In 1872, William Miller built the first bridge over the springs favored by Tonkawa Indians. When Abe Miller bought the land in the 1920s, it was listed in county records as Miller's Springs. By 1935, a 75-foot Warren pony truss bridge, typical of many built in Texas through the 1930s, replaced several earlier bridges. When land was acquired for Belton Lake in the late 1940s, Miller Springs became a public park. Growing awareness of the area's unusual natural and biological resources led to the formation of the Miller Springs Nature Center in 1993. (1997) Incising: Polly Peaks-Elmore, Applicant