Walter Prescott Webb, a world-renowned American historian, was born near this site to Casner P. Webb and Mary Elizabeth (Kyle) Webb. His father farmed and taught school, and after the family moved in 1893 to the edge of central west Texas, the new terrain inspired Walter Webb to study the influence of the frontier on American history. Alternately studying and teaching, he earned his B.A. in 1915, his M.A. in 1920, and his Ph.D. in 1932, all at the University of Texas. In 1918 he joined the university's history faculty in Austin, where he taught for 45 years, and his visiting lectureships in the U.S. and abroad included a term as Harmsworth Professor at Oxford University in England. An inspiring teacher, he shaped a generation of historians and scholarly writers, and books including The Great Plains, The Texas Rangers, Divided We Stand, and The Great Frontier brought him wide distinction. Honored many times, he became the first Southwesterner to serve as president of the American Historical Association. He married first Jane Oliphant, with whom he had a daughter, Mildred (Mrs. W.B. Bugg), and later Mrs. Terrell Maverick, and he is buried in the Texas State Cemetery.