Bigfoot Wallace started the last stampede of wild buffalo to thunder down Austin’s Congress Avenue. In the early days of the Republic of Texas, the capital city had no Capitol. At the time, only wooden stakes with red flags designated where the Main Street of Texas would one day stretch down the hill to the river.
Wallace was hunting just north of present Downtown when he came upon a group of bison. The animals caught his scent and ran toward the future business district with the pioneer in hot pursuit. In their panic, the buffalo were over the hill and between the red flags before they knew it. Blocked by the fluttering red flags from turning, the herd ran off a cliff, swam the river, and disappeared into South Austin.
William Alexander Anderson “Bigfoot” Wallace was 20 years old when he arrived in Galveston in 1837. He experienced an exciting frontier life and lived to tell the tale. He was a Texas Ranger, American Indian fighter, scout, prisoner of war in a Mexican prison, stagecoach driver, and farmer rolled into one folk hero.
In 1954, the citizens of Bigfoot, Texas, built a replica of the pioneer’s log cabin that once stood on the banks of the Medina River downstream from Castroville. The museum houses some of Wallace’s personal belongings, but his life’s story has become a legend unconstrained by walls. Over the years, the museum’s collection has grown to include a unique array of other heirlooms.
Originally called Connally’s Store, Bigfoot is about nine miles off I-35, east of Devine. Wallace lived the last years of his life on a ranch outside of town.
It was here that biographer A.J. Sowell interviewed an 81-year-old Wallace. The former frontiersman said the nickname originated from an American Indian that once made daring and regular late-night raids on the citizens of Austin. Because of an injury, the American Indian “Bigfoot” left a distinctive large footprint. Wallace trailed him for years, but someone else finally stopped that Bigfoot’s depredations.
One night the notorious American Indian was seen prowling around Austin. The next morning a shopkeeper followed the oversize moccasin trail to Wallace’s front door. The irate merchant accused Wallace of pulling off a ruse until he put his much smaller foot in the American Indian’s footprint. From then on there were two Bigfoots in Texas. Wallace said he preferred the nickname to being called “Lying” Wallace or “Thieving” Wallace.
The Bigfoot Wallace Museum is operated by volunteers who are constantly raising funds for maintenance and repairs with bake sales and barbecues, says Linda Miller, vice president of the local historical society. The museum opens the second Tuesday and second Saturday of each month. On the last Saturday of April, the museum celebrates Bigfoot Wallace’s birthday. For more information, call 830/665-9706 or 830/663-2296 or go to www.bigfoottx.com.
923rd in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips” 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in March 13 • 2009.
