Taylorsville ~ ca 1870
Taylorsville is
located four miles northeast of McMahan on State Highway 86. It was named for
the Madison Taylor family who owned a store and farm there. A school was
established in 1870 and continued until 1884, when a larger school was built in
Elm Grove, one mile east of Taylorsville.
By 1892, Taylorsville
was a thriving community with three churches, two steam cotton gins, and two
general stores. Mr. Taylor established a post office in 1890 and served as
postmaster. However, the post office closed in 1907 and mail service came from
Red Rock in Bastrop County. Although the number of citizens near the village had
dropped from over 150, there was still a strong interest in providing education
within the community and a new school was under construction in 1912.
Gradually, though,
residents moved away from Taylorsville as they did in neighboring Elm Grove, and
eventually the remaining children were transferred to schools in Dale, McMahan
or Lockhart. Today all children attend public school in Lockhart. As the
population declined, the stores and the gin closed. Now, there are a few homes,
scattered farms, and a church. Direct descendants of Madison Taylor still reside
in the Taylorsville area.
Sources –
1. Caldwell County Kin: The First 150 Years published by the Genealogical and
Historical Society of Caldwell County. November 2000, C-46
2. The Lockhart Post, “Building School House”, August 8, 1912
3. The New Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association, Vol. 6, page
225
The Plum Creek Almanac is a project of
The Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County.
The Genealogical and Historical Society
of Caldwell County Copyright
© 1963
Updated
10/15/2019
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