Celebrating History
Selection of the Name "Lindsey Hill"
In 1848, William Lindsey, Dr. Eli Merriman, and General Ed Burleson--the founding fathers of San Marcos--formed a real estate development partnership to give birth to the town of San Marcos. They acquired 640 acres out of the Juan Veramendi tract, and charged Lindsey, a surveyor, with the responsibility of laying out the original town. None of the founders was a native. Lindsey originally was from Georgia, Merriman came from Connecticut, and Burleson relocated from North Carolina. Hailing from different parts of the country, they shared a common goal: create an open, forward-looking community offering opportunity, quality of life, and prosperity to those who choose to call San Marcos home. We salute their vision. It is as important today as it was back then. The name “Lindsey Hill” reconnects the site to the important legacy of the city’s founding fathers.
Interactive Learning Opportunities
Modern technologies make connection to history possible in ways unimaginable even a few short years ago. In the old days, the iconic brass history marker was the accepted “state of the art” way to acknowledge historical significance of a site. These markers offered a brief explanation of an event or a person, but they could not bring that event or person to life.
Next came photo display historical signs, offering imagery and narrative to help make the historical event or personality a bit more real and easier to relate to. But those displays, too, have limited ability to bring history to life.
All that is changing now—and very quickly. New tools and techniques of bringing history to life are appearing daily. They include photo display historical signs with QR symbols that people can click on using their cellphones. These “click-ons” take the viewer to audio and visual presentations providing rich sight and sound experiences of the history being showcased. They function, in effect, as “museums without walls.”
Many people already are leapfrogging ahead to even newer, more powerful, and more experiential technologies. These include “VR” (virtual reality), which allow viewers, using their cellphones and VR attachments, to stand in place and have a 360° experience of a place and moment in time, and geolocation, which allow phones to know the availability of sight and sound experiences at a particular site.
These techniques are adaptable to Lindsey Hill (and to other places in San Marcos). We welcome the opportunity to partner with organizations and individuals in the community who similarly value heritage and history to bring these defining moments in the history of San Marcos to life.