Modern history Georgetown was named for
George Washington Glasscock, who donated the land for the new town. Early American and Swedish pioneers were attracted to the area's abundance of timber and good, clear water. In addition, the land was inexpensive and fertile. Georgetown is the county seat of Williamson County, which was formed on March 13, 1848, after the early settlers petitioned the state legislature to create it from a portion of
Milam County. The county was originally to have been named San Gabriel County, but was instead named after
Robert McAlpin Williamson (known as "Three-legged Willie"), a Texas statesman and judge at the time. Georgetown was an agrarian community for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The
Shawnee Trail, a cattle trail that led from Texas to the rail centers in Kansas and Missouri, crossed through Georgetown. The establishment of
Southwestern University in 1873 and construction of a railroad in 1878 contributed to the town's growth and importance. A stable economy developed, based largely on agricultural activity. Cotton was the dominant crop in the area between the 1880s and the 1920s. In this period, Williamson County was once the top producer of cotton in Texas. At one time, Georgetown was served by two national railroads, the
International-Great Northern Railroad (I-GN), which eventually was merged into the Missouri Pacific, and the
Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (M-K-T). Both supported the transport of commodities to market: beef cattle and cotton. The regional Georgetown and Granger Railroad (GGR) was completed to
Austin in 1904. Georgetown is served today by the
Georgetown Railroad, a 'short line' railroad that uses portions of the former M-K-T and the I-GN to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad at
Round Rock and at
Granger. Georgetown has also been home to
minor league baseball: the 1914
Georgetown Collegians began play as charter members of the
Class D level
Middle Texas League. In 1921 a low-pressure system from a hurricane settled in over Williamson County and brought more than 23 inches of rain in
Taylor and more than 18 inches of rain in Georgetown. The flooding resulted in the death of 156 persons, many of them farm laborers. There was also extensive property damage, and Georgetown residents sought to begin flood control. The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed construction of a dam more than 50 years later, on the north fork of the San Gabriel River, to create and impound
Lake Georgetown, which opened officially on October 5, 1979. Both Georgetown and Round Rock own water rights to Lake Georgetown for municipal water use. Population growth and industrial expansion continued modestly in the 20th century until about 1960, when residential, commercial, and industrial development, due to major growth and urban expansion of nearby Austin, greatly accelerated. In 2008,
Fortune Small Business magazine ranked Georgetown as the second-best city in the nation to "live and launch" a new business. In March 2015, Georgetown announced that their municipal-owned utility, Georgetown Utility Systems, would begin buying 100% of power for its customers from wind and solar farms by 2017, effectively making the city 100% green-powered.
Klan Trials Between September 1923 and February 1924, District Attorney
Dan Moody led a series of trials against the
Ku Klux Klan at the Williamson Country Courthouse. The trials resulted in five assault convictions against members of the Ku Klux Klan for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman. The
Texas Historical Commission wrote, "These trials were considered the first prosecutorial success in the United States against the 1920s Klan and quickly weakened the Klan's political influence in Texas."
Burkland-Frisk House , in 2006. It overlooks the
South San Gabriel River. A densely overgrown, 1908–1910 Victorian house was found in Round Rock, Texas. (The site was later redeveloped for the
La Frontera project.) The historic house was cut into pieces, and moved to Georgetown in 2006. There it was restored by Don Martin and Bill Smalling (1953–2008). It is located on San Gabriel Village Blvd, prominently overlooking the
South San Gabriel River, and is now used as an office. It is known locally as the Burkland-Frisk House, as it was built by Leonard Frisk, an early settler in Williamson County, and was later owned by Tony Burkland, a relative.
Historic neighborhoods In the 1970s, Georgetown's downtown was bleak and featureless. In an effort to modernize and compete with suburban retail development, building owners in the 1950s and 1960s had obscured some of their historical retail buildings. The Texas-Victorian streetscape was plastered with stucco, aluminum covers, brick, and multiple layers of white paint. Community leaders began to reassess this retail stock, and work with the Main Street program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to enhance the architectural heritage of the city. In this period, economics also began to favor the reuse of historic buildings, as the cost of borrowing money was soaring. In Georgetown, every bank offered significantly lower interest loans for the renewal of the town's grand Victorian buildings and facades. Rehabilitation tax credit programs in the 1980s made investing in historic property more profitable. By 1984, 40 rehabilitations were complete. Two years after Georgetown initiated its Main Street program, more than half the Main Street district had undergone some kind of positive transition. The city was recently named one of the best places to purchase a historic house. Today, Georgetown is home to one of the best-preserved Victorian and pre-WW1 downtown historic districts, with the Beaux-Arts
Williamson County Courthouse (1911) as its centerpiece. Due to its successful preservation efforts, Georgetown was named a national Main Street City in 1997, the first Texas city so designated. Georgetown has three National Register Historic Districts: •
Williamson County Courthouse Historic District • Belford National District • The University Avenue/Elm Street District ==Geography==