Staples, TX

Staples is a city in northeastern Guadalupe County, Texas, west of the San Marcos River and close to the Caldwell County line. The 2020 census counted 193 residents. The settlement's older story is a river-and-mill story: Leonidas Hardeman used the San Marcos River's waterpower for a cotton gin in 1867, and the site later powered corn grinding, lumber sawing, and sugar-cane crushing. John D. Staples opened a country store in 1871, and the post office began as Staples Store in 1879 before the word "Store" was dropped in 1891.

Staples residents voted to incorporate on May 10, 2008, then held the first municipal election that November. The city sits near State Highway 130 and is about nine miles from San Marcos, 15 miles north of Luling, 16 miles west of Lockhart, and 20 miles east of Seguin. San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District serves local students. The local scoop is the contrast between its old water-powered work and its present road map: a few hundred residents, a river valley, broad fields, and a modern freeway linking the small city to the larger Central Texas corridor.