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Milam County TX
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THORNDALE, TEXAS


Milam County, Central Texas S

30°36'45"N 97°12'16"W (30.612549, -97.204523)

Highway 79 and FM 486
26 Miles SW of Cameron the county seat
12 Miles W of Rockdale
14 Miles E of Taylor
40 Miles NE of Austin
ZIP code 76577
Area code 512
Population: 1,302 Est. (2019)
1,336 (2010) 1,278 (2000) 1,092 (1990)

Book Hotel Here › Rockdale Hotels


ThorndaleTexas/Thordale TX - Church and IGN Depot
Thorndale Church and I. & G.N. Depot
Postcard courtesy Jo Ann Arnold
More Texas Churches | Texas Depots

History in a Pecan Shell

The name supposedly was given to the town by an employee of the International-Great Northern Railroad around 1878. The man was either impressed by the spiny vegetation or was making a joke at the town's expense. Either way, the town was actually born three miles west of its present main street.

Thorndale had a hotel and other essential businesses, but with the arrival of the railroad most of the businesses noved to be near the tracks. Thorndale had a population of 130 in 1884.

Thorndale was a shipping point for area farmers and by 1903 sixty-six students were being taught by two teachers in one building. The Thorndale Independent School District was formed in 1913.

The town incorporated in 1929 when 1,500 people called Thorndale home. After the Great Depression it had declined to an estimated 1,000, but it hadn’t yet bottomed out. In 1952 it was down to 851 but with the opening of an aluminum plant in nearby Sandow, Texas, it started growing, reaching 1,338 Thorndalites in 1988. The 2000 census reported 1,278 people.

Farmers Gin & Compress, Thorndale, Texas
Farmers Gin & Compress in Thorndale
Postcard courtesy Will Beauchamp Collection
More on Cotton & Cotton Gins


Thorndale Texas grain elevators
TE photo, May 2008
More Texas Grain Elevators


Thorndale Texas feed store
TE photo, May 2008
More Texas Stores


Thorndale Texas feed store quonset hut
TE photo, May 2008


Thorndale Texas building with vine
TE photo, May 2008


Thorndale Texas ruin
TE photo, May 2008
More Texas Architecture


Thorndale Texas CocaCola ghost sign
Coca Cola Ghost Sign
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, 2005
More Ghost Signs | See Cocacola


Detmold, TX - St. John Lutheran Church Cemetery
St. John Lutheran Church Cemetery
3 miles N of Thorndale on CR 437

Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2008

Take a road trip

Central Texas South

Thorndale, Texas Nearby Towns:
Cameron the county seat
Rockdale
Taylor
Georgetown
Waco
Austin
See Milam County

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Rockdale Hotels | Cameron Hotels | More Hotels

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