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 Ogletree Stagestop and Post Office
N 31° 06.259 W 097° 55.731
14R E 602149 N 3441656
The first permanent structure in what is now Copperas Cove, Texas
Waymark Code: WM2WAD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/30/2007
Views: 34
This marker and historic site are in Ogletree Gap Park, the location for the Annual Copperas Cove Ogletree Gap Festival as well as several Geocaches and Geocaching Events. Jesse M. & Charley A. Clements, their daughter, Paralee (who was married to Samuel Gilmore), and her son Jeb Gilmore are interred in the Clements Cemtery, .75 miles due east of this location (see Geocache GC1BFXV).
Marker Number: 3681
Marker Text:
After Marsden Ogletree (1819-1896) and his family migrated from Georgia, he received a land grant in 1878. Inscriptions on two stones in this house indicate the structure was erected the same year. It served as the family home, grain store, and stopping place for the Lampasas to Belton Stagecoach. Since the mail arrived by stage, a Post Office was opened here in 1879 with Ogletree as Postmaster. Legend says that the settlement received the name "Coperas Cove" from a copperas-tasting spring in the cove of a nearby-mountain.
Samuel Gilmore served as the second Postmaster. In 1881 Gilmore's Father-in-Law Jesse M. Clements (1822-1900) and his wife Charley deeded land for the right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado, & Santa Fe Railroad. The following year the railroad laid out the new townsite of Coperas Cove. Soon the center of the community, including the Post Office, moved over to the railroad. Later the town corrected the spelling of its name to "Copperas Cove."
In 1891 Clements bought this house and used it as the headquarters for his large ranching operations. The old stone stagestop remains a visible link with the community's pioneer heritage.
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Visit Instructions:
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