Region: Prairies and Lakes
Caldwell, founded in 1840, has been the seat of two counties. Before Burleson
County organized in 1846, the community was the seat of Milam County. It was
named for Mathew "Old Paint" Caldwell, noted frontiersman and a signer of the
Texas Declaration of Independence. In the 1850s, the town was a rendezvous for
westbound immigrants, and it had one of the finest hotels on the Old San Antonio
Road. One of state's best country inns is still in Caldwell. Today, the city is
primarily a rural trade center for surrounding farms and ranches with
diversified industry, including manufacturing service and technology. The town
has been named the "Kolache Capital of Texas" by the Texas Legislature.
Caldwell is on the Presidential Corridor linking the George Bush Presidential
Library and Museum in Bryan/College Station with the Lyndon Baines Johnson
Library and Museum in Austin.
Caldwell lies on Texas 36, a segment of the Ports-to-Plains Highway
connecting the state's heartland to coastal ports.
Bed & breakfast accommodations are offered in historic
buildings.