Smithville, Texas

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Smithville
Bastrop Smithville.svg
Location in Texas
Basic data
Foundation : 1827
State : United States
State : Texas
County : Bastrop County
Coordinates : 30 ° 0 ′  N , 97 ° 9 ′  W Coordinates: 30 ° 0 ′  N , 97 ° 9 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Residents : 3,901 (as of: 2000)
Population density : 428.7 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 9.1 km 2  (approx. 4 mi 2 ) of
which 9.1 km 2  (approx. 4 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 99 m
Postal code : 78957
Area code : +1 512
FIPS : 48-68456
GNIS ID : 1376161
Website : www.ci.smithville.tx.us

Smithville is a small town in Bastrop County , Texas , in the United States , on the Colorado River . The 2000 census showed a population of 3,901; this is estimated to have risen to 4,339 by 2004. Smithville, Texas was the setting for the 1998 film A Second Chance (originally Hope Floats ) and the location for The Tree of Life .

geography

Smithville is geographically located roughly in the middle of a triangle between the Texas cities of Austin , Houston and San Antonio ; more precisely: 12 miles southwest of the county capital Bastrop and 29 miles southeast of Austin. According to the United States Census Bureau , the small town has an area of ​​9.1 km² , of which 0.1 km² (0.85%) is water.

history

growth of population
Census Residents ± in%
1890 616 -
1900 2577 318.3%
1910 3167 22.9%
1920 3204 1.2%
1930 3296 2.9%
1940 3100 -5.9%
1950 3379 9%
1960 2933 -13.2%
1970 2959 0.9%
1980 3470 17.3%
1990 3196 -7.9%
2000 3901 22.1%
1890-2000,

The village of "Old Smithville" was built on 640 acres of land awarded to Thomas J. Gazely and Lewis Lomas. At first there were small traders and a mansion (Masonic Lodge). In 1871 the Presbyterian Church was organized in Smithville and in 1876 the first post office was opened and named "Smithville". The Taylor, Bastrop and Houston Railroad Railroad, which later became part of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad , arrived in 1886 and the small town began to thrive between the railroad tracks and the Colorado River; the community of seventeen families moved up to two miles west to be closer to the railroad tracks. According to an ancient story, Smithville almost got renamed Burlesonville (Murray Burleson gave the land on which the railroad depot was built). But a coin toss decided that "Smithville" was retained as the name, likely in honor of early settler William Smith, who opened a shop there in 1867. By 1890 Smithville had 616 residents, two hotels, three mills, and a medical practice.

The extension of the railway line to Lockhart, Texas in 1892 brought additional business, as did the extension of the line to Houston the following year. A boom came in 1894 when MKT moved its headquarters to Smithville. The population and the city grew rapidly; By 1896 Smithville had an estimated 2,500 residents, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and a Catholic Church, two hotels, and numerous other businesses, including four medical practices. The population level in the first decades of the 20th century fluctuated between 3,000 and 4,000, up to 4,200 in the mid-1940s. Although the railroad cut jobs, several hundred workers were still employed in Smithville in 1949. At the time the city had a dentist, two lawyers, three doctors, and six priests and pastors. By 1962 the population had fallen below 3,000, but it soon rose again. In the mid-1970s, the city had a new library, city hall, storm drainage system, and won a national award for the United States' best 200th anniversary program. The Smithville Times was still published until 1984 , and the city was a center of manufacturing and commerce with more than seventy stores and an estimated population of 3,470 people. Local products included cedar cottages, fences, furniture, and ship doors and components. Smithville also remained an agriculture and ranching center. Every year Smithville celebrates - usually on the weekend after Easter - a three-day festival, the Smithville Jamboree .

education

Smithville's schools are grouped under the umbrella of the Smithville Independent School District. It is this

  • the Brown Primary School for preschoolers
  • the Smithville Elementary School for the elementary school age
  • Smithville Junior High School (grades 6-8) and
  • Smithville High School (grades 9-12) with the Smithville Tigers football team .

religion

Smithville churches include

  • the Grace Lutheran Church,
  • the First Presbyterian Church,
  • the Saint Pauls Catholic Church,
  • the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church,
  • the Trinity Baptist Church,
  • the New Flower Heal Baptist Church,
  • the Harts Chapel United Methodist Church,
  • the Temple Christian Center,
  • the Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church,
  • the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and
  • the Church of Christ.

sons and daughters of the town

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hope Floats ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.foxmovies.com
  2. ↑ Texas Almanac (PDF; 1.2 MB). Retrieved October 4, 2012
  3. ^ Smithville Independent School District. Smithville Independent School District, accessed May 23, 2019 .

Sources and web links