City of Weir

Weir owes its existence to a railroad. The Handbook of Texas says the Georgetown and Granger Railroad Company was chartered on December 13, 1890, and built more than fifteen miles of track between the two towns in 1892 and 1893. Texas Escapes adds that Weir began as a station in 1903, drew its first residents from Townsville, which the line had bypassed, and had a bank, two stores and about 200 people by 1914. Its population peaked near 300 as the Depression arrived and was around 100 by 1968.

What the plaque says

City of Weir Tenessee-native Thomas Calvin Weir (1826-1901) came to Williamson County in 1856. He bought land in this area and became a prosperous farmer. Alabaman James Francis Towns (1850-1937) came in 1870 and settled nearby on the San Gabriel River. He and his brother, Robert W. Towns (1848-1938), operated a gin and blacksmith shop, as well as Towns' Mill. In the late 19th century, the communities of Weir and Townsville (or Towns' Mill) grew around these early settlers. Churches included Baptist and Presbyterian congregations that met at the Prairie Springs School, as well as an African American church that met in a school near Mankins Crossing. Calvin Weir's daughter, Lucy, served as postmaster at the post office in Townsville, where she also ran a small store. The communities developed similarly until 1893, when the Georgetown and Granger Railroad came through Weir, bypassing Townsville. In 1903, after the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (MKT) bought the line, known as the Katy, most area residents moved into the town of Weir, officially established that same year. The Katy Lake Resort, created by MKT on the river at Towns' Mill Dam, attracted tourists to the area. The Townsville post office moved to Weir, and with several new businesses, the town began to thrive. A flood in 1913 damaged the resort and several local businesses, and after a severe drought, World War I and the Great Depression, Weir's population faltered but began to prosper again in the mid-20th century. Following voter approval, Weir incorporated as a city in 1987. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 6.0 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Inner Space Cavern — 7.6 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 13 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Mount Bonnell — 27 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.

More markers nearby

• Mankins Crossing — 2.0 mi
• The Double File Trail — 2.1 mi
• Texan Santa Fe Expedition — 2.1 mi
• Site of Neusser (Naizerville) — 2.6 mi