Spanish Pass/Wasp Creek

Kendall County, TX

Status: Located – Needs More Research

Year Established: 1877

Council of Governments: AACOG

Public History: There are no current descriptions related to Spanish Pass/Wasp Creek in the public record. If you are aware of any sources that we may have missed please share them with us.

Community History: A few miles north of Boerne, Texas, along old Spanish Pass Rd., where the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad ran, are the historic remains of yet another old Freedom Colony. It is currently called the Wasp Creek Colony, and it is centered between the towns of Welfare and Boerne, Texas. Looking at the 1880 U.S. Census records for Kendall County, Texas, we can see a number of African American families living together on this property, namely, Benjamin and Catherine Wren, Robert Meadows and his family, as well as the Blair, Hamilton, and Coleman families; all prominent Black families in the Kendall County area, there were 8 households and around 35 African American men, women, and children in the Wasp Creek/Spanish Pass Colony. Over the period of 1880 through 1910 the population of the colony numbered about 37 to 40 individuals. They owned 120 acres centered on Zinke Creek and 160 acres centered around the nearby Wasp Creek. We know that the colony area was occupied until at least the 1920s due to finding ceramic and glass (lavender glass) fragments scattered throughout this area and U.S. census records also proved this. A massive cedar break on the east side of the Spanish Pass property has kept most of the colony cemetery, artifacts, and some foundations and stone walls preserved since these people died and/or moved away in the early 1900s. Recent cedar clearing has exposed these old colony ruins and artifacts. The only remains left of the colony include the cemetery, scattered artifacts, several stacked rock wall areas and rock building formations located on the upper edges of the hills located on the land, east of Zinke Creek. There were also several homes along Zinke Creek that are said to have been washed away in floods. We presume that the lower river terraces might have also been for livestock/grazing areas or smaller gardens for the community. Just north of the area with walls and home foundations in an area deep in the cedar woods, is the colony cemetery. There are an estimated 10+ burials here but only 8 of the grave markers are visible. Unfortunately, only one grave marker has legible writing, reading Kathryn Rain (Kitty/Catherine Wren) born 1810, died December 2, 1900. Catherine Wren was the mother of Alex Wren, the founder of the Wren Colony closer to Boerne, Texas. We presume that the larger grave site next to Kathryn Rain is Benjamin Rain (Wren) (1806-1889) her husband, but without any inscription on the gravestone we cannot be certain. Ben transferred ownership of the northeast 40 acres of his land to his son-in-law, Daniel Blair (1846 – 1904), who married Ben’s daughter, Mary Wren. They all lived in this colony. As we researched this area more, we discovered that it was poorly named since Wasp Creek is nowhere near the location of the colony. We feel using the name Spanish Pass-Wasp Creek Colony better expresses this colony. Both new names are more accurate to its location as both the Zink Creek pass through the property area and that it is located just off Spanish Pass Road. The colony was established around ten years before the train came through the area in 1887. With Land Grant records we can see that Benjamin Wren purchased his initial 40 acres in 1870, and then an additional 80 acres later one. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad (SA&AP) overpass on the property was not built until the late 1880s and cut through the property dividing it north from south. An underpass was built creating an easier route for the colony inhabitants to move back and forth between the east and west properties along Zink Creek and to access the cemetery and the 160 acres owned by Robert Meadows on Wasp Creek. One other historical reference is that the property also had parts of the Camino de San Saba, the old trail through the Hill Country. This trail was established in the early 1700s to stretch from San Antonio, Texas (The San Antonio Missions) to the Spanish Fort on the San Saba River (Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas). Also known as the Camino Viejo (the old road) the trail was used by Spaniards, German Immigrants, and Native Indigenous groups to travel throughout the Hill Country. The exact location of the historical cemetery on the property belonging to Benjamin and Catherine Wren is at the coordinates: lat. 29.879862°, long. -98.771975°. The property itself is privately owned and not available to visit. The various historical teams throughout Kendall County and San Antonio as well as the Texas Historical Commission were able to access the property thanks to the current owner’s own curiosity and intent on preservation.