Valley Mills, TX

Valley Mills is a city on the Bosque River in Bosque and McLennan counties, where a flour mill built in 1867 gave the place its name. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway laid tracks a mile south in 1881, pulling merchants toward the new townsite; a cyclone destroyed much of it the next year, and residents rebuilt across the river. The railroad and nearby Chisholm Trail later made Valley Mills a trading and shipping center for both counties. Today State Highway 6 and Valley Mills ISD organize the daily map, with the city still carrying a two-county identity. Valley Mills is a river-and-rail town whose name, county line, and rebuilt street pattern all come from the same beginning.