London Town Square

🏛️The era

In the years after the Civil War, Texas became the starting point for one of the most famous chapters in American history: the great cattle drives. Huge herds of longhorns were driven north from Texas to railheads and ranges on the Great Plains, and a network of trails crossed the state. The Western Cattle Trail, one of the major routes, ran through the Hill Country and out toward the plains.

Kimble County, where London sits, was frontier country in the 1870s. Settlement was spreading west into the hills and river valleys, and small communities were forming wherever there was water, grass and a reason to stop. Towns that sat on a cattle trail could make a living outfitting the cowboys who passed through.

It was also a time when many small communities hoped to become the center of something larger. Townspeople often laid out a courthouse square in hopes that their town would become a county seat, bringing government business, visitors and growth.

👥People & events

Around 1878, the local postmaster, Len L. Lewis, laid out this square as the planned courthouse square for a proposed county. Lewis had his own idea for the town's name: he wanted to call it "Betty Lewis" in honor of his wife. Postal authorities turned that down.

The name that stuck, London, is thought to have been suggested by the Pearl family, after the town they had come from in Kentucky. That story is a nice reminder that many frontier Texans carried memories of older homes with them and gave those names to new places.

Because London sat on the Western Cattle Trail, some of its residents were trail drivers themselves, and local merchants sold supplies to crews driving longhorn herds past town. The community grew to include a blacksmith shop, stores, a cotton gin, three churches and a school.

One of London's childhood residents went on to great things. Coke R. Stevenson, who lived here as a boy, later became governor of Texas, serving during the World War II years of the 1940s.

🇺🇸Its place in the American story

The cattle drives from Texas helped rebuild the state's economy after the Civil War and helped stock ranches across the American West. The cowboy, the longhorn and the trail drive became lasting symbols of American identity, and towns like London were the real places where that story unfolded day to day.

London's hoped-for courthouse square also tells a common frontier story. Across the country, towns competed to become county seats, and many planned squares never got their courthouse. The dream, and the disappointment, shaped the look of countless small American towns.

The town's connection to a future governor shows how rural frontier communities produced leaders who went on to shape the state, carrying the values of small-town and ranch life into public service.

🧭If you visit

London is a quiet, small place today, and that is part of its charm. Stand at the square and picture what the planners hoped for: a courthouse in the middle, busy streets around it, and a steady stream of cowboys and cattle passing nearby.

Look out at the surrounding Hill Country landscape and imagine longhorn herds moving through, with crews stopping in town for supplies, a visit to the blacksmith, or a meal. The rugged country here helps you understand how hard the work of the trail drive really was.

London fits well into a scenic drive through Kimble County and the western Hill Country, where you can link several small frontier towns in one trip. Please respect private property nearby, and take your time: places like this reward a slower pace.