Cedar Park's History

Though not incorporated as a city until 1973, Cedar Park was actually founded in 1887. It came by its name simply because it had a park and was home to an abundance of mountain cedar trees. 

That park was born out of a land sale to the Austin and Northwestern Railroad by the Cluck Family, who were some of the community's earliest settlers and largest landowners.  The family stipulated that some of the land must be utilized as a park. The trees, prolific throughout the region today, are not believed to be native to the area, but are thought to have been tracked here by horses and other livestock moving through the area.  Nonetheless, cedar posts became a popular industry here in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as settlers sought to fence their stakes of rural land with cedar posts and the newly-invented barbed wire.

So, now you know, that is where the name Cedar Park came from!  While our namesake may be simple, the history and lives of the intriguing individuals who braved many hardships to lay down roots is anything but. To learn more, take a moment to explore our history's timeline and visit our historic sites.