by Honorable J. J. “Jake” Pickle, U. S. Representative and The Bicentennial Post Office History Advisory Committee, edited by Karl M. Conrad, 1976, page 58
5. Smyrl, Vivian Elizabeth, “SODA SPRINGS, TX”, Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org
6. The Citizen, “Preserving Truss Bridges”, Lockhart, Texas, December 21, 1989, page 11
7. www.caldwellcountyhistoricalcommission.org/statehistoricalmarkersincaldwellcounty
The Plum Creek Almanac is a project of
The Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County.
 The Genealogical and Historical Society
of Caldwell County Copyright
© 1963
Updated
10/15/2019
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