GATLIN, TEXAS. Gatlin, nineteen miles northwest of San Marcos in west central Hays County, was primarily a frontier school community for the initial settlers in the northern and western parts of the county. It was founded on Gatlin Creek about 1856 by the Wanslow and Massey families while Indians were still active in the area. In 1862 the school serving Cannonville was moved to Gatlin, but by 1875 it had been moved again, to Cherry Springs. In 1877 a public school opened in Gatlin with thirty-nine pupils. There is no record of any community focus there after 1900, though the 1981 county highway map shows a cemetery at Gatlin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dudley Richard Dobie, A Brief History of Hays County and San Marcos, Texas (San Marcos, 1948). Dudley Richard Dobie, The History of Hays County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1932).
