With more than 70,000 residents, this city is the medical center for Central Texas and an important industrial producer. Temple was established by the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad and named for its chief construction engineer, B. B. M. Temple.
Temple is also nicknamed “The Wildflower Capital of Texas.” Visitors lucky enough to arrive in late March and April are greeted by a variety of native blooms.
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Take a walk on the wild side.
Set on 260 scenic acres between the Leon River and soaring river bluffs and adjacent to Lake Belton, Miller Springs Nature Center gives visitors the opportunity for fishing, hiking, picnicking, and rock climbing.
It frequently hosts school groups as part of the Bell County Network for Educational Technology’s “classrooms without walls” program.
Dogs are welcome on leash. The park is located off FM 2271 north of Lake Belton Spillway
Learn About Temple’s railroad history.
First housed in the former Moody depot, today the Railroad and Heritage Museum is located in a renovated Temple Santa Fe depot.
Upstairs you’ll find exhibits on the history of trains; outdoors check out the rolling stock like Santa Fe #3423, a 1921 steam locomotive.
Grab Some BBQ at Temple’s temple of ‘Que.
You can’t miss Clem Mikeska’s as you drive north on Interstate 35 through Temple — there’s a cow on the roof. That bovine is a clue to the meats that wait within this dark red building. Clem’s advertises premium beef, and that’s no joke. We found that the brisket here was some of the best we’ve had, and that’s covering a lot of ground. It’s tender and lean, without a tough or stringy spot on it.
Folks have been enjoying this comfortable but unassuming restaurant since 1965. Clem is one of the Mikeska brothers, famed throughout Texas for their barbecue restaurants. Each brother runs his restaurant a little differently, though, so you’ve got a good excuse to visit the whole lot of them.
Besides brisket, Clem’s serves homemade beef sausage (it’s excellent — spicy but not too hot), pork ribs, and chicken, with green beans, brown beans, hot buttered potatoes, potato salad, or coleslaw on the side. We opted for the mustard-based chunky potato salad and the beans tinged slightly red with spice. Grab a few slices of homemade bread as you go through the line to sop up the last drops of barbecue sauce from your plate.
If you can forgo the temptation of stuffing yourself with barbecue, save room for dessert. Clem’s has peach cobbler and banana pudding, chock full of vanilla wafers.
You’ll find a mix of Temple folks in Clem’s, from auto mechanics to business and medical professionals. The dining room, filled with booths and tables done in red-and-white checked tablecloths, is packed at noon. Like the dining rooms at other restaurants owned by the Mikeska family, this one is filled with photos of Texas dignitaries and family members as well as wildlife trophies. A hammerhead shark looms overhead as you pay, and a buffalo gazes at diners at the back of the room.
Clem Mikeska’s is also found in Belton and Cameron.
Take a Side Trip to Zabcikville
It’s a little too lively to be a true Texas ghost town, but the Czech community of Zabcikville, located 10 miles east of Temple on TX 53, is the next best thing.
During its boomtown days in the 1940s, the population reached about 80; today you’ll find just a few dozen residents. There’s still one good reason to make a detour to this town, though: Green’s Sausage House.
The only business in town packs in area diners eager to lunch on sausage burgers, hamburgers, and homemade kolaches. An adjacent meat market sells sausage, ham, turkey, bacon, and more.