Garwood Was Named for a Judge Who Never Lived There

Garwood sits on land once held by Preston Gilbert, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists. Gilbert acquired the acreage in 1827. Nearly seventy years later, Marcus Hervy Townsend, Thomas A. Hill, and William Thomas Burford bought part of that land for farming and ranching.

By 1901, the three investors had started rice production, built a canal and irrigation system, and laid out a townsite. Townsend was a lawyer and legislator. Hill worked as a merchant and banker. Burford was a druggist and planter who also served as Colorado County sheriff from 1898 to 1902.

They named the town for Judge Hiram Morgan Garwood, a friend of Townsend. The unusual part is that Judge Garwood never lived in Garwood or anywhere in Colorado County. The street map carried the founders' social circle too, with names drawn from early settlers, friends, and the founders themselves.

Rice formed the town's economic base from the beginning. The 1985 THC marker also records gravel, oil and gas, and duck and goose hunting in Garwood's story.

Water built the townsite, but a distant friend's surname gave the place the name that stayed.