Smithville (Texas)

Bastrop County

48-68456

Smithville is a small town in Bastrop County, Texas, in the United States, located on the Colorado River. The census in 2000 showed a population of 3,901; this has risen to 2004 was estimated at 4,339. Smithville (Texas ) was the setting for the film a second chance (original Hope Floats ) of 1998 and filming 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 district capital of Bastrop and 29 miles southeast of Austin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 9.1 km ², of which 0.1 km ² (0.85 %) of water.

History

The village of " Old Smithville " was built on 640 acres land that was Thomas J. Gazely and Lewis Lomas awarded. First, there were small retailers and a mansion ( Masonic Lodge). 1871, the Presbyterian Church was founded in Smithville and in 1876 the first post office was opened and referred to as " Smithville ". The Taylor, Bastrop and Houston Railroad Railway Company, which is part of the Missouri - Kansas - Texas Railroad was later, came in 1886 and the town began to grow between the tracks and the Colorado River flow; the community of seventeen families moved up to two miles to the west to be closer to the tracks. An old story goes, Smithville was almost renamed Burlesonville ( Murray Burleson gave the land on which the railroad depot was created ). But a coin toss decided that " Smithville " was retained as name, probably in honor of early settler William Smith, who in 1867 opened a store there. 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 more shops, as again the extension of the line to Houston the following year. A boom brought the year 1894, when the MKT moved its headquarters to Smithville. The population and the city grew rapidly; In 1896, Smithville already estimated 2,500 residents, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian and a Catholic church, two hotels, and numerous other shops, including four surgeries. The level of population in the first decades of the 20th century fluctuated 3000-4000, up to 4,200 mid-1940s. Although the railway sites degraded, 1949, several hundred workers were employed in Smithville. At the time, the city had a dentist, two lawyers, three doctors and six priests and pastors. Around 1962, the population had fallen below 3,000, but it soon rose again. In the mid-1970s, the city had a new library, a town hall and a storm drainage system and got a national award for the best 200Jahr Celebration program in the United States. Until 1984, the Smithville Times have been published, and the city was a center for production and trade with over seventy shops and an estimated population of 3,470 people. Local products included cedar cottages, fences, furniture and ship doors and components. Smithville was also a center for agriculture and livestock. Annually commits Smithville - usually the weekend after Easter - a three-day festival, which Smithville Jamboree.

Education

Smithville 's schools are grouped under the umbrella of the Smithville Independent School District. These are

• The Brown Primary School for pre-school children
• The Smithville Elementary School for primary school age
• The Smithville Junior High School ( grades 6-8) and
• The Smithville High School ( grades 9-12) with the football team, the Smithville Tigers.

Religion

Among the churches in Smithville

• The Grace Lutheran Church,
• The First Presbyterian Church,
• The Saint Paul's Catholic Church,
• The Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church,
• Trinity Baptist Church,
• The New Flower Heal Baptist Church,
• The Harts Chapel United Methodist Church,
• 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

• Hannibal Marvin Peterson, jazz musician (trumpet, koto, composition)
• Sonny Rhodes ( as Clarence Edward Smith), blues musician