Texas A&M Forest Service

About forestry service, 78602, Bastrop, TX, US, Texas

Smithville is a city in Bastrop County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River. The population was 3,922 at the 2020 census. == History == Thomas Jefferson Gazley arrived in 1827 and set the pace of development for Smithville by building the first house and establishing the first store, which served incoming settlers. He later served in the Mexican government and helped write the Texas Declaration of Independence and the first Constitution, and became a true Texas hero. William Smith's family arrived several years after Gazley. They also owned a store and were early influences on the area, including the naming of Smithville where about seventeen families lived on the south bank of the Colorado River. Local businessman, Murray Burleson, persuaded the approaching railroad to erect a terminus here and the TB&H steamed through in 1887. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas took over the Taylor, Bastrop, and Houston Railroad in 1891. In 1894, the MK&T established central shops in Smithville, giving rise to growth which resulted in Smithville becoming the largest town in Bastrop County for nearly fifty years. This population created markets for homes, stores, and other necessities as it grew from a frontier village to a town.