MONTOPOLIS, TEXAS. Montopolis was four miles southeast of downtown Austin in south central Travis County. The site was settled in the late 1830s, when Jessie C. Tannehill built a cabin and laid out a townsite to be called Montopolis for its location on top of a hill. The town did not develop as expected, probably because Austin was so close. A small community of fifty, however, was in place in the mid-1890s, and a post office called Montopolis opened in January 1897. The census of 1900 listed the Montopolis population as 142, but in 1902 its post office was discontinued, and mail for area residents was sent to Austin. Most of Montopolis proper was annexed by the city of Austin in 1951. Additional portions of the area were annexed during the 1960s and 1970s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mary Starr Barkley, