Williamson County, Texas

Location of Williamson County in Texas

Williamson County is a county in Central Texas. The county seat is Georgetown, Texas. The county population in 2020 was 609,017.[1] The county is named after Robert McAlpin Williamson, a veteran in the Battle of San Jacinto and a previous community leader.

History

 
Damage from F-5 Jarrell tornado.

Williamson County held humans for at least 11,200 years.[2] In recent times, a prehistoric skeleton was found in Williamson County. The name of the skeleton is Leanderthal Lady. The town of Leander is named after the skeleton. Leanderthal Lady was found after the Texas Department of Transportation found remnants while drilling core/dirt samples for a new highway.[3]

Native Americans also lived in areas of Williamson County. The Tonkawa tribe lived in parts of the county. Other tribes lived in the area. These tribes included Kiowa, Yojuane, Tawakoni, and Mayeye Native Americans.

On September 1921, the remains of a hurricane moved over Williamson County. The rains fell over Thrall, Texas. The town received 39.7 inches of rain in 36 hours. The storm killed 87 near Taylor, Texas, and 93 in Williamson County. A total of 215 deaths were reported due to the rains. [4]

On 27 May 1997, Williamson county had a tornado outbreak. The county had several tornadoes during the day. An EF-5 tornado (rating determined on the Fujita Scale) struck Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 persons.[5] An EF-3 tornado also struck Cedar Park, with one indirect death.

List of communities

 
Cedar Park Center in Cedar park, Texas.
 
Downtown Georgetown, Texas in July 2010.

The following is a list of communities in Williamson county. Some communities are part of other counties.

  • Austin (partly in Travis County)
  • Bartlett (partly in Bell County)
  • Brushy Creek
  • Cedar Park (partly in Travis County)
  • Coupland
  • Florence
  • Georgetown (county seat)
  • Granger
  • Hutto
  • Jarrell
  • Jollyville
  • Jonah
  • Leander (partly in Travis County)
  • Liberty Hill
  • Macedonia
  • Norman's Crossing
  • Round Rock (partly in Travis County)
  • Schwertner
  • Serenada
  • Taylor
  • Thorndale (partly in Milam County)
  • Thrall
  • Walburg
  • Waterloo
  • Weir

Williamson County, Texas Media

Sources

  1. "Williamson County, Texas". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  2. "Handbook of Texas Online, "Gault Site" entry". Retrieved 2010-07-18.
  3. Thompson, Karen R.; Jane H. Digesualado. Historical Round Rock Texas. Austin, Texas: Nortex Press (Eakin Publications). pp. 4, 7.
  4. "Major and Catastrophic Storms and Floods in Texas". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  5. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/pdfs/jarrell.pdf