Editing Georgetown, Texas (section)

==History==
===Modern history===
Georgetown was named for [[George Washington Glasscock]], who donated the land for the new town.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=Glasscock, George Washington |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/glasscock-george-washington |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref> Early American and Swedish pioneers were attracted to the area's abundance of timber and good, clear water. In addition, the land was inexpensive and fertile. Georgetown is the county seat of Williamson County, which was formed on March 13, 1848, after the early settlers petitioned the state legislature to create it from a portion of [[Milam County, Texas|Milam County]]. The county was originally to have been named San Gabriel County, but was instead named after [[Robert McAlpin Williamson]] (known as "Three-legged Willie"), a Texas statesman and judge at the time.<ref>[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwi42 "Williamson, Robert McAlpin (Three Legged Willie)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509195701/https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwi42 |date=May 9, 2018}}. [[Handbook of Texas Online]]. Retrieved July 26, 2010.</ref>

[[File:CullenOld.png|thumb|The Cullen Building on the campus of Southwestern University shortly after completion (c. 1900)]]

Georgetown was an agrarian community for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The [[Texas Road|Shawnee Trail]], a cattle trail that led from Texas to the rail centers in Kansas and Missouri, crossed through Georgetown. The establishment of [[Southwestern University]] in 1873 and construction of a railroad in 1878 contributed to the town's growth and importance. A stable economy developed, based largely on agricultural activity. Cotton was the dominant crop in the area between the 1880s and the 1920s. In this period, Williamson County was once the top producer of cotton in Texas.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cotton County |first=Andrew |last=McLemore |newspaper=Williamson County Sun |date=August 15, 2010}}</ref>

At one time, Georgetown was served by two national railroads, the [[International-Great Northern Railroad]] (I-GN), which eventually was merged into the Missouri Pacific, and the [[Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad]] (M-K-T). Both supported the transport of commodities to market: beef cattle and cotton. The regional Georgetown and Granger Railroad (GGR) was completed to [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] in 1904. Georgetown is served today by the [[Georgetown Railroad]], a 'short line' railroad that uses portions of the former M-K-T and the I-GN to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad at [[Round Rock, Texas|Round Rock]] and at [[Granger, Texas|Granger]].

Georgetown has also been home to [[minor league baseball]]: the 1914 [[Georgetown Collegians]] began play as charter members of the [[Class D (baseball)|Class D]] level [[Middle Texas League]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=8bc77e8f|title=1914 Georgetown Collegians Statistics}}</ref>

In 1921 a low-pressure system from a hurricane settled in over Williamson County and brought more than 23 inches of rain in [[Taylor, Texas|Taylor]] and more than 18 inches of rain in Georgetown. The flooding resulted in the death of 156 persons, many of them farm laborers. There was also extensive property damage, and Georgetown residents sought to begin flood control.<ref>{{cite book |title=Road, River and Good Ol' Boy Politics: A Texas County's Path from Farm to Supersuburb |last=Scarbrough |first=Linda |year=2009 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, Texas |isbn=9780876112359 |pages=36, 42}}</ref>

The [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] completed construction of a dam more than 50 years later, on the north fork of the San Gabriel River, to create and impound [[Lake Georgetown]], which opened officially on October 5, 1979.<ref name="Scarbrough 2009 233">{{cite book |title=Road, River and Good Ol' Boy Politics: A Texas County's Path from Farm to Supersuburb |last=Scarbrough |first=Linda |year=2009 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, Texas |isbn=9780876112359 |page=233 }}</ref> Both Georgetown and Round Rock own water rights to Lake Georgetown for municipal water use.

Population growth and industrial expansion continued modestly in the 20th century until about 1960, when residential, commercial, and industrial development, due to major growth and urban expansion of nearby Austin, greatly accelerated. In 2008, ''Fortune Small Business'' magazine ranked Georgetown as the second-best city in the nation to "live and launch" a new business.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/bestplaces/2008/top100/|title=100 Best places to live and launch 2008: Top 100 - Fortune Small Business Magazine|website=money.cnn.com|access-date=November 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117192802/https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/bestplaces/2008/top100/|archive-date=November 17, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2015, Georgetown announced that their municipal-owned utility, Georgetown Utility Systems, would begin buying 100% of power for its customers from wind and solar farms by 2017, effectively making the city 100% green-powered.<ref name="green1">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_juice/2015/03/georgetown_texas_goes_renewable_why_the_town_is_dropping_fossil_fuels_for.html |title=The Texas Town That Just Quit Fossil Fuels |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |author=Daniel Gross |date=March 23, 2015 |access-date=March 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308150521/http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_juice/2015/03/georgetown_texas_goes_renewable_why_the_town_is_dropping_fossil_fuels_for.html |archive-date=March 8, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Texas historical marker for the Ku Klux Klan trials.jpg|thumb|right|Texas historical marker for the Ku Klux Klan trials. The marker is on the Williamson County Courthouse grounds.]]

