McKinney Falls State Park

McKinney Falls
Lower McKinney Falls
Location	Travis County, Texas
Nearest city	Austin
Coordinates	30°10′51″N 97°43′19″W / 30.18083°N 97.72194°W / 30.18083; -97.72194Coordinates: 30°10′51″N 97°43′19″W / 30.18083°N 97.72194°W / 30.18083; -97.72194
Area	744.4 acres (301 ha)
Established	1976
Governing body	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

McKinney Falls State Park is a state park in Austin, Texas, United States at the confluence of Onion Creek and Williamson Creek. It is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park opened on April 15, 1976 and is named after Thomas F. McKinney, a businessman, race horse breeder and rancher, who owned and lived on the land in the mid-to-late 19th century.

During the Cretaceous Period, much of Texas was covered by a shallow sea. The sediments deposited during this period lithified into the limestone rock underneath the park's soil and was exposed by erosion around the creek bed. Aquatic reptiles swam in the sea as evidenced by a complete skeleton of a mosasaur found in the rocks of Onion Creek not far from the park.

A volcano, now long extinct and called "Pilot Knob," spewed debris into the surrounding sea. The streams of soft volcanic debris eroded faster than the hard limestone. The removal of the softer layers and undercutting of the limestone by the water led the falls to be formed over millions of years.

There is evidence that hunter-gatherers occupied the land that is now McKinney Falls State Park at least five thousand years ago, maybe more. The tribes found water in the creek and protection among the rock shelters created by the same undercutting action that created the falls.

The land that the park occupies was originally part of an eleven league (about 49,000 acres (20,000 ha)) grant that Mexican land speculator Santiago del Valle purchased from the government of Mexico. Samuel May Williams acquired ten leagues (about 44,000 acres (18,000 ha)) of the grant from del Valle and sold the land to Michael B. Menard who in turn sold nine leagues (about 40,000 acres (16,000 ha)) to Thomas F. McKinney in 1839. McKinney did not move to his land until 1850 and took two years to build a stone house, barns and a gristmill. The mill was destroyed by a flood in 1869 and the house by a fire in the late 1940s. McKinney lived on the land ranching and raising thoroughbred horses until his death on October 5, 1873. McKinney's wife, Anna, sold small parcels of land to relatives, and in 1885 she sold most of the land to James W. Smith.