Smithville

Smithville�s reputation is that of a railroad town, yet it offers an even richer history. Fertile land and the Colorado River attracted pioneers with energy, dreams, and a hunger to build. After Thomas Gazley chose head-right land in Stephen F. Austin�s Second Colony in 1827, area settlers joined the fray to secure a Texas free from Mexico�s supremacy. Some represented Bastrop County in the new Republic of Texas�s legislature. Others stayed home and built a village on the banks of the Colorado.