Smithville is a city in Bastrop County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River. The population was 3,922 at the 2020 census.

History

Thomas Jefferson Gazley arrived in 1827 and set the pace of development for Smithville by building the first house and establishing the first store, which served incoming settlers. He later served in the Mexican government and helped write the Texas Declaration of Independence and the first Constitution, and became a true Texas hero.

William Smith's family arrived several years after Gazley. They also owned a store and were early influences on the area, including the naming of Smithville where about seventeen families lived on the south bank of the Colorado River.

Local businessman, Murray Burleson, persuaded the approaching railroad to erect a terminus here and the TB&H steamed through in 1887. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas took over the Taylor, Bastrop, and Houston Railroad in 1891. In 1894, the MK&T established central shops in Smithville, giving rise to growth which resulted in Smithville becoming the largest town in Bastrop County for nearly fifty years.

This population created markets for homes, stores, and other necessities as it grew from a frontier village to a town. The Hill family moved retail marketing here and established the first bank. The need for infrastructure systems attracted the Buescher brothers to come and create the first utilities. Partnerships of prominent men involved in land-based activities united the Bueschers, Powells, Cooks, Eaglestons, Turneys, Rabbs, Buntes and others to establish cotton gins, general stores, drugstores, lumber and brickyards and to develop numerous churches and fraternal organizations such as the Masons and the Oddfellows and to provide medical care for this now flourishing community.

In 1895, this thriving town was officially incorporated into the City of Smithville.

Geography

Smithville is located in southeastern Bastrop County. It is southeast of Bastrop and southeast of Austin.

Climate

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.85%) is water.

Highways

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Smithville had a population of 3,922. The median age was 42.7 years. 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 88.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 85.1 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,634 households in Smithville, of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 42.7% were married-couple households, 17.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Number !! Percent

|-

| White || 2,715 || 69.2%

|-

| Black or African American || 445 || 11.3%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 21 || 0.5%

|-

| Asian || 36 || 0.9%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 1 || 0.0%

|-

| Some other race || 231 || 5.9%

|-

| Two or more races || 473 || 12.1%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 840 || 21.4%

|}

2000 census

As of the 2000 census has a campus in nearby Elgin, and Austin, to the west, boasts multiple major universities.

Points of interest

  • The Smithville Visitor Center, James H. Long Railroad Museum & Chamber of Commerce, located at 100 Main Street in Smithville, contains exhibits and relics from Smithville's railroad history.

<!-- Museum was never in Smithville and now isn't even in Rosanky: *The Central Texas Museum of Automotive History in Rosanky. The museum auctioned many of its cars on Mar. 3, 2012 and moved the remaining inventory to another location in San Marcos, closing its Rosanky location. ...end comment-->

  • The Smithville post office contains an oil on canvas mural, The Law, Texas Rangers, painted in 1939 by Minette Teichmueller. Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department. The WPA was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing individuals to carry out public works projects.

<gallery widths="200px" class="center">

File:Smithville TX Post Office.jpg|US post office on Main Street

File:Smithville TX Marker.jpg|Texas historical marker at City Hall

File:Smithville TX St Paul Catholic.jpg|Saint Paul Catholic Church

</gallery>

Public murals were installed in Smithville in 2018 and 2019 depicting scenes from important Smithville events and murals of local leaders.

Notable people

  • Bettye Caldwell, educator
  • Thomas Carter, actor and Emmy Award-winning director
  • Hannibal Lokumbe (also known as "Hannibal"), jazz trumpeter and composer
  • Balor Moore, major league baseball pitcher born in Smithville
  • Sonny Rhodes, blues singer and lap steel guitar player
  • DJ Screw (Robert Earl Davis Jr.), hip hop artist; born in Smithville and later moved to Houston

thumb|Smitty the Gingerbread Man

Guinness World Records

On December 2, 2006, at the city's 16th Annual Festival of Lights, Smithville broke the Guinness World Record for the world's largest gingerbread man. The record breaking "man" measured over long and weighed . Some of the ingredients used were 750 pounds of flour, 49 gallons of molasses and 72 dozen eggs. The pan used in the baking now stands as a monument at the James H. Long Railroad Park in Smithville. The record has since been broken by a Norwegian IKEA display.

References

  • City of Smithville official website
  • Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce