Round Rock

Today, Round Rock is better known for high-tech than history, but this sprawling bedroom community to Austin actually has deep historic roots. Stagecoaches and cattle herds traveling through the area often crossed Brushy Creek near the famous circular limestone rock that marked a safe low-water crossing point. Legend has it that early wheel ruts from the wagons of settlers and cattlemen are still clearly visible on the creek bottom. Downtown, the Palm House Museum displays two furnished rooms of the 1873 home of Swedish immigrant Andrew Palm. The house was moved here from the Swedish Palm Valley settlement east of town. The site also serves as Round Rock's visitor center. Round Rock is on Interstate Highway 35 in south central Williamson County, sixteen miles north of downtown Austin. It was established on the north bank of Brushy Creek where Jacob M. Harrell , formerly a blacksmith in Austin, set up his shop during the spring of 1848. The settlement was first called Brushy Creek. Thomas C. Oatts, who became the first postmaster in 1851, was asked by postal officials to submit another name, and on August 24, 1854, the town officially became Round Rock, as suggested by Oatts and Harrell, who often fished together from a large anvil-shaped limestone rock in Brushy Creek near their dwellings. The Chisholm Trail , used by early cattle drivers on their way to Kansas, passed through Round Rock, crossing Brushy Creek near the rock.