Smithwick is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Burnet County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. It had a population of 52 in 2000.

History

Smithwick was formed from three smaller communities: Hickory Creek, Elm Grove, and Smithwick Mills, named after Noah Smithwick's mill on the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

. Hickory Creek was established in the 1850s and had a church. A post office was established here in 1871 and remained in operation until 1926, after which mail was sent to the community via Marble Falls. Thomas A. Stinnett served as the postmaster. Its name changed to Smithwick in 1882. Its peak of prosperity was in the mid-1880s, when it had a water-powered

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

, a church, and 150 inhabitants. Farmers in the area shipped

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

. When the Austin and Northwestern Railroad completed a track to Marble Falls in 1889, the community declined drastically. The population was 50 in 1890, which declined by half within two years. This figure then rose to 30 during the 1930s and 1940s. A church and several scattered houses marked Smithwick on county maps. It had a church, a cemetery, and a community center in the 1980s. Its population was 52 in 2000.

Geography

Smithwick is located on Ranch to Market Road 1431, eight miles east of Marble Falls.

Education

The Hickory Creek and Elm Grove communities had schools in the early 1850s. Elm Grove was described as a school community located near Post Oak Creek. The district kept the name Hickory Creek until the mid-1920s. The school continued to operate in the mid-1880s and was listed on county maps. It joined the Marble Falls Independent School District in 1951. The community continues to be served by the Marble Falls ISD today. Elementary kids attend Colt Elementary School.

Notable person

* Dudley Meredith, American football player who played six seasons as a defensive end in the AFL

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Burnet County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas