History of the Mahomet Post Office
Begins on Bear Creek in 1857 and ends in South East Burnet County in Mahomet, Texas

The Mahomet Post Office

The name Mahomet has been associated with a number of different post office sites and communities in south eastern Burnet County. The family names of the postmasters included Ater, Durr, Ramsey, Stewart, Harrison, Hamilton, and Williams. The Mahomet post office was closed 31 July 1916.

Mahomet Post Office on the Ater Place

Burnet County was formed February 5th of 1852 from parts of Travis, Williamson, and Bell counties. The first post office in Burnet County was established at the town of Hamilton on the 30th of Aug 1852. The name of the town was changed to Burnet in February 1858.

George Ater settled on Bear Creek in 1853. A land patent was given to George Ater for 320 acres on the head waters of Bear Creek in Burnet County on the 20th of April 1857. The location is further described as 12 miles North 84 degrees of Hamilton. The Mahomet post office along with the Austin-Lampasas Stage Coach stop was initially located on Bear Creek at the home of George Ater. The post office remained there for twenty-five years beginning on the 14th December 1857. Most likely named the post office after the city he came from, Mahomet, Illinois.

The Bear Creek Cemetery was established nearby in 1865. It appears George Ater and his clan are buried there. The cemetery is located about two miles east of Bertram off of Ranch Road 243 where it crosses Bear Creek.

In 1882 the Austin and Northwestern Railroad bypassed Mahomet in favor of Bertram a few miles away. The Bertram Post Office opened on the 8th December 1882. No doubt the transporting of mail at some point transferred from the stage coach line that stopped at the Ater Place to the train that stopped in Bertram so the Aters elected to pick up their mail in Bertram.

Mahomet Post Office on the Ramsey Nursery Place Place

After the Ater folks decided to pick up their mail in Bertram Alex M. Ramsey moved the post office about six miles to the east to his home on the Ramsey Nursery Place on Burnet County Road 214 near Ranch Road 243. This became the new Mahomet Post Office on the 10th of January 1883.

Alexander & Ellen Ramsey proved so adept at raising fruit trees after moving to Texas in 1860 that they turned their hobby into a full-time business. Apparently one of the Ramsey brothers got a few peach seeds from their relatives in Mississippi earlier in 1858. The trees thrived along the North fork of the San Gabriel River. So much so, that when Alexander and his son Frank Taylor Ramsey arrived in 1860 they found the peach orchard doing quite well and went on to make a reputation for themselves in the nursery business. By 1875, Alexander had enlarged both the quantity and variety of his trees enough that he issued a catalog offering trees for sale. A. M. Ramsey was a Past Master of the Mount Horeb Masonic Lodge (1893). At the time the lodge was located a few miles downstream in Williamson County at Gabriel Mills.

The son, F. T. Ramsey joined his father in business in 1877 and eventually moved to Austin. Frank and Belle Ramsey's nursery business thrived earning him the nick name of Fruit Tree Ramsey.

Murray Williams, who owned the place from 1931 to 1937, told a story about tearing down the old Ramsey house for the lumber and finding a few letters and a dime in the wall below the window of the old Post Office. They apparently had been lost along the way. Murray also told the story about fencing the old Ramsey cemetery to keep his livestock from disturbing it. Louis Insall who moved there in 1953 rebuilt the cemetery fence a few years ago. He mentioned the Ramsey relatives come by from time to time to care for the graves. The cemetery has three unmarked graves and three marked graves:
     Gordon, Mary, b. 27 Oct 1871, d. 13 Aug 1877
     Ramsey, A. M., b. 04 Jun 1825 Tennessee, d. 30 Dec 1895
     Ramsey, Ellen, b. 28 Jan 1824, d. 09 Apr 1890, Wife of A.M.

Mahomet Post Office on Ranch Road 243

What remains of the Mahomet Community is a few miles farther east from the Ramsey Place on Ranch Road 243 near the old Sycamore Springs community. The last Post office location was in the Williams Store at the corner of Ranch Road 243 and Burnet County Road 284. The Mahomet post office was officially closed 31 July 1916, but the store continued to serve as both a post office and community gathering place through the 1940's.

Today the community includes the Mahomet Christian Church, the Mount Horeb Masonic Lodge, and the Mahomet Cemetery. The church and tabernacle are at the last location of the old Sycamore Springs School. The first school that burned down was to the south on Burnet County Road 284 where it crosses Sycamore Springs. The road is known as Williamson County Road 208 at that point since the school was just across the line in Williamson County.

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