Schwertner, Texas, Williamson County. (original) (raw)

	Cattle drinking in Donahoe Creek TE Photo 9-04

History in a Pecan Shell

The town dates from 1877 when Austrian immigrant Bernard Schwertner and his three sons recognised the areas potential for farming.

The town itself was established by one of the sons (Adolf) when he built a cotton gin in 1903 and donated land for a townsite in anticipation of the railroad.

The Bartlett and Western Railway arrived in 1909 and three years later a post office was granted.

By 1915 Schwertner was thriving with a weekly newspaper, boarding house, doctor and a brass band complementing the essential businesses (saloon and blacksmith) that every town had. From only ten people (most of them Schwertners) in 1925, the town swelled to nearly 500 by the end of the decade. By 1933 it had shrunk back to 100 and the Bartlett and Western Railroad came to a halt two years later.

The population increased to 200 where it remained into the 60s. Schwertner was consolidated with the Bartlett ISD in the fifties.

	Old store fronts in Schwertner TE Photo 9-04

	Silos in Schwertner TE photo 9-04

	One of Schwertner's feline residents TE Photo 9-04

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