Sycamore Springs

The name Mahomet has been associated with two sites in eastern Burnet County. The first was two miles northeast of the site of Bertram, near the source of Bear Creek. George Ater, who settled in the area in 1853, named the site for Mahomet, Illinois. A stage route from Austin to Lampasas was established in 1855 and passed near Ater's home. Ater's post office application was granted in 1857, and the office was located in his home for twenty-five years. In 1882 the Austin and Northwestern Railroad bypassed Mahomet, and Bertram was established on the railroad two miles southeast. The Mahomet post office was then moved to the home of Alex M. Ramsey in the Sycamore Springs community, ten miles northeast of Bertram on Farm Road 243 near the Williamson county line; Sycamore Springs became known as Mahomet. In 1884 Mahomet had a steam cotton gin and corn mill, a school, a church, and fifty residents. Cotton and wool were the principal shipments made by area farmers. Population estimates for the community rose to sixty by 1890, but fell to ten by 1896. The post office was discontinued in 1916, and mail for the community was sent to Bertram. Forty residents and two businesses were reported at Mahomet in the late 1930s. Its population rose to seventy-five in the 1960s but fell to forty-seven by 1974. A church, a community center, and a cemetery marked the community on county highway maps in the late 1980s, and the population estimate remained unchanged at forty-seven through 2000.