The History of Brushy Creek, Texas

Brushy Creek, Texas is a small census designatedcommunity buildings, some of which are still there, and
place in Williamson County Texas, outside the Austinare designated as Texas historical landmarks. Most
area. It has gone through some small periods ofnotable were the combination one room school house
growth, but typically has followed them up with relativeand church, and the Olive Branch Cemetery. The
periods of decline in population. As of the most recentcemetery can still be visited and grave stones dating
census, Brushy Creek as a town itself had only 50back to 1856 can still be seen.
residents, although the surrounding countryside thatAs the surrounding areas began to be settled, Brushy
makes up the census designated place is comprisedCreek began to lose some of its residents to the
of over 15,000 people.neighboring communities. This was a trend that
Brushy Creek was initially settled in the early 1840s. Nocontinued all the way until the 1940s. New residents
one knows for sure the names of the initial settlers, butwould arrive, but at the same time more would leave.
it is known that this group of settlers immigrated to theFor a small time in the 1940s, this changed. The cause
area in a wagon train from South Carolina. The areaof this change was the discovery of oil throughout the
they came from, coincidentally, was Brushy Creekarea. For the next 20 years, as wells were placed and
South Carolina, and this accounts for the fact that notthe oil was pumped, the population of the actual town
only the town, but most of the surrounding streamsincreased to over 300 residents for the first time in
are named Brushy Creek.over 50 years. However as the oil wells dried up in the
By 1858, the community had grown to a size oflate 60s, the population began to decline again.
approximately 300 people, and started building some