Webberville, TX

Webberville sits east of Austin in Travis County, where FM 969 crosses the rural edge of the Colorado River valley. Its story begins with John Ferdinand Webber, a Black settler, and Silvia Hector, a formerly enslaved woman, who established their home on Webber’s Prairie after Webber received a Republic of Mexico land grant in 1832. The settlement’s post office arrived in 1846, and the name shifted to Webberville in 1853. For decades, the community worked as a small river crossing and farm-market place, with a ferry, gristmills, cotton gins, stores, a school, and churches all appearing in its early life.

Webberville Park now holds a different kind of public role along the Colorado: 100 acres with trails and a boat ramp, giving the village an easy way into the river landscape. The old prairie setting also reaches into the present through the Webberville Solar Farm, a 35-megawatt installation that began operating in 2011 on 380 acres. Del Valle schools serve local children, while the village’s compact center and open surroundings keep the contrast between Austin’s orbit and east Travis County’s working landscape in view.