Note: May is Historic Preservation Month in the City of Round Rock. The City maintains a Historic Preservation Commission, tasked with preserving, protecting and promoting the City’s historical resources. For more information, visit our Historic Preservation webpage.  

Some might say you wouldn’t truly be able to call yourself a Round Rock local without knowing the location of the city’s namesake round rock.  

But how many of us know who came up with the town’s name?  

A quaint one-room, stone building on Chisholm Trail Road near the round rock offers a clue.  

When Round Rock went by a different name 

The four-walled limestone structure the size of a garage is unassuming enough, and might be dismissed altogether if not for its unusual proximity to the roadway (the building abuts the sidewalk along the road). A closer look would also reveal an oval historic landmark plaque on the northeast end of the building.  

In the mid-1800s, it housed Round Rock’s first post office, as well as a small store. However, the town was initially known simply as “Brushy.”  

That name, however, caused confusion with another area nearby known as Brushy, and the U.S. Postal Service took notice. In 1854, Thomas Oatts, then postmaster at the location, received an unusual request: provide a new name for the small settlement.  

At the time, Round Rock consisted of little more than an inn, the post office, a school, and a blacksmith’s shop, owned by Jacob Harrell, who had moved there from Austin a short time earlier.  

Oatts mulled over the request and made the decision that gave Round Rock its name. 

Oatts and Harrell made frequent trips to the round rock, where’d they fish Brushy Creek. Did he come up with the name while fishing atop the rock? Or maybe as he looked out of the post office and saw a stagecoach drive past the rock with incoming mail?  

That much isn’t as clear but Oatts forever cemented himself as a historical figure in Round Rock’s history. In 2006, he was named a Local Legend by the Round Rock Historic Preservation Commission.  

Post office in use as event center today 

Thomas Oatts has long since passed but people can still see what was once Round Rock’s post office at 8 Chisholm Trail Road. It is one of two historic buildings at the William Owen Complex at that location, now owned by the Giesen Linssen family and operated as a wedding and event venue known as the Owen House. 

Situated next to the former post office is the two-story former residence of Dr. William Owen, who moved to Round Rock in 1870. The Owen residence was built shortly after Round Rock received its current moniker and became home to the prominent physician, his wife and their seven children. It later became the St. Charles Hotel. 

Nowadays, the buildings have been renovated and kept in pristine condition by the Linssen family, which utilizes them for weddings, quinceañeras, bar mitzvahs, holiday parties and more. The second floor of the former Owen house gets the pink, bedazzled treatment for princess- and diva-themed celebrations.  

During the holidays, the Owen House is transformed into Santa’s Jingle House, complete with elves and Santa himself.  

The area along Chisholm Trail Road near the round rock – known as Old Town – has seven historical markers, including one at the Owen House Complex. The Round Rock Historic Preservation Commission maintains information on Old Town and more in its Historic Round Rock Collection. 

What might have been  

An 1856 map of Texas shows a town in southern Williamson County where a main road or trail diverges into three, creating a trident of sorts that stretched northward into Georgetown, Liberty Hill and Milam County.  

However, despite Round Rock officially taking on its current name two years earlier, that’s not what that town is referred to as in the map. Instead, the download from the David Rumsey map collection cites a “Rock Island” dissected by Brushy Creek and a road leading to Austin due south.  

It’s unclear where the mapmaker got his information and citations to Rock Island are scarce if they exist at all. But it brings up the notion that town residents today might instead be called “Rock Islanders.”  

Work on Chisholm Trail nears completion 

Chisholm Trail Road is in the midst of upgrades, with work expected to take place until fall 2026. Detours will be in place as work advances. Details on the Chisholm Trail Road project are available online.