“Why name a road ‘Nameless’ when there are so many other options?” my partner questioned as we studied a map of Leander, Texas. “Yeah, seems a bit lazy-brained,” I replied.
Turns out, I was wrong.
In the late 1800s residents of a small community along Sandy Creek applied for a post office and submitted six different names* to be considered. Each name was rejected. In frustration the residents declared “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!” And so “Nameless” was born.
By 1884, the town of Nameless comprised 50 people and included a post office, a general store, a meat market, a cemetery, and a school that also served as a church. But by 1890 growth had slowed, and just a decade after the town’s naming day, the post office closed. Soon after, the area became derelict and many of the buildings were torn down. What’s left of the community’s settlement is the Nameless School House (erected in 1909), the cemetery, and its namesake road.
If you happen to live in the Austin, TX area and haven’t taken a ride along Nameless Road, it’s worth a Sunday excursion. A leisurely drive, it offers up views of rolling country hills with grazing cows and horses, golden fields of sun-kissed grass, stunning wildflowers in the spring, and a feeling that time has stood still for decades.
* Sadly, the six names that were submitted have been lost to time.