Willow City, Texas
Willow City is an unincorporated community in Gillespie County, Texas. It sits along Farm to Market Road 1323, about 12 miles northeast of Fredericksburg. The town is at about 1,713 feet in elevation and has a humid subtropical climate, with hot summers and mild winters.
About 75 people lived in Willow City in 2000. The population has varied over time: around 132 people at the turn of the 20th century, dropping to 17 in 1964, and then staying near 75 since the 1970s.
History: The area was settled before the Civil War and became a gathering point for English-speaking settlers, with many German speakers in the area after that. The post office opened in 1877 under the name Willow, and the town was renamed Willow City in 1887.
The 1905 Willow City School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (since May 6, 2005).
Notable event: In 1924, a boiler explosion at the Alfred Pfeil Gin killed two people and damaged the building.
Gillespie County history: A petition to form Gillespie County was submitted on December 15, 1847. The county was created in 1848 from parts of Bexar and Travis counties, with many German immigrant signers and a few non-German names.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:29 (CET).