Caldwell

Caldwell, the county seat of Burleson County, is at the intersection of State highways 21 and 36, in the center of the county. In 1840, when the Texas Congress annexed to Milam County all of Washington County north of Yegua Creek and west of the Brazos River, Caldwell was designated as the county seat of a new county to be formed. The proposed town, surveyed by George B. Erath and named for Mathew Caldwell, was laid out parallel to the Old San Antonio Road and west of Davidson Creek; the site encompassed a settlement founded by Lewis L. Chiles. Until Burleson County was organized in 1846, Caldwell served as the county seat of Milam County.

By 1856 the population of the town was 300, and the Caldwell House, known as one of the finest hotels in Texas, was the rendezvous of westward-bound travelers on the Old San Antonio Road. Caldwell also had a post office, male and female academies housed in the Masonic building, Baptist and Methodist churches, seven general stores, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, a livery stable, and a fine red-brick courthouse. By 1878 Caldwell had its own newspaper, the Caldwell Register, and by 1886 the town owned a fine hearse, "kept for the service of the community" by a local livery stable. It also had a bottling works and an ice house.