Four Railroad Months Changed Bellville

Bellville had been the county seat for three decades when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe arrived in the winter of 1879-80. Growth had been slow. Then the population climbed from 300 to 522 in four months.

Wooden buildings gave way to brick, Victorian houses went up, and Bellville became a shipping point for the region's cotton. In 1898, at the peak of the county's cotton boom, the town shipped 8,626 bales. Austin County's own history also credits the railroad with improving Bellville's economy.

By 1884, Bellville had two hotels, a bakery, a lumberyard, twelve general stores, a school, and two weekly newspapers. A German-language weekly followed in 1891. The railroad did not create the courthouse town, but it changed Bellville's pace.