Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park / Johnson City Texas

The lands and structures that comprise the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park were donated by the Johnson family beginning with the LBJ Boyhood Home and Reconstructed Birthplace in 1969. The Texas Hill Country is a special place in Texas. The natural environment and cultural heritage of the Texas Hill Country is preserved and maintained thanks to a regional network of private and public stewardship. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is very involved in this stewardship.  The LBJ Historical Park is a showcase of the Texas Hill Country's unique place in Texas history and it's connection to some of the programs of the Johnson Administration. The Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park includes the old LBJ Ranch located just west of Johnson City Texas. The park tells the  life story of our 36th President. The story begins with LBJ's ancestors, continues through the time that the LBJ Ranch served as the Western Whitehouse during his presidency and ends with his final resting place on his former ranch. The LBJ Ranch, Johnson City Texas and a structure in Stonewall Texas are all part of the LBJ Hill Country park. In addition to the national Park in the Texas Hill Country there is the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin Texas at 2313 Red River Street. This is another stop you may want to add to your Texas vacation itinerary. An interesting permanent exhibit added to the LBJ National Historical Park in 2010 was a thirteen seat Lockheed JetStar. This same aircraft flew in and out of Lyndon Johnson's ranch when he was vice president and president in the 1960s.The acquisition of this plane after so many years is an interesting story. The National Park Service acquired the 50-year-old Lockheed JetStar from the Pentagon's "bone yard". The Bone Yard houses over 4,400 old planes in the dry, desert air of Tucson, Arizona. The NPS paid $261,000 to relocate the plane to Texas, to provide shelter and to restore the exterior of the VC-140 Lockheed aircraft with a new paint job that replicates the outside of Air Force One. When this aircraft was used during the Johnson administration it was nicknamed Air Force One-Half. The President generally traveled on Air Force One which was a Boeing 707. This large airliner couldn't land on the 6,300 foot asphalt airstrip on the ranch so there was a fleet of the smaller Lockheeds available to him. The Jetstar however could land and taxi to within 200 yards of LBJ's  Western White House along the Pedernales River. The images to the right are of the front and back of the boyhood home of Lyndon Johnson located in the town of Johnson City Texas. This is also a part of the LBJ National Historical Park. Lyndon Johnson spent most of ten years living in this home. In 1908 Johnson was born west of this location in a small farm house located in Stonewall Texas only a few miles west of the ranch towards Fredericksburg. A reconstruction of that house is located in the western unit of the National Park. Today, the visitor to this home site in Johnson City will see a very neatly landscaped front yard. In reality however, when LBJ lived in this home the surroundings were a bit different. In Johnson's boyhood days, this yard included almost everything needed to sustain a family. This included an orchard, vegetable garden, woodpile, windmill, barn, smokehouse and hog wire fences that kept in chickens and livestock. This home was erected in 1901 by a man named W.C. Russell who was sheriff in Blanco County Texas. The style is folk Victorian and was purchased by the president's father Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr.for $2,925. The home included just under two acres. The house had electricity installed circa 1930 which was quite an undertaking in this particular part of Texas. Most of rural Texas in the 1930s was still in the dark. Electric lines hadn't been built in the rugged Texas Hill Country. Lyndon Johnson made a campaign pledge early on that once he had the political power to bring change, he would work to bring electricity to the region. Some electric co-op customers and Hill Country residents still talk about the time wheng life in this region meant no electricity. The electrification of the area has long been noted as the key to it's past growth. When you visit the LBJ National Park you will see documentation and artifacts regarding Johnson's work to make electricity a reality for Texas Hill Country residents. Some of this is included in the exhibit of home movies of the era narrated by Lady Bird Johnson. Blanco County Courthouse Another interesting fact is that, while many assume the name of the town Johnson City in Blanco county came from LBJ, in reality the town got it's name from James Polk Johnson who was a relative of LBJ's grandfather. Another interesting fact about LBJ's boyhood was that his mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson was a schoolteacher. In fact, she was one of the very few college educated women in the area. Her emphasis on education would have an influence on all of her children resulting in all five of the Johnson siblings attending college. Johnson attended a one room school house named Junction School and is only a short distance from this house. The National Park Service acquired the land where the school house is and it's now part of the Ranch unit of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. The fact that the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country helps makes it a fun place to visit. The Texas Hill Country features many great bed and breakfast inns and is one of Texas' largest tourist areas. The most direct route to Johnson City and the Lyndon Johnson National Historical Park is to drive west from Interstate-35 on Texas Hwy .You can pick up Hwy 290 just a few miles south of downtown Austin. Johnson City is about 50 miles west of Austin. Nearby are many historic Hill Country towns such as Fredericksburg, Wimberley, Boerne, New Braunfels, Gruene and San Marcos. Fredericksburg Texas itself was the boyhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz and hosts the Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War, an excellent museum which has world acclaim. The Hill Country is also adjacent to both San Antonio and the state capital of Austin, two cities with lots of history and historic sites. Excellent hotels and B & B's can be found in all of these locations. Another very interesting stop in San Antonio is the Guenther House which is also the historic site of the Pioneer Flour Company, started by a German immigrant in the 1850's. The Guenther House is also one of San Antonio's most popular restaurants.

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