Carlson

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight with a little extra road dust on top. Two brothers, Pete and John Carlson, came over from Sweden in 1869. They made it to America, and then they kept moving, settling right here in this area in 1881.

Now, when two brothers show up in a place that doesn't have much of anything yet, you find out real quick what kind of men they are. Pete opened the first store in the community. Just went ahead and did it.

Called it the Carlson Store, which, fair enough. John, not to be outdone, got the cotton gin running. The whole town's economy rested on cotton farming, and those two were right at the center of it.

Come the early twentieth century, Carlson was humming. Family farms spread across the land. The cotton gin was still turning, though by then Henry Larson had bought it and folks called it the Larson Gin.

The Carlson Store had changed hands too, picked up by a man named J. B. Nelson, who naturally called it the Nelson Store.

But the community itself kept growing around all that commerce. There was a school. A band hall where neighbors could gather and make a little music.

A community club. Two Swedish brothers crossed an ocean in 1869, found their way to this piece of Travis County by 1881, and what grew up around them was a whole town with a beating heart. That's not nothing.

That's a life's work you can stand on.

What the marker says

Brothers Pete and John Carlson, Swedish immigrants who came to America in 1869, settled in this area in 1881. Pete opened Carlson Store, the first store in the community, and John operated the local cotton gin. The town's economy was based on cotton farming. At its height in the early 20th century, Carlson included family farms, the cotton gin (known as Larson Gin after Henry Larson bought it), the Carlson Store (later called the Nelson Store after it was purchased by J. B. Nelson), a school, a community band hall, and a community club. (1991)