Fairland, Texas, Burnet County. (original) (raw)

Crownover Chapel, the old rock church, in Fairland Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, August 2005

History in a Pecan Shell

In the early 1850s a group of settlers arrived and named the place "fair land." In 1859 land was donated for a church and school. Work on a stone church was delayed by the Civil War and completed in 1870. After the rock church was finished a wooden room for a school was added.

The first post office opened in 1874 under the name Backbone Valley. Later, in 1890 the Fairland post office opened. In 1951, mail was routed through Marble Falls and the Fairland office closed.

There was a population of 200 in the mid-20s and after the Great Depression there were barely 50 people left. That estimate remained through the 60s and today there are no statistics. The Fairland and Tobey schools merged and consolidated with Marble Falls sometime after 1943.

The old rock church building remains in use as does the town's cemetery.

Historical Marker:
(From Marble Falls take US Hwy. 281N approx. 2 miles to FM 1855; then west on FM 1855 2 miles to Fairland Cemetery (chapel opposite cemetery)

Crownover Chapel

Backbone Valley's first public building, started 1859 on 7-acre tract donated that year by heirs of settler Jefferson Barton. Finished 1870, chapel was named for the Rev. Arter Crownover (1810-76), whose preaching of Methodist faith opened its use. Building soon also housed a school. The nearby cemetery was in use by 1872. A school room was added but later removed. Chapel now bears original appearance, and is used as church and community center. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972

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