Double Horn

Double Horn was at the headspring of Double Horn Creek, south of the Colorado River in Burnet County and fifty to sixty miles northwest of Austin. The town was formed in 1855 by Jesse Burnam (or Burnham), Levi Fowler, and others. The creek and town were reportedly named after an incident in which a pioneer found the remains of two bucks with interlocked antlers. The Francis Chapel or Frog Pond school, with William H. Holland as its first teacher, was located on the Colorado River; in 1855 among its students were the children of Noah Smithwick. The school, later known as the Double Horn School, was moved near Grid Iron Creek and then to Double Horn Creek. A post office was established for the community in October 1857, with Holland as the first postmaster. In 1884 Double Horn had a population of fifty along with the school, a cotton gin, and two churches. By 1896 its population had dropped to twenty-five, and a physician named Yett practiced there. The Double Horn post office was discontinued in 1911. The cotton gin and gristmill on Grid Iron Creek was later moved to the junction of Grid Iron and Double Horn creeks. A blacksmith shop and store were also nearby. The Double Horn school was still shown on the 1936 county highway map, but all traces of the community and school were gone by the second half of the twentieth century.