Lone Oak, Bexar County, Texas

Lone Oak is a small Texas community located at the intersection of US 87 and Loop 1604 in eastern Bexar County, Texas, near the town of St. Hedwig.

History

Lone Oak was named for the large Live Oak Tree which once occupied the center of the town. In the early 1970s this tree died and was removed. The community now has a feed store, restaurants, Lone Oak Grocery, and several convenience stores. G. M. Smith moved his family from San Antonio out on the Old La Vernia Hwy., what is now Lone Oak, in the mid 1920s. Mr. Smith rented a building for $10 a month and made living quarters in the back and opened a store in the front. His business grew large enough that he later built a store and house on the corner while renting a house across Hwy 87. The store was named G M SMITH but they began to call the area Lone Oak because of the large tree. Mr. Smith was also a deputy sheriff and was credited for stopping two highway workers from crossing the Mexico Border with Spanish Gold that they had discovered while working on Highway 87. The family continued living there until the early 1940s. Their two children went to Adken and Sawyer schools but graduate from Brackenridge High School which was 18 miles away. In the mid 1940s Mr. Smith and his wife bought Barbee Hatchery in Yorktown, Texas and ran a successful poultry business until the last 1970's.

Film Appearances

Several scenes of the 1974 Feature film The Sugarland Express directed by Steven Spielberg were filmed in Lone Oak. The scene where they stop at an old country store was filmed at the Lone Oak Grocery store. The scene where the news van runs off the road into the water was filmed along Loop 1604 a few miles south of Lone Oak. The character played by actress Goldie Hawn was said in the movie to come from the nearby town of Sayers, Texas. The town named "Rodrigo" in the movie is actually nearby Floresville, Texas.