Park Springs (Waller Creek, Parks Springs, Parks Spring)

Travis County, TX

Status: Located

Year Established: 1870’s

Council of Governments: CAPCOG

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

Community History: According to Travis County Deed Records, one acre of land for Park Springs Baptist Church was purchased on September 12, 1887 for $25 by Joe Cunningham, a church representative. Park Springs Cemetery, also known as Spring Creek, has over 600 burials.

According to the Travis County Historical Commission’s “African American Settlement Survey,”: “Gravel Hill was a two-teacher Rosenwald school constructed between 1928 and 1929, which “appears to have been located approximately midway between Manor and Littig on the south side of Wilbarger Creek. The school is not identified on the 1932 Topographic and Road Map Travis County. Very few references to Gravel Hill were uncovered, and it is not clear whether Gravel Hill was a community or merely the name given to the rural school that would have served the surrounding areas. The school would have been close to the African-American Park Spring Baptist Church and Cemetery and may have served a community of that name in the vicinity.”

Cemetery: Parks Springs Cemetery/Spring Creek Cemetery

Church: Park Springs Baptist Church

School: Gravel Hill School