 Old East Street, Hutto, Texas
In the 1850s southern cotton farmers and ranchers began moving to the Williamson county area. Within a few years, just west of here in Round Rock, longhorn steers were guided on the cattle drives north along the Old Chisholm Trail to the railroads in Kansas . In 1876 the rail lines were built to reach this area, and by the 1890's the small towns of Hutto and Taylor boomed with the planting, picking, and rail shipment as cotton dominated the area economy.
In 1916 a circus train stopped for water and a hippopotamus managed to escape to wallow in the waters of nearby Cottonwood Creek. Rail workers telegraphed ahead to ‘HOLD THE TRAINS…Hippo loose in Hutto'. A decade or so later the local school adopted the Hippo as the school mascot.
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 Hippo statue in front of Hutto High School
Currently you will find hippos everywhere in Hutto. Concrete yard art Hippos of all sizes and decorated in many styles and all over the city.
Just north of the Texan Cafe is the Everything Hippo store with many unique gift ideas, or stop in at the Texan to get you own |
TEXAN CAFE
'best dang food in Hutto'
Hippo T-shirt.
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Old East Street Today--The Texan Cafe
For many years this area along
Texas 79 area lingered as a quiet
village while the nearby State
Capitol of Austin continued to
thrive.
Now, in the new millennium, Hutto
is entering a period of great growth
due to its easy commute to Austin
and the recent opening of State
Highway 130.
The City of Hutto has grown from a
small town of 630 residents in 1900 to
a dynamic and friendly community of
17,500. Many reports now refer to
Hutto as the fastest growing town in
Texas. |
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