Williamson County, Texas
Round Rock is home to 36 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
First settlement in Williamson County. Erected as a home by Dr. Thomas Kenney and Joseph Barnhart in the spring of 1839. Served as a place of defense during Indian raids. Rendezvous of the Santa Fe Expedition, 1841.…
View on map ↗In memory of the pioneer builders of the Greenwood Masonic Institute, 1867-1881, one quarter mile west and Round Rock Institute, one half mile south, 1881-1891, under auspices Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1881-1887,…
View on map ↗Formed from Milam County. Created March 12, 1848; organized August 7, 1848. Named in honor of Robert McAlpin Williamson, 1806-1859, pioneer editor, lawyer, patriot and statesman, veteran of San Jacinto. Georgetown, the…
View on map ↗-- (no text, RTHL medallion only)
View on map ↗RTHL medallion only
View on map ↗on campus of First United Methodist Church
View on map ↗Brothers, teachers, Presbyterian ministers. Came to Texas from Arkansas, 1856. Worked and lived in this county. Both are buried in Round Rock Cemetery. In the Civil War, Rev. Edward Hudson in March 1862 joined Co. G,…
View on map ↗Home of A. J. Nelson, rancher-banker from Sweden. Swedish masons, paying voyage costs, built this house, 1860. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965
View on map ↗Tennessee native T. J. Caldwell (1812-1892) and his wife Letitia (1824-1877) built this house in 1860. The surrounding land provided limestone for the walls and cedars for the foundation, rafters, and floor joists.…
View on map ↗Erected to house private bank as well as hardware and lumber business of John A. Nelson and Associates. Bank was closed in 1922; commercial use continues. Architecturally important for facade of case iron and pressed…
View on map ↗Erected in 1876. Victorian-style building has ashlar-cut limestone front with stepped parapet and keystone arches. During prosperous railroad era, housed Round Rock Broom Company (1887?-1912), an important local…
View on map ↗In area first claimed in 1838 by white men. Valley bears name of the Anna Palm family, 1853 Swedish settlers. "Brushy", the first Lutheran church (of logs), was built here by Andrew John Nelson and 3 hired men in 1861.…
View on map ↗Founded by the Augustana Lutheran Synod, in 1904 synod representatives, seeking a location, selected Round Rock because of an offer of a well, 14 city lots, and freight concessions on building materials hauled by…
View on map ↗In 1854, Andrew J. and Hedwig Nelson of Sweden settled here. Hard-working in many businesses, Nelson (d. 1895) prospered. His widow and heirs had this house built by Page Brothers, Austin architects, 1895-1900. A son,…
View on map ↗Erected 1879, three years after Round Rock expansion began at railroad's arrival. Some successive tenants included stores, physician, restaurants. After it was gutted by fire in 1963, architect Martin S. Kermacy and…
View on map ↗A guide for Indians and early settlers, this table-shaped stone in the middle of Brushy Creek once marked an important low-water wagon crossing. Hundred-year-old wheel ruts are still visible in the creek bottom. The…
View on map ↗This cabin of squared logs and hand-hewn limestone was built in the early 1850s near the village of Gabriel Mills (20 mi. NW). It stood on property owned in 1850-53 by Samuel Mather (1812-78), miller and blacksmith who…
View on map ↗With his mother and brothers, Andrew J. Palm (1839-1928) migrated to Texas from Sweden in 1853. They settled about three miles north of Round Rock at Palm Valley, where Palm built this residence about 1873. He purchased…
View on map ↗Near the gravesite of outlaw Sam Bass, one-half acre of Old Round Rock Cemetery was set aside for slave burials. Enclosed by cedar posts and barbed wire, sites are marked head and foot with large limestone rocks. Some…
View on map ↗As the Delaware Indians moved from their home in the "Redlands" of east Texas in 1828 to near present Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, they laid out this trace. It was named Double File Trail because two horsemen could ride side…
View on map ↗Soon after Williamson County was founded in 1848, pioneer settler Jacob M. Harrell, a blacksmith, built a log schoolhouse for use by his neighbors. Believed to be the first school in the county, it was located at Moss'…
View on map ↗An uneducated Indiana orphan who drifted to Texas as a youth, Sam Bass won fame racing his swift "Denton Mare," gambling, and robbing trains. A rich haul in Nebraska was followed by months of reckless spending. Bass…
View on map ↗The earliest structure in this complex is the one-story stone building, constructed about 1853. It originally housed a mercantile store and the first permanent post office for Round Rock, both operated by Thomas C.…
View on map ↗Established in the early 1850s in what is now known as Old Round Rock, this cemetery is the burial ground of many area pioneers and outstanding Round Rock citizens. The oldest legible tombstone, which marks the burial…
View on map ↗The Hose and Hand Pump Company was formed in 1884 as Round Rock's first organized fire department. Money for equipment was raised through donations, picnics, dances, box suppers, and other fund drives. The first…
View on map ↗Kentucky native John Bratton (1812-1855) came to Texas with his family in 1837. Ten years later, Bratton purchased land in this area and set aside one acre for use as a burial ground for family members and friends. The…
View on map ↗(0.1 mile east) This early Williamson County graveyard has been referred to as Smalley Cemetery due to its connection with the family of pioneer Baptist preacher Freeman Smalley. Early settlers of this area, the…
View on map ↗E. B. and Mary Harvey Barker bought this house of locally quarried limestone in May 1873. The Barkers, who resided on a farm at Rice's Crossing (20 mi. E), lived here during the winter season so that their eight…
View on map ↗Jacob M. and Mary McCutcheon Harrell came to Texas from Tennessee with Robertson's Nashville colony in 1833. Jacob's brother and sister-in-law James G. and Catherine Harrell and other family members soon followed. Both…
View on map ↗Swedish immigrant Johanna Olson (1835-1914) purchased this property in 1907 after she returned to the Round Rock area upon the death of her husband, Johannes, in 1894. Local contractor A.S. Robertson built this house…
View on map ↗This house was built in 1908-09 for the family of Swedish immigrant Anders Johan Anderson (1858-1929) just after the death of his first wife, Edla Maria (1859-1906). After its completion, Anderson and his two daughters…
View on map ↗Stony Point School was established in Williamson County by 1891. Children living in the rural area attended the school, which served students from grades one through eight. Most of the students were sons and daughters…
View on map ↗Permanent settlement began in this area in the late 1830s. By 1848, former Austin Mayor Jacob Harrell moved here, selling town lots near the Stagecoach Road crossing at Brushy Creek. A post office named “Brushy Creek”…
View on map ↗marker pending
View on map ↗This area was first settled in the 1840s by Henry Rhodes. He was soon joined by such pioneers as Elisha Prewitt, who fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, and Civil War veterans Elisha Rhodes, J. Bryon Jenkins, and…
View on map ↗After James O. Rice settled in the 1850s near a spring-fed pond, the area was called "Pond Spring." By 1854 a log school building was erected near the pond (1 mi.N) and also served for worship and a social center.…
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