Dorothy Duvall vs. Austin City Slickers, Drama on Bull Creek

 

Dorothy Duvall[1], in 1949, like so many Austinites today, had had it with the newcomers. In this case newcomers to Bull Creek; “city slickers” from Austin. Dorothy decided to take matters into her own hands.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up. Along east Bull Creek, just south of the Southwestern Bell building, 5501 Spicewood Springs Rd, set the ruins of the house that Dorothy Duvall built. The property, now owned by the City of Austin, is now fenced off as part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.

Truth told, Dorothy too was a newcomer to Bull Creek. Like Austin today, the definition of “newcomer” is relative to when you arrived! Settlement on the property predates Dorothy. William Thurm came from Germany in 1846, arrived in Travis Co. ca. 1850 (per census), and with wife Caroline and three daughters acquired land and settled on Bull Creek ca.1855 on a spot that is today inside Bull Creek Greenbelt, about 5312 Old Spicewood Springs Rd.

One daughter, Tena Thurm, in 1872 married Isaac Venable. During the Civil War Isaac served in the 1st Tennessee Light Artillery, US Army. After the war, he moved to Texas settling on Bull Creek and taught school at the original Oak Grove School on Bull Creek, a one room log cabin established ca. 1864. After Isaac and Tena’s marriage in 1872 they built a house near the Thurm homestead inside what is today a park owned by Austin Water Wildlands Conservation; the Stenis Hike and Bike Trail starts at 5479 Old Spicewood Springs Rd and runs north through their property past ruins of their homestead. The "Smith Family Victory Garden, 1942-1944" is actually much older, part of the original Venable homestead. Tena passed in 1921, Isaac having preceded her in death, and in 1935 heirs sold the property to Dorothy Duvall; 320 acres.[2] On a hill west of the old Venable house she built her new house; one story says some materials from the Venable home were re-used in building Dorothy’s house.[3]

Dorothy and her property first appear in the news in 1939 when Spicewood Springs Road as we know it today begins to take shape. From the news[4]:

“Another scenic road will be added to the list of Travis county loops within the next few months when improvements will be made to the Spicewood Springs road … The road is to be widened, straightened. and changed and bridges are to be built across the channel of Bull creek. The road [has been] for years one of the most scenic in the county but at present [is] hardly accessible because of roughness; [it] leads from Spicewood Springs northwest of Austin north and west along the Bull creek bottoms and intersects with Highway 29 [Jollyville Rd / US 183] just east of Jollyville.”

Property owners agreeing to donate right-of-way included Dorothy Duvall.

As with Austinites today, road construction was the start of Dorothy’s problems. By 1949 Dorothy had had enough of Austin’s progress; “city slickers” from Austin were driving out in the country to Bull Creek for picnics, swimming and “moon gazing”. Apparently not the astronomy kind. Dorothy complained that city people were driving on the public roads and into her property: “Their picnics left fires, paper and trash over the land. The noise and parties were something to behold. Their destructiveness … beyond words.”

Dorothy decided to take matters into her own hands. From the news[5]:

“The matter of the locked gate on a road leading from North Bull Creek Road through the old Venable place to the Marshall Ford Highway may also be back before the commissioners … They received a petition last week, signed by 25 residents of the area, claiming that Mrs. Dorothy Duvall … had closed the road by fencing and locking it. The petitioners claim the road has been open to the public for more than 80 years.”

At this point it’s worth noting this is a period when road and highway names are in flux. Marshall Ford Highway is today’s 2222, which also used to be called Bull Creed Rd. Today’s Spicewood Springs Rd north of Loop 360 was the terminus of the old Bull Creek Rd which started in Austin. Bull Creek Rd was the way to get from Austin to Bull Creek. The section between the two was also part of the original Bull Creek Rd.[6] Spicewood Springs Rd north of Loop 360 (the “North Bull Creek Rd” from the article) used to pass east of the Venable home, some of it actually in Bull Creek itself. 1939 marks the start of the changes giving us the extent and route of Spicewood Springs Rd we know today including passing between the sites of the Duvall and Venable homes.

Understanding these old road names, and looking at aerial photos from 1940, Dorothy probably put the gate up just east of today’s Old Spicewood Springs Rd where it crosses Bull Creek, on the north bank. In doing so she blocked traffic to and by her house, but also the 2 mile stretch of road to today’s 2222 that would later become Lakewood Drive / Loop 360 up to Spicewood Springs Rd.

Dorothy’s undoing wasn’t from the riff-raff she was trying to keep out, but rather from her neighbors. By August 1949 Dorothy had taken her case to the Commissioners Court. In the news article[7] below the reference to a school is likely Bull Creek / Pleasant Valley School that was at the intersection of today’s 2222 and Loop 360, i.e. the southwest terminus of the road she had gated shut!

