DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the City of Weir, out in Williamson County. Now, most towns out here on the Texas blackland prairie got their start from one stubborn soul who decided this particular stretch of ground was worth sticking to. Weir is no different — except it really took two families, a railroad decision, and about a century of hard weather to make it what it is today.
Thomas Calvin Weir was a Tennessee man, born in 1826, and he made his way to Williamson County in 1856. He bought land in the area and settled in as a prosperous farmer. The land took his name, quietly, the way land does when a man works it long enough.
Then in 1870, a fellow from Alabama named James Francis Towns — born 1850 — came out and put down roots nearby along the San Gabriel River. He wasn't alone in it. His brother Robert W.
Towns, born in 1848, came along too, and together those two men built something real. A gin and a blacksmith shop. Towns' Mill.
The kind of operations a whole community starts to orbit around. And orbit they did. By the late nineteenth century, two communities had grown up in that country — Weir, named for the Tennessee farmer who'd come out a decade and a half before the Towns boys, and Townsville, also known as Towns' Mill, grown up around James and Robert's enterprises along the river.
Churches took root — Baptist and Presbyterian congregations meeting over at the Prairie Springs School. There was also an African American church that met in a school near Mankins Crossing. And Calvin Weir's daughter, Lucy, was running things at the post office in Townsville, keeping a small store on the side.
Two communities, developing side by side, more or less in step. Until 1893. That is the year the Georgetown and Granger Railroad came through — and it came through Weir.
Not Townsville. It bypassed Townsville entirely. Now, in the late nineteenth century, a railroad either found you or it didn't, and if it didn't, well.
You felt that. Then in 1903, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad — the MKT, the one everybody called the Katy — bought the line. And that same year, the town of Weir was officially established.
Most area residents moved in. The Townsville post office packed up and relocated to Weir. New businesses followed.
The Katy even sweetened the deal by creating the Katy Lake Resort right there on the river at Towns' Mill Dam, drawing tourists out to the very spot where the Towns brothers had once run their mill. For a spell, Weir was thriving. Then 1913 arrived and brought a flood with it — damaged the resort, damaged several local businesses.
And after the flood came a severe drought. And after the drought came World War I. And after the war came the Great Depression.
You stack those on top of one another, and a town's population doesn't just falter — it holds its breath for a long time. But Weir exhaled. By the mid-twentieth century, the town began to prosper again.
And the people who lived there clearly liked what they had, because when the question was put to a vote, they voted to incorporate as a city. That was 1987. From a Tennessee farmer arriving in 1856 to a city by voter approval in 1987 — Weir took its time, weathered what came at it, and it's still standing out there in Williamson County to prove it.
What the marker says
Tenessee-native Thomas Calvin Weir (1826-1901) came to Williamson County in 1856. He bought land in this area and became a prosperous farmer. Alabaman James Francis Towns (1850-1937) came in 1870 and settled nearby on the San Gabriel River. He and his brother, Robert W. Towns (1848-1938), operated a gin and blacksmith shop, as well as Towns' Mill. In the late 19th century, the communities of Weir and Townsville (or Towns' Mill) grew around these early settlers. Churches included Baptist and Presbyterian congregations that met at the Prairie Springs School, as well as an African American church that met in a school near Mankins Crossing. Calvin Weir's daughter, Lucy, served as postmaster at the post office in Townsville, where she also ran a small store. The communities developed similarly until 1893, when the Georgetown and Granger Railroad came through Weir, bypassing Townsville. In 1903, after the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (MKT) bought the line, known as the Katy, most area residents moved into the town of Weir, officially established that same year. The Katy Lake Resort, created by MKT on the river at Towns' Mill Dam, attracted tourists to the area. The Townsville post office moved to Weir, and with several new businesses, the town began to thrive. A flood in 1913 damaged the resort and several local businesses, and after a severe drought, World War I and the Great Depression, Weir's population faltered but began to prosper again in the mid-20th century. Following voter approval, Weir incorporated as a city in 1987. (2002)