Henly Cotton Shipping Strongbox — Hays County

Henly grew up in the 1880s at a rural crossroads on the route from Austin to Johnson City, just north of US Highway 290 twenty-six miles northwest of San Marcos on the Blanco county line in northwestern Hays County. The community was recognized in the mid-1880s for cotton shipments and operated a post office from 1881 until the late 1960s. Cotton-era shipping folklore places merchant strongboxes at remote Hill Country crossroads where wagon cotton moved toward Austin and Johnson City before rural banking expanded. Population estimates remained at twenty-five from 1884 to 1965. Coordinates mark Henly at the Hays–Blanco county line on the Austin–Johnson City wagon road.