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Hutto, Texas
Historically, Hutto Texas was not really established until 1876 when the International-Great Northern Railroad passed through land owned by one James Emory Hutto and the fledgling town was named for him. The railroad officials designated the stop Hutto Station and the town of Hutto was born. James Hutto was born in Alabama on June 8, 1824; he came to Texas in 1847 and moved his family into Williamson County in 1855. A slave, Adam Orgain, was actually the first person to live in the immediate Hutto vicinity having been placed out on the black land prairie by his owner to watch after the cattle and livestock holdings. It was in 1876 that James Hutto sold 50 acres (200,000 m2) to the Texas Land Company of New York for a town site and railroad right of way. Hutto had become a wealthy cattleman in Williamson County; however, in 1885 he left Hutto and moved to Waco and entered the hardware business. Other early settlers in the area were the Carpenter, Davis, Evans, Farley, Goodwin, Highsmith, Johnson, Magle, Payne, Saul, Weight, Womack, and Wright families. Other people living in Hutto during the 1890s included the Armstrong’s, the Dahlberg’s, M.B. Kennedy, the Hugh Kimbro family, William McCutcheon, Green Randolph, J.B. Ross, and the Tisdale's. Soon a great many more people, primarily Swedish and German immigrants came to this area to farm and ranch and begin their new lives in America.
According to local legend, it was in 1915 that a circus train stopped in Hutto Texas at the depot to take on passengers, pick up and deliver mail and possibly take on water and fuel for the steam locomotive. The circus train workers also would have taken this opportunity to care for their animals. At some point during this historic layover, a hippopotamus got out of the railcar and made its way to the nearby Cottonwood Creek which is next to the rail line. This caused much consternation for the circus workers. Local farmers and merchants watched the commotion in amusement and with interest as unsuccessful efforts were made to extricate the hippopotamus from the muddy waters of Cottonwood Creek. It is said that the Depot Agent, who at that time would have been Hal Farley, Jr., telegraphed the communities of Taylor and Round Rock that were eight miles (13 km) to the east and west of Hutto to the effect of: “STOP TRAINS, HIPPO LOOSE IN HUTTO”. After much effort the hippo was prodded from the mud and water that resembled its natural habitat and was reloaded back onto the train car. Soon afterward the Hutto School adopted the hippopotamus as its mascot and as early as 1923 the hippo appeared on official Hutto High School graduation announcements.
Hutto is one of the fastest growing small cities in America. Recent City information has it as the second fastest growing small city in Texas, at a rate of approximately 880% for a span of 5 years (2000-2005.) In 1980 the City of Hutto was 545 people with in its limits, in 1990 that number was only 630, in 2000 Hutto was 1250 people, and in August 2004 the population was calculated at 5,568 to allow the City of Hutto to go to a home rule charter type of government. In 2006, the City of Hutto population was approximately 14,000. This is just the population within the city limits, within the school district there are also approximately 17,000 more people. Within the general metro area there are many additional people that live closer to Hutto than their own communities of Pflugerville, Round Rock and Taylor. A new State Highway 130 is pushing growth at an aggressive level. This SH130 toll road project is the largest transportation project currently underway in the United States and is the current Trans-Texas Corridor. Currently,(2009) Hutto's population is 17,150 people. With a healthy continuing economy by the census in 2010, the population of the City of Hutto should far exceed 30,000; by 2020 that number should be 75,000 and by 2030 the population and growth area should be built out at approximately 125,000 people.
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