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A
Visit to Willow City
History
in a Pecan Shell
Willow City holds a special place in Gillespie County
history for being a non-German settlement. First residents settled here prior
to the Civil War.
Trade was conducted with stores and businesses in Austin,
despite the distance involved. Fredericksburg
was far closer, but the Anglos preferred dealing in English.
Perhaps due
to it’s collective anti-social behavior, Willow (as it was then called)
acquired a reputation for harboring criminals. When a post office was granted
in 1877, the name was changed to Willow City.
In 1885 a congregation
of Methodists was formed, although it took another 15 years to construct a church
building.
The community had it’s own English newspaper in the 1890s but
it was later sold and moved to Fredericksburg.
The population went from a mere 132 people in 1904 to even fewer in the mid 1920s
(100 residents). By the time the Great Depression was ending, Willow City had
only forty people. After a small increase to sixty, it fell to nearly ghost town
status with just 17 people there in the mid 1960s. Four years later it had increased
to eighty-five. Since 1970 the estimated population of Willow City has been given
as seventy-five.
Willow
City Today: |
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Photographer's
Note:
Here are scenes of Willow City, TX.. Located on FM 1323 and about 15 miles NE
of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County. It's a thrill to find a place like this
out "in the sticks" and still thriving along. The store/post
office is the center of activity and I'm sure you can get up to date on any
local news there. One old church is a residence now and the old
school is very well kept. There is still a good nucleus of residences in this
quaint little place. ....the old school makes great shade for the goats!!! - William
Beauchamp, June 15, 2009 |
National
Register of Historic Places - Willow City School
Photo courtesy William
Beauchamp, 2009 | |
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