Hutto, Texas is a small community located seven miles east of Round Rock and northeast of Austin, Texas. The current population of Hutto is estimated at around 17k residents, and Hutto has been a very fast-growing city since the construction of State Highway 130, also called the Trans-Texas Corridor.
In the census of 2000, the population of Hutto was just over thousand people, but the recently built toll road has dramatically increased the population and the city is expected to continue expanding in the next few decades, as the highway nears completion.
Hutto was founded in the year 1876 when the International Great Northern Railroad passed through land owned by James Emory Hutto, for whom the city is named. Shortly thereafter, James Hutto sold fifty acres of local land to the New York Land Company for a town site. At the time, Hutto was a wealthy Williamson County landowner and cattleman, but a few years later, he relocated to Waco and entered the hardware business. At roughly the same time, numerous Swedish and German immigrants traveled to the area to begin new lives in the ranching and farming industries, which were becoming very successful in the Hutto area.
In 1915, a circus train stopped in at the Hutto train station and a hippopotamus escaped to nearby Cottonwood Creek, where it caused a commotion as local residents and railroad as well as circus employees tried to recapture the Hippo. The story caused a local legend to emerge, and eventually the Hippo became the mascot for the Hutto High School and its sports teams, as well as various other local businesses.
There are many activities in Hutto for the sports enthusiast as well as the gourmet diner, and some of the popular restaurants in Hutto include Mario’s Mexican Restaurant and El Poblanito’s, another Tex-Mex eatery. If the diner prefers a national chain, Chili’s is sure to please, and there is a popular barbecue joint called Fat Thompson’s as well.As for sports, the aptly named Hippo Stadium is home for the local Bulldogs, and there are many other sports-related facilities as well. The Hutto real estate market is also extremely affordable. It offers a much cheaper alternative than the nearby Pflugerville and Austin real estate markets.
Hutto also has a family-owned general store called Common Spirits which offers a variety of spirits and tobacco products, as well as basic amenities and grocery items at a reasonable price. The store is located on Front Street, and is a local favorite. As the city grows, there are more and more national brand stores and restaurants, but there is still plenty of local charm and family owned venues as well.
The new state toll road is expected to eventually spur the population growth to over 30k residents by 2010. The new toll road is the biggest transportation project currently underway in the entire United States, and the toll road connects the area to metropolitan Austin, and to other major thoroughfares leading to San Antonio and Houston, as well as nearby communities such as Pflugerville and Bastrop, as well as Bryan and college Station to the north.
One of the largest employers in the Hutto area is the T. Don Hutto Correctional Facility in nearby Taylor, Texas, which is just a few miles east of Hutto itself, and a family detention center that houses immigrants and their families. Hutto is also very well represented in the technology industry, with Agisca Technologies as well as Cypress Semiconductor, both of which are situated in or around Hutto.
Hutto is a very centrally located community, with access to many metropolitan areas, but a small town atmosphere and scenic rolling hillsides with parks, rivers and access to many local lakes and rivers.