150 Years of History, 1876 to 2026Español
City of Hutto1501876 · 2026
150 Years of History, 1876 to 2026

Sources and Credits

Every fact in this exhibit comes from the Hutto 150 banners researched for the City of Hutto. Images are credited where they appear and listed here.

About the illustrations

Where no photograph exists, a historically informed illustration was created and is always labeled “Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes.” These are never presented as photographs.

History and legend

The Hutto Hippo story is presented as a legend. Documented history and legend are kept separate throughout.

Narration

Room narration uses an AI-generated voice reading from the exhibit script.

Sources

  • Clara Stearns Scarbrough, Land of Good Water: Takuache Pa-Hah-Sehein, A Williamson County, Texas, History (Georgetown: Williamson County Sun, 1973).
  • Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
  • Fort Worth Daily Gazette, June 20, 1886.
  • U.S. Census schedules, Williamson County, Texas: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900.
  • Williamson County records and Hutto history by Mike Fowler, City of Hutto.
  • City of Hutto, Hutto 150th Celebration, huttotx.gov.

Image credits

Our Land

  • Brushy Creek, where Shiloh grew.
  • Hutto and its extraterritorial jurisdiction today. Map redrawn for the Hutto 150 exhibit.
  • Blackland soil, known locally as Black Gumbo.
  • The San Gabriel River.
  • Brushy Creek.
  • Cottonwood Creek.
  • McNutt Creek.

The First Peoples

  • Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes. Native camp on the prairie.
  • Tonkawa group, Omaha, Nebraska, 1898. Photograph by F. A. Rinehart. From the collections of Omaha Public Library.
  • Tonkawa reservations and agencies, 1855 to 1885. Map redrawn for the Hutto 150 exhibit.
  • Comanche men on horseback, Kiowa Reservation, 1891. Hutchins & Lanney. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, BAE GN 01773B.

First Settlers

  • Brushy Creek, where Shiloh grew.
  • Morgan Calvin Hamilton, land investor.
  • Margaret Wilbarger, early settler.
  • Polly McNutt, early settler.
  • Dr. William I. Anderson, physician.
  • Enoch Oxley, farmer.
  • Wilbarger Crossing on Brushy Creek today.
  • William M. Evans, farmer.
  • James Emory Hutto, rancher.

Our Early Black Settlers

  • Farm family working on thirds and fourths, Jefferson, Texas, 1939. Russell Lee, FSA. Library of Congress.
  • 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule, Williamson County, Texas (detail). National Archives.
  • Freedmen’s Bureau issuing rations, Richmond, Virginia. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 22, 1866.
  • Representative period engraving, not a likeness. A Spring Scene near Richmond, Virginia. Harper’s Weekly, May 21, 1870.

The Railroad

  • A train passing through Hutto at Chris Kelley / Ed Schmidt Blvd and U.S. Hwy 79.
  • International and Great Northern Railroad.
  • Early Texas rail lines. Map redrawn for the Hutto 150 exhibit.
  • The rail line through Hutto.
  • The Hutto depot.

The Southside

  • Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes. The early Southside.
  • Original Hutto, the Southside. Map redrawn for the Hutto 150 exhibit.
  • Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes. A Southside general merchandise store.
  • Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes. The Southside with its church.
  • Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes. Not a photograph of the 1886 storm.

The Northside

  • Hutto Northside, about 1900.
  • The Railroad Addition, 1888. Map redrawn for the Hutto 150 exhibit.
  • East Street after the fire.
  • Hanstrom (right) and later partner Gus Hanson at Hutto Waterworks, about 1910.
  • Willis Dandridge “W. D.” Holman, first mayor.

Our Mexican Heritage

  • Mexican family cutting and packing spinach, La Pryor, Texas, 1939. Russell Lee, FSA. Library of Congress.
  • Frederic Remington, Coronado Sets Out to the North, 1905.
  • Territory Acquired from Mexico. Justin H. Smith, The War with Mexico, 1919.
  • Deed, R. D. and Louise West to Tomas Villanueva, 1913 (detail). Williamson County Clerk, Deed Records.
  • Day laborers loading into a truck for the fields, Weslaco, Texas, 1939. Russell Lee, FSA. Library of Congress.

Hutto Hippos

  • The Hutto Hippo at City Hall.
  • Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus poster.
  • Historical interpretation generated for illustrative purposes. A hippo beside an International and Great Northern train.
  • The Hippo Live Wire, Hutto Public Schools.
  • Hutto water towers.
  • Hippo Nation graphic, created for the Hutto 150 exhibit.