The Round Rock

The stone was a landmark, and the creek around it was a workplace. Washington Anderson settled a short way east in 1843 and built a gristmill that a flood washed out in 1845. A later mill stood west of the rock near the present low-water bridge and dam. During the Civil War a wool-carding factory opened nearby, and a gin went up in the 1870s. Dr. W. I. Anderson, Levi Asher and the Reverend Freeman Smalley built homes along Brushy Creek in 1846, according to the fire department's history, and a stage line crossed the creek near the rock.

What the plaque says

The Round Rock 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 rocky stream bed also provided building stone for pioneer homes. "Brushy Creek" post office was established in 1851 to serve the settlement that grew up near this natural ford. At the urging of postmaster Thomas C. Oatts, it was renamed "Round Rock" in 1854. This name was retained when the town relocated along the railroad (1 mi. E) in 1877. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Round Rock — steps away
  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.
• Inner Space Cavern — 6.5 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.
• Williamson County Courthouse — 8.6 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.
• Mount Bonnell — 14 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

• Education in Round Rock — 0.5 mi
• In Memory of The Pioneer Builders — 0.5 mi
• Round Rock Cemetery — 0.5 mi
• Slave Burial Ground in Old Round Rock Cemetery — 0.6 mi