History and Overview of Rumley, Texas


By: Claudia Hazlewood

Published: 1952

Updated: March 1, 1995

Rumley is on the Lampasas River one-half mile northeast of the junction of Farm roads 580 and 2527 in eastern Lampasas County. It was settled by ranchers in the late 1870s. Carl Bearden brought cattle to the area in 1878, and W. O. Williams settled near the site in 1880. The name is said to have been taken from the brand name on an unusually large threshing machine owned by two early settlers named Smart and Clay. In 1947 Rumley had a store and a church, and mail was delivered from Kempner. The population was estimated at forty from 1939 to 1947. The town still appeared on highway maps in the mid-1980s and was still listed as a community in 1990. In 2000 the population was eight.

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Fred Tarpley, 1001 Texas Place Names (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980).

Places:

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Claudia Hazlewood, “Rumley, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/rumley-tx.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID: HRR45

1952
March 1, 1995

Find out more about this place from our Texas Almanac.

Place
Rumley
Currently Exists
Yes
Place Type
Town
USGS ID
1380471
Town Fields
  • Has post office: No
  • Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to
  • Lampasas County
Coordinates
  • Latitude: 31.17294790°
  • Longitude: -98.06808330°
Population Counts
People Year
30 2014

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