===Klan Trials===

Between September 1923 and February 1924, District Attorney [[Dan Moody]] led a series of trials against the [[Ku Klux Klan]] at the Williamson Country Courthouse. The trials resulted in five assault convictions against members of the Ku Klux Klan for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman. The [[Texas Historical Commission]] wrote, "These trials were considered the first prosecutorial success in the United States against the 1920s Klan and quickly weakened the Klan's political influence in Texas."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Texas_historical_marker_for_the_Ku_Klux_Klan_trials.jpg |title=Texas Historical Marker for the Trials}}</ref>

===Burkland-Frisk House===
[[File:Burkland Frisk House.jpg|thumb|right|This 1900–1910 "pattern book" house was moved to Georgetown from [[Round Rock, Texas]], in 2006. It overlooks the [[San Gabriel River (Texas)|South San Gabriel River]].]]
A densely overgrown, 1908–1910 Victorian house was found in Round Rock, Texas. (The site was later redeveloped for the [[La Frontera (Round Rock, Texas)|La Frontera]] project.)  The historic house was cut into pieces, and moved to Georgetown in 2006. There it was restored by Don Martin and Bill Smalling (1953–2008). It is located on San Gabriel Village Blvd, prominently overlooking the [[San Gabriel River (Texas)|South San Gabriel River]], and is now used as an office. It is known locally as the Burkland-Frisk House, as it was built by Leonard Frisk, an early settler in Williamson County, and was later owned by Tony Burkland, a relative.

===Historic neighborhoods===
[[File:Georgetown Downtown 4.jpg|thumb|upright|Typical downtown Georgetown buildings on "The Square"]]
In the 1970s, Georgetown's downtown was bleak and featureless. In an effort to modernize and compete with suburban retail development, building owners in the 1950s and 1960s had obscured some of their historical retail buildings. The Texas-Victorian streetscape was plastered with stucco, aluminum covers, brick, and multiple layers of white paint. Community leaders began to reassess this retail stock, and work with the Main Street program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to enhance the architectural heritage of the city.

In this period, economics also began to favor the reuse of historic buildings, as the cost of borrowing money was soaring. In Georgetown, every bank offered significantly lower interest loans for the renewal of the town's grand Victorian buildings and facades. Rehabilitation tax credit programs in the 1980s made investing in historic property more profitable. By 1984, 40 rehabilitations were complete. Two years after Georgetown initiated its Main Street program, more than half the Main Street district had undergone some kind of positive transition.<ref>[http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/case-studies/gamsa/1997/georgetown-texas.html Georgetown Texas.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222215453/http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/case-studies/gamsa/1997/georgetown-texas.html |date=February 22, 2010 }} National Trust for Historic Places. 1977.</ref>

The city was recently{{when|date=May 2022}} named one of the best places to purchase a historic house. Today, Georgetown is home to one of the best-preserved Victorian and pre-WW1 downtown historic districts, with the Beaux-Arts [[Williamson County Courthouse (Texas)|Williamson County Courthouse]] (1911) as its centerpiece. Due to its successful preservation efforts, Georgetown was named a national Main Street City in 1997, the first Texas city so designated.<ref>[http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/case-studies/gamsa/1997/georgetown-texas.html Georgetown Texas.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222215453/http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/case-studies/gamsa/1997/georgetown-texas.html |date=February 22, 2010 }} Georgetown, Texas 1997 Great American Main Street Award Winner. National Trust for Historic Places. 1997.</ref> Georgetown has three National Register Historic Districts:
* [[Williamson County Courthouse Historic District]]
* Belford National District
* The University Avenue/Elm Street District