McNeil is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is na ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

, the community had a population of 70 in 2000. It is located within the

Greater Austin The Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos metropolitan statistical area (or Greater Austin) is a five-county metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The metropolitan area is situated in Ce ...

Metropolitan area. Its elevation is 830 feet (253 m).

History

McNeil arose at the junction of two rail lines. The International & Great Northern Railroad had a track built between Rockdale and Austin, which was completed in 1876. The

Austin and Northwestern Railroad The Austin and Northwestern Railroad began construction on a rail line west of Austin, Texas, United States, USA, toward Llano, Texas, Llano on April 20, 1881. The railroad was originally built as a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge line with pla ...

built a track from Austin to Burnet in 1892. It was named for George McNeil, a regional manager on the A&N. The community's post office was established in December 1888, with Adison A. Sheppard as the postmaster.McNeil, Texas (Travis County)

Handbook of Texas Online The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular ...

, 2008-01-18. Accessed 2008-08-10. The "McNeil" name is currently used mostly for the Austin White Lime Company facility and railroad junction. The surrounding areas have Austin mailing addresses
Austin White Lime Company
operates a limestone quarry and a plant for the production of lime products. Although McNeil is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

with the ZIP code of 78651. The ZIP code only includes the McNeil Post Office/Austin White Lime company store and no surrounding land. The current rail lines are owned by the

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, officially stylized as CapMetro, is a public transportation provider located in Austin, Texas. It operates bus, paratransit services and a commuter rail system known as the Capital MetroRail in A ...

(Cap Metro) and the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

(UP). The Cap Metro lines are the former A&N rail lines. Cap Metro currently runs

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

and freight rail operations through McNeil. The

Capital MetroRail Capital MetroRail is a hybrid rail (light rail with some features similar to commuter rail) line that serves the Greater Austin area in Texas, and which is owned by Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Capital Metro. The Red Line, Capi ...

serves McNeil at Howard station. Freight operations on Cap Metro are operated under contract by

Austin Western Railroad The Austin Western Railroad is a short-line railroad headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. AWRR is a subsidiary of Watco. AWRR operates a 103 mile (166 km) line from Fairland, Texas to an interchange with the Union Pacific at Elgin, Texas, Elgin. ...

. Commuter rail operations use an overpass built in 2007 over the UP tracks.Austin American Statesman
2007-05-31. Accessed 2010-05-19. Freight operations use a

diamond crossing A double junction is a railway junction where a double-track railway splits into two double track lines. Usually, one line is the main line and carries traffic through the junction at normal speed, while the other track is a branch line that ca ...

with UP. Freight is interchanged between UP and Austin Western.

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

serves Austin Western via

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

over UP. In addition to these rail lines, McNeil also had a hotel, a general store, and 200 residents. It fell to 125 by the 1930s and was at 70 from the 1940s through 2000.

Geography

McNeil is located north of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in northern

Education

McNeil High School McNeil High School (commonly known as MHS or McNeil) is a public secondary school in an unincorporated area in both Travis and Williamson counties, near Austin, Texas, United States. Serving freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The school ...

was built in 1991 and began classes in 1992, with its first senior class graduating in 1994. It is served by the

Round Rock Independent School District Round Rock Independent School District (RRISD) is a school district headquartered in the city of Round Rock, Texas, United States. As of 2022, the school district serves over 48,000 students, prekindergarten through grade 12. District bounda ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macneil, Texas Unincorporated communities in Travis County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas