Kenney's Fort, a half mile south of this site, was the first settlement in Williamson County. Erected as a home by Dr. Thomas Kenney and Joseph Barnhart in the spring of 1839, it later served as a place of defense during Indian raids. It was the rendezvous of the Santa Fe Expedition in 1841. Here, on December 31, 1842, the archives of the Republic of Texas, en route to Washington-on-the-Brazos, were captured and returned to Austin.