Union Hill
Burton, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Hugh and Lucy Kerr family from Tennessee started the Kerr settlement in this area in 1831. W. B. McClellan (1804-80) from North Carolina bought land from W. P. Kerr in 1844 and began a second settlement. Union Academy was operating by 1850. Union Hill Post Office opened in 1854. Mrs. Lucy Kerr gave acreage at this point for a Methodist church; Masonic lodge and school soon shared the site. Stores, a hotel, and other buildings stood to the west. Unincorporated, the town of 800 dwindled after 1870, as railroad facilities in Burton (2 mi. south) drew away the local businesses.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun with the Kerr family's arrival from Tennessee in 1831 and expanded by W. B. McClellan's settlement in the 1840s, Union Hill grew into a town of some 800 souls with an academy, post office, church, Masonic lodge, hotel, and stores. Its fortunes reversed after 1870, when the railroad's facilities in nearby Burton pulled its businesses away and the town slowly emptied.
Why it matters
Union Hill is a classic Texas ghost town, a reminder that the coming of the railroad could make one community and quietly unmake another just two miles off the line.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Washington County holds a special place in Texas memory. It was here, at Washington-on-the-Brazos in 1836, that delegates declared Texas independent from Mexico. Union Hill's story begins even earlier, in 1831, when Texas was still part of Mexico and Anglo-American families were settling the fertile country between the Brazos and Colorado rivers.
Over the next decades, through the Republic of Texas and early statehood, this region became prosperous farming country. Rural communities grew up around the institutions settlers valued most: churches, schools, lodges, and post offices. A crossroads with those things could become a real town, even without a charter.
After the Civil War, railroads remade the Texas map. Towns on the line prospered, and towns left off it often faded. Union Hill's rise and fall followed that pattern closely.
People & events
The first chapter belongs to Hugh and Lucy Kerr, who came from Tennessee and started the Kerr settlement in 1831. A second chapter opened in 1844, when W. B. McClellan, a North Carolinian, bought land from W. P. Kerr and began a settlement of his own. Together these communities formed the core of what became Union Hill.
The town gathered the marks of a proper community. Union Academy was teaching students by 1850, and a Union Hill post office opened in 1854. Lucy Kerr herself gave land at this very spot for a Methodist church, and a Masonic lodge and school soon shared the site. It's a vivid picture of one woman's gift anchoring a town's spiritual, civic, and educational life.
West of here stood stores, a hotel, and other buildings serving a population that reached about 800. But Union Hill was never incorporated. After 1870, when railroad facilities developed at Burton, two miles south, local businesses gradually moved to be near the tracks, and Union Hill slowly emptied.
Its place in the American story
Union Hill is a textbook case of one of the great forces of nineteenth-century America: the railroad's power to decide which towns lived and which died. All across the country, thriving communities that missed the line watched their merchants pack up for the depot a few miles away.
Its early history also reflects the migration that carried families from Tennessee, North Carolina, and elsewhere in the upper South into Mexican Texas, a movement that eventually led to Texas independence and statehood. The Kerrs and McClellans were part of that larger story.
Finally, Union Hill shows how central churches, academies, and fraternal lodges were to frontier America. Often sharing a single piece of ground, they were the glue that turned scattered farms into communities.
If you visit
Union Hill is a ghost town, so don't expect a main street. What you'll find is a quiet patch of Washington County countryside where a lively town once stood. Try to picture the church, lodge, and school on this ground and the stores and hotel just to the west.
For contrast, drive the two miles south to Burton, the railroad town that drew Union Hill's businesses away. Seeing the two so close together makes the marker's story easy to grasp.
Washington County is rich territory for a history road trip, with its rolling hills, back roads, and deep connections to the founding of Texas. Union Hill is a thoughtful stop along the way, especially for anyone who loves vanished towns.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Hugh Kerr
- · Lucy Kerr
- · W. B. McClellan
Themes & tags
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