Adamsville

Duane's take

The marker out here in Lampasas County is the one telling this story, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Before Lampasas County even organized in 1856, the first permanent settlers were already putting down roots in this stretch of central Texas. The land was there, the river was there, and people were coming.

One of those people was Oliver Hazzard Perry Townsen. In 1868, he bought 640 acres from Samuel Horrell, Sr. and his wife Elizabeth. Now that is a name, Oliver Hazzard Perry Townsen, and the man had ambition to match it.

He grew wheat. He established a flour mill. And by 1876, he was serving as postmaster of a place called Townsen Mills, southeast of where we're standing now, down near the Lampasas River.

By 1884, a business directory was listing out what this community had become: steam flour and saw mills, three churches, a school, a doctor, a wagonmaker, and a general store. Not bad for a stretch of river bottom that not long before had been open frontier. Then, in 1891, Oliver Hazzard Perry Townsen died.

In a mill accident. The place he had built, the machinery he had set in motion, took him in the end. After that, a new post office opened, and it opened at a different establishment entirely: the Smith and Adams general store.

John T. Adams became the first postmaster of Adamsville. His business partner was the Reverend McCall Smith.

Now, Reverend Smith had been busy on other fronts as well. Back in the late 1880s, he and nineteen charter members had gathered in the home of L. Jasper and Mary Ann Townsen to organize the Pleasant Valley Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

That congregation is still going today as the Adamsville Presbyterian Church. A meeting in a family's home, nineteen people, and a church that is still standing. The town itself got platted in 1908, when Samuel and Fannie Straley laid it out proper.

The very next year, a newspaper article was already taking stock of what Adamsville had: an ice house, a Ladies' Missionary Society, a Literary Society, and a Woodmen of the World Camp. There was also Straley's School, dating to around 1885, which pulled double duty as a church for both Baptist and Presbyterian congregations. In 1908, county commissioners created Adamsville School District No. 15, and trustees built a new schoolhouse.

A larger schoolhouse went up in 1922. That one was destroyed by fire in 1942. And in 1964, Adamsville consolidated with Lampasas schools.

The community kept adapting. The Adamsville Community Building started its life as a G.I. vocational school for veterans of World War II. Around 1967, J.

W. Mitchell organized the Adamsville Volunteer Fire Department. And here is where the story lands, because some stories do not end so much as they keep going.

Adamsville has evolved, the marker says, from a frontier settlement to an active rural community. Church activities. Twice-monthly fiddling jam sessions.

Community barbecues to welcome hunters during deer season. From Oliver Hazzard Perry Townsen's flour mill on the Lampasas River to fiddles and barbecue smoke on a cool fall evening. That is a community that knows how to endure.

What the marker says

The first permanent settlers came to this area shortly before Lampasas County organized in 1856. Oliver Hazzard Perry Townsen bought 640 acres from Samuel Horrell, Sr. and his wife Elizabeth in 1868. Townsen grew wheat and established a flour mill, and in 1876 became postmaster of Townsen Mills southeast of this site near the Lampasas River. An 1884 business directory noted that the community included steam flour and saw mills, three churches and a school, a doctor, wagonmaker, and general store. After Townsen died in 1891 in a mill accident, a new post office opened at the Smith and Adams general store. John T. Adams, first postmaster of Adamsville, and the Rev. McCall Smith were business partners at the store. In the late 1880s, Rev. Smith and 19 charter members met in L. Jasper and Mary Ann Townsen's home to organize Pleasant Valley Cumberland Presbyterian Church, now Adamsville Presbyterian Church. Samuel and Fannie Straley platted Adamsville in 1908. A newspaper article the following year mentioned Adamsville's ice house, Ladies' Missionary Society, Literary Society, and Woodmen of the World Camp. Straley's School (c. 1885) was also the church for Baptist and Presbyterian congregations. County commissioners created Adamsville School District No. 15 in 1908 and trustees built a new schoolhouse; a larger 1922 schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in 1942. Adamsville consolidated with Lampasas schools in 1964. The Adamsville Community Building was originally a G.I. vocational school for veterans of World War II. J. W. Mitchell organized the Adamsville Volunteer Fire Department about 1967. Adamsville has evolved from a frontier settlement to an active rural community with ongoing events such as church activities, twice-monthly fiddling jam sessions, and community barbecues to welcome hunters during deer season. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011