This area at the intersection of Scenic Loop, Boerne Stage, and Toutant Beauregard roads has long been valued for its rural character, vistas, waterways, wildlife, and natural features, and in 2011 the 82nd Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1499 granting those roads historic designation. Artifacts such as burned rock middens and stone tools show that Paleo-Indian tribes lived here more than 10,000 years ago. Early Spanish explorers encountered Jumano and Coahuiltecan tribes, but by the late 18th century Lipan Apache and Comanche controlled the area, discouraging Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo settlement into the mid-19th century. In 1851 the von Plehwe family from Prussia settled at Leon Springs near the Wagon Trail to Fort Mason, a route that also formed part of the Boerne Stage Road running from San Antonio to San Diego, California. Historic places along the route include stagecoach stops, ranch complexes dating from the mid-19th to early 20th century, homesteads of various cultural groups, and historic cemeteries. In the 1860s drovers established the Great Western Cattle Trail beside the Boerne Stage Road, and during the 1920s the transcontinental Old Spanish Trail Automobile Highway followed the Boerne Stage Road west from San Antonio. In the late 1920s a 46-mile scenic driving loop from downtown San Antonio was created, and new recreational areas and communities such as Scenic Loop Playground and McNeel Park developed as commuting to San Antonio became easier. About 13 miles of that original scenic driving loop still survive through Helotes, Grey Forest, and Leon Springs.