Adamsville

Adamsville is at the junction of U.S. Highway 281 and Farm Road 581, on the Lampasas River 16? miles north of Lampasas in northern Lampasas County. It was founded around 1856. Early ranchers in the area included Joseph Leland Straley, who built one of the first houses in the area, and the brothers Jasper and Perry Townsen. During the 1870s a number of small cattle drives were organized in the community, in which cattle were driven short distances to join the larger cattle trails to the north. In 1872 Jasper Townsen built a mill on Mill Branch, near the spot where the creek joins the Lampasas River, two miles southeast of the current town. This mill was originally established to saw lumber from the Round Rock area; eventually a mill for wheat and corn was added, and the mills served communities throughout the entire county.