Court Keeps Road Open As City Slickers Flayed

Austin’s “city slickers” came in for some rough treatment Wednesday as the Travis County Commissioners Court refused to abandon a public road.  The question arose over a petition submitted by Mrs. Dorothy Duvall to close the old two-mile Spicewood Springs Road which runs from the new paved road by that name over to the Marshall Ford or Mt. Bonnell Road [today’s 2222].  After a courtroom of citizens appeared against the proposition, the court voted unanimously not to close the route as a public road … Horace Shelton, representing those opposing closing the road, argued that the answer to Mrs. Duvall’s problem was “to get a shotgun and drive those city people off your land."  In a speech to the court he charged that “city people are careless . . . unthoughtful . . . and destructive.”  Shelton praised the action of one of the Spicewood Springs residents who upon finding “a bunch of city hoodlum desecrating his spring," took a shotgun, fired a few times, "and those city slickers haven't been heard from since—they're probably still running.”  … Attorney Herbert Smart, representing Mrs. Duvall, said the road in question was probably built by the Indians and “is just like they left it.”  He claimed the “old narrow cow trail” crossed Bull Creek three or four time In its two mile stretch, and “for 50 or 60 yards follows the creek bed.”  Shelton, however, termed himself “just an old-fashioned Democrat who believes in giving the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people.”  He claimed that if the road were closed, residents of that area would have to drive 10 to 12 miles around to go to school.  "The road’s not your problem. It’s those city slickers” he told Mrs. Duvall.

Thus it was: Dorothy 0 – neighbors and Austin city slickers 1

Even before 1949 Dorothy had begun to divest herself of parts of her land. In 1941 she sold 40 acres of the original 320 to Matthew Irving Smith and Hazeline Ingram Smith. This is the current Austin Water Wildlands Conservation park, sometimes called the Stenis or Smith-Stenis Hike and Bike Trail where the Venable home stood. It is also referred to on Google maps as the Irving and Hazel Memorial Trail, a nod to the Smiths that bought the land from Dorothy.

The remaining Duvall property was eventually purchased by a developer with the intent of building a housing development, but went bankrupt. Then the Savings and Loan that held the note was declared insolvent. The Federal Government took control of the land via the Resolution Trust Corporation and soon after (1992) sold the land to the City of Austin as a preserve (now part of the Balcones Canyonland Preserve). While abandoned the house caught fire but the ruins are extant. The Duvall house ruins are not accessible to the public, but they are still visible on satellite imagery. The Travis County Historical Commission visited the property in 2017. 

In closing, a bit more about Dorothy Duvall from her obituary: Dorothy Ethelind Word Duvall was born Nov. 15, 1897, in Palestine, Texas. She was a retired secretary for the University of Texas Extension Service and member of the Central Christian Church, Austin, Texas. She died May 28, 1986 (aged 88) in Rio Grande City and was buried in the Palestine City Cemetery.[8]

I would add, Dorothy wasn’t one to tolerate shenanigans from Austin city slickers!

Photos from 2017

Photos from Travis County Historical Commission visit in 2017. Click to enlarge.

 

Long room back of house

Back of house

Steps front of house

Old growth cedar with Southwestern Bell building visible in distance

Nearby is the Stenis Hike and Bike Trail inside the Austin Water Wildlands Conservation park. What is described as the "Smith Family Victory Garden" is actually remnants of the Isaac and Tena Thurm Venable homestead which dates to abt. 1872 and appears on old county road maps. Even in 1949 the news articles about Dorothy Duvall reference the "old Venable place".

Aerial Photos, Maps

Click to enlarge

1898-1902 Travis County road map showing Mrs. Tena Venable home along old Bull Creek Rd. Notice road passes east of the homestead. Today's Spicewood Spgs Rd passes west of the site.

1937 aerial (Tobin Imagery) shows lay of the land before 1939 improvement on Spicewood Springs Rd. Should read "Duvall"

1940 aerial showing lay of the land and probable location of gate

More …

Link to 1940 census Dorothy E Duvall discovered in 1940 United States Federal Census - https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/27662142?h=9c9431 via @Ancestry

Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54694802/dorothy-ethelind-duvall

More about the Bull Creek / Pleasant Valley school https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2017/10/bull-creeks-pleasant-valley-school_24.html

 

Footnotes

---

[1] Spelled double “L” and no known connection with Duval, Texas or it’s namesake.

[2] Travis County Deed Records, Volume 517, Page 357

[3] Richards, Cathryn. Valley of Cascade Creek. Written in 1961 but unpublished. Copy at Austin History Center.

[4] The Austin Statesman, Oct 5, 1939, p.6

[5] The Austin Statesman, Apr 19, 1949, p.14

[6] Read more here. https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-does-bull-creek-road-have-to-do_9.html

[7] The Austin Statesman, Aug 31, 1949

[8] Tyler Morning Telegraph (Tyler, Texas) 30 May 1986, Page 8.