Excelsior Mill

Towns' Mill was an early settlement on the east bank of the San Gabriel River in central Williamson County, a short distance from the site of present Weir. The community was named for James Frances Towns, who built a flour mill there in 1870, and was also known as Townsville, Excelsior Mill, Buffalo Springs, and Prairie Springs. In 1875 area residents established the Buffalo Springs Baptist Church near a series of springs that had earlier attracted buffalo. In the 1890s the town had a store, a blacksmith shop, and a cotton gin, and it prospered until the Georgetown and Granger Railroad bypassed it at the turn of the century. A Townsville post office operated from 1895 until 1903, when it was moved to Weir. The town declined further after a 1913 flood destroyed the mill, and by 1948 Towns' Mill had ceased to exist as a recognized community.