150 Years of History, 1876 to 2026Español
City of Hutto1501876 · 2026
Room 6 of 9 · 1877 - 1886

The Southside

Original Hutto

The first town grew on the south side of the tracks, until a June storm in 1886 nearly erased it.

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Narration is an AI-generated voice.

Original Hutto, the Southside

Today’s Jim Cage Lane extended southward, and FM 1660 North form the dividing line between the Hutto family (west side) and Orgain family (east side) farms. Each family subdivided their railroad frontage land on the south side of the tracks into roads, alleys, and various sized lots. James Emory Hutto, Sr built a family home on the southwest corner of Front Street and Jim Cage Lane, across from the train depot and was the town’s first postmaster, 1877-1879.

Original Hutto, the Southside. Map redrawn for the Hutto 150 exhibit.

The Southside Story

The ambitious plans of these two families initiated the formation of a new, thriving frontier town.

  • Beginning in 1879, the Hutto family sold lots to: retail grocery and saloon owner James Samuel Monday, Hutto’s son-in-law; blacksmiths William S Mackrell and Leonardo Nieves; wheelwright Joel S Scholes; house carpenter Benjamin F Johnson; general merchandise store owner John A Blanton; shoemaker William Pain; and several investors.
  • Beginning in 1884, James Edward Tisdale (1829-1894) and his wife Sallie Orgain-Harrison-Tisdale (1840-1928) sold small and one-acre lots on Front Street and on Austin Street, east of Jim Cage Lane, to dry goods merchant David J Davis (1879) and the Hutto School trustees (1879), a one-acre lot at the southeast corner of Austin Avenue and Jim Cage Lane.
  • Tisdale also sold 182 acres on both sides of the tracks to Austin developer John Thomas Megee (1883), who then resold lots to the First Baptist Church of Hutto (1883), a one-acre lot, Number 5, between Front Street and Austin Avenue; local farmer and grocer James Blanton, brother of John A Blanton (1884); blacksmith Andrew Brown (1884); and several investors.
Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes.A Southside general merchandise store.
Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes.The early Southside.
Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes.The Southside with its church.

“Hutto Has Been Blown to Pieces”

In June 1886, a severe thunderstorm of hail, high winds, and perhaps even a tornado swept through Williamson County, including Hutto. The southside district was devastated.

The Tornado Track: Advices from Hutto state that two stores, one dwelling, a church, and a schoolhouse were blown down.

Fort Worth Daily Gazette, June 20, 1886
Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes.Not a photograph of the 1886 storm.

The Southside Builds Again

The southside story does not end with the 1886 tornado. Various commercial and industrial enterprises were rebuilt or established on the north side of Austin Avenue.

In the 1890s, three developers, Robert Wallace Barrington (1859-1938), John Alexander Harris (1853-1968), and Charles Hague (1852-1914) sold residential lots between Austin Avenue and Brushy Street. The Hutto Police Department building between Front and Austin Streets was built in 2002.