Monodale Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. When Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1870, the land out here in what is now Williamson County was held by just three families. One of those families belonged to Edward Mandell House, a man the marker calls a nationally known political statesman.

Three families. All this open country, and three families among them laid claim to it. Back then, folks called the place Stringtown.

Now that's a name with some character to it, and Stringtown must have suited the settlement just fine, because by 1893 enough people had put down roots that something had to be done about schooling the children. Edward Mandell House stepped up and donated an acre of land for a school. The settlers themselves pooled their funds and put up a building.

Then came the naming, and this is where the story gets a little tender. They named the school, and the community along with it, Monadale, in honor of House's daughter. A whole place named for one man's daughter.

That's the kind of thing that stays on a map. Well, almost. Somewhere along the way, a clerical error crept in, and the spelling shifted to Monodale, with an O where the A ought to be.

The marker says it plain: a clerical error led to the common spelling Monodale. So the name honored her, just not quite spelled the way they intended. The people who built this community were cotton farmers, chiefly Swedish and Czechoslovakian immigrants who had come a long way to work this land.

Generation after generation, the Monodale School District served the children of those families, until 1949, when it was consolidated with Hutto. A community named for a daughter, slightly misspelled, remembered all the same.

What the marker says

When Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1870, the land in this area was owned by three families, including that of nationally known political statesman Edward Mandell House. Known as Stringtown, the area was so well populated by 1893 that House donated an acre of land for a school. Settlers pooled their funds for a building, naming the school and community Monadale in honor of House's daughter. A clerical error led to the common spelling Monodale. The people of Monodale community were cotton farmers, chiefly Swedish and Czechoslovakian immigrants. The Monodale School District served the area's children until it was consolidated with Hutto in 1949. (1998)