YELL, TEXAS. Yell, also known as Yell Settlement, was twenty-two miles northwest of San Marcos in the hills of central Hays County. It was settled in 1869 by S. H. Bryar, and additional settlers arrived in 1874. The community apparently was originally called West Point; a school opened under that name in 1876. With the establishment of a post office in 1890, the community moved one-half mile to the north and was renamed in honor of early settler and Methodist circuit rider Mordecai Yell. By 1892 two gristmills were in operation. When postal authorities complained of confusion with a town called Tell, the name was changed to Good and then to Best before the post office was closed in 1907. It is reported that some residents in 1990 still referred to the area as Yell Settlement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mary Starr Barkley, A History of Central Texas (Austin: Austin Printing, 1970). Dudley Richard Dobie, A Brief History of Hays County and San Marcos, Texas (San Marcos, 1948).

Daniel P. Greene