Tow (, rhymes with "cow") is a small

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 ...

Llano County, Texas Llano County is a County (United States), county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 21,243. Its county seat is Llano, Texas, Llano, and the county is n ...

, United States. Its population was 1,249 at the 2010 census. Tow was once a thriving community, until the central Texas drought that started in 2007. It then lost about half of its population, forcing many businesses to shut down. As of 2018, Tow is more active now that the lake is full, and businesses once shut down have begun to reopen.

Geography

Tow is located on Ranch to Market Road 2241, about northwest of Austin, northeast of Llano, and on the western shore of Lake Buchanan.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, Tow has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, ''Cfa'' on climate maps.Climate Summary for Tow, Texas
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History

Tow, which is the oldest community in the county, began with the arrival in 1852 of David and Gideon Cowan and their mother, Ruth, originally from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. The Cowans were directed by local Indians to a

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

bed near the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

, which they developed into a successful

saltworks A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also othe ...

. Significant not only in the local economy, the Bluffton-Tow Salt Works was also known as the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

Salt Works for its contribution to the Confederate cause. The operation was destroyed by the "salt works cyclone" in 1871. John F. Morgan arrived in the area with his family in 1853 and soon established a hat business, using

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

and other

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

trapped locally. When the Tow brothers, William and Wilson, arrived with their families in 1853, they named the nearby area in which they settled Tow Valley. 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 ...

was established there in 1886 as Tow with Mathew B. Clendenen as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. Tow grew rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s with the addition of

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

and

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

to its economic base. From a population of 50 before 1950, the lakeside town had grown to 305 by 1974, when it had a post office and numerous businesses. In 2000, the population was still 305; 31 businesses were reporte

Education

Like other small towns surrounding Llano, Tow is served by the Llano Independent School District, but some areas are served by the

Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Burnet Consolidated Independent School District is a public school district based in Burnet, Texas, United States. Located in Burnet County, small portions of the district extend into Llano and Williamson counties. In 2009, the school distric ...

References

External links

Handbook of Texas OnlineSatellite image
from

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