Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census, and according to 2024 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 101,344.
Southwestern University is the oldest university in Texas, founded in 1840. Georgetown is known as the "Red Poppy" Capital of Texas for the red poppy wildflowers planted throughout the city. Georgetown's Red Poppy Festival, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually, is held in April each year on the historic square.
History
Modern history
Georgetown was named for George Washington Glasscock, who donated the land for the new town. Early American and Swedish pioneers were attracted to the area's abundance of timber and good, clear water. In addition, the land was inexpensive and fertile. Georgetown is the county seat of Williamson County, which was formed on March 13, 1848, after the early settlers petitioned the state legislature to create it from a portion of Milam County. The county was originally to have been named San Gabriel County, but was instead named after Robert McAlpin Williamson (known as "Three-legged Willie"), a Texas statesman and judge at the time.
thumb|The Cullen Building on the campus of Southwestern University shortly after completion (c. 1900)
Georgetown was an agrarian community for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Shawnee Trail, a cattle trail that led from Texas to the rail centers in Kansas and Missouri, crossed through Georgetown. The establishment of Southwestern University in 1873 and construction of a railroad in 1878 contributed to the town's growth and importance. A stable economy developed, based largely on agricultural activity. Cotton was the dominant crop in the area between the 1880s and the 1920s. In this period, Williamson County was once the top producer of cotton in Texas.
At one time, Georgetown was served by two national railroads, the International-Great Northern Railroad (I-GN), which eventually was merged into the Missouri Pacific, and the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (M-K-T). Both supported the transport of commodities to market: beef cattle and cotton. The regional Georgetown and Granger Railroad (GGR) was completed to Austin in 1904. Georgetown is served today by the Georgetown Railroad, a 'short line' railroad that uses portions of the former M-K-T and the I-GN to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad at Round Rock and at Granger.
Georgetown has also been home to minor league baseball: the 1914 Georgetown Collegians began play as charter members of the Class D level Middle Texas League.
In 1921 a low-pressure system from a hurricane settled in over Williamson County and brought more than 23 inches of rain in Taylor and more than 18 inches of rain in Georgetown. The flooding resulted in the death of 156 persons, many of them farm laborers. There was also extensive property damage, and Georgetown residents sought to begin flood control.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed construction of a dam more than 50 years later, on the north fork of the San Gabriel River, to create and impound Lake Georgetown, which opened officially on October 5, 1979. Both Georgetown and Round Rock own water rights to Lake Georgetown for municipal water use.
Population growth and industrial expansion continued modestly in the 20th century until about 1960, when residential, commercial, and industrial development, due to major growth and urban expansion of nearby Austin, greatly accelerated. In 2008, Fortune Small Business magazine ranked Georgetown as the second-best city in the nation to "live and launch" a new business.
In March 2015, Georgetown announced that their municipal-owned utility, Georgetown Utility Systems, would begin buying 100% of power for its customers from wind and solar farms by 2017, effectively making the city 100% green-powered.
thumb|right|Texas historical marker for the Ku Klux Klan trials. The marker is on the Williamson County Courthouse grounds.
Klan Trials
Between September 1923 and February 1924, District Attorney Dan Moody led a series of trials against the Ku Klux Klan at the Williamson Country Courthouse. The trials resulted in five assault convictions against members of the Ku Klux Klan for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman. The Texas Historical Commission wrote, "These trials were considered the first prosecutorial success in the United States against the 1920s Klan and quickly weakened the Klan's political influence in Texas."
Burkland-Frisk House
thumb|right|This 1900–1910 "pattern book" house was moved to Georgetown from [[Round Rock, Texas, in 2006. It overlooks the South San Gabriel River.]]
A densely overgrown, 1908–1910 Victorian house was found in Round Rock, Texas. (The site was later redeveloped for the La Frontera project.) The historic house was cut into pieces, and moved to Georgetown in 2006. There it was restored by Don Martin and Bill Smalling (1953–2008). It is located on San Gabriel Village Blvd, prominently overlooking the South San Gabriel River, and is now used as an office. It is known locally as the Burkland-Frisk House, as it was built by Leonard Frisk, an early settler in Williamson County, and was later owned by Tony Burkland, a relative.
Historic neighborhoods
thumb|upright|Typical downtown Georgetown buildings on "The Square"
In the 1970s, Georgetown's downtown was bleak and featureless. In an effort to modernize and compete with suburban retail development, building owners in the 1950s and 1960s had obscured some of their historical retail buildings. The Texas-Victorian streetscape was plastered with stucco, aluminum covers, brick, and multiple layers of white paint. Community leaders began to reassess this retail stock, and work with the Main Street program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to enhance the architectural heritage of the city.
In this period, economics also began to favor the reuse of historic buildings, as the cost of borrowing money was soaring. In Georgetown, every bank offered significantly lower interest loans for the renewal of the town's grand Victorian buildings and facades. Rehabilitation tax credit programs in the 1980s made investing in historic property more profitable. By 1984, 40 rehabilitations were complete. Two years after Georgetown initiated its Main Street program, more than half the Main Street district had undergone some kind of positive transition.
The city was recently named one of the best places to purchase a historic house. Today, Georgetown is home to one of the best-preserved Victorian and pre-WW1 downtown historic districts, with the Beaux-Arts Williamson County Courthouse (1911) as its centerpiece. Due to its successful preservation efforts, Georgetown was named a national Main Street City in 1997, the first Texas city so designated. Georgetown has three National Register Historic Districts:
- Williamson County Courthouse Historic District
- Belford National District
- The University Avenue/Elm Street District
Geography
thumb|right|[[Blue Hole Park is a popular swimming area in Georgetown, located on the South Fork of the San Gabriel River.]]
Georgetown is located at north of Austin's central business district. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (3.81%) are covered by water.
The city is located on the northeastern edge of Texas Hill Country. Portions of Georgetown are located on either side of the Balcones Escarpment, a fault line in which the areas roughly east of IH-35 are flat and characterized by having black, fertile soils of the Blackland Prairie, and the west side of the escarpment which consists mostly of hilly, karst-like terrain with little topsoil and higher elevations and which is part of the Texas Hill Country. Inner Space Cavern, a large cave, is a major tourist attraction found on the south side of the city, just west of Interstate 35, and is a large-scale example of limestone karst formations.
The North and Middle Forks of the San Gabriel River both run through the city. More than 30 miles of hike and bike trails, several parks, and recreation for both residents and visitors are provided along their banks.
;Major highways
- 20px Interstate 35
- 20px State Highway 29
- 20px State Highway 195
- 20px State Highway 130 (Toll Road)
Endangered species
Georgetown is home to five endangered species. Two are songbirds protected by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve in Travis and Williamson Counties. Invertebrate species found only in Williamson County live in the cave-like fissures on the west side of Georgetown. Karst topography is the name for the honeycomb-type limestone formations (including caves, sinkholes, and fissures) that are typical in the county's limestone geology west of I-35.
In the 1990s, a small group of concerned landowners and developers formed the Northern Edwards Aquifer Resource Council. Their goal was to identify and preserve a sufficient number of caves with endangered species to ensure survival of the species. Ultimately they wanted to obtain a United States Fish and Wildlife Service 10-A permit (known as an Incidental Take Permit) for the entire county by such actions. By gaining the permit, these species would be preserved through voluntary donations of land rather than by the county or state requiring setbacks and other involuntary means. The group documented their successful work in an environmental impact statement to the county in 2002, and a county-wide 10-A permit was obtained in October 2008.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Georgetown has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.
Georgetown, like much of Central Texas, is characterized by its long, hot summers and cooler, mild winters. The average summer temperature typically reaches 100 °F for several days during July and August. It is common for highs to be near 90 °F well into October, but by this time, the nights are noticeably cooler.
Winters in Georgetown have highs in the 50s and 60s, with a few days dropping near freezing, causing one or two ice storms per season. A few days reach well above the average. The region may have temperatures in the 80s well into December and 70s in January.
| source =
| collapsed = Y
| Jan avg record high F = 77.9
| Feb avg record high F = 82.1
| Mar avg record high F = 86.6
| Apr avg record high F = 90.8
| May avg record high F = 94.0
| Jun avg record high F = 98.6
| Jul avg record high F = 101.6
| Aug avg record high F = 102.7
| Sep avg record high F = 99.0
| Oct avg record high F = 92.6
| Nov avg record high F = 83.9
| Dec avg record high F = 78.2
| year avg record high F = 104.2
| Jan avg record low F = 22.6
| Feb avg record low F = 26.2
| Mar avg record low F = 31.1
| Apr avg record low F = 39.6
| May avg record low F = 50.0
| Jun avg record low F = 62.1
| Jul avg record low F = 67.0
| Aug avg record low F = 66.0
| Sep avg record low F = 55.0
| Oct avg record low F = 41.5
| Nov avg record low F = 30.4
| Dec avg record low F = 24.6
| year avg record low F = 18.9
| unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
| Jan precipitation days = 7.4
| Feb precipitation days = 7.4
| Mar precipitation days = 8.8
| Apr precipitation days = 6.8
| May precipitation days = 7.9
| Jun precipitation days = 7.1
| Jul precipitation days = 5.2
| Aug precipitation days = 4.6
| Sep precipitation days = 6.3
| Oct precipitation days = 6.7
| Nov precipitation days = 7.5
| Dec precipitation days = 7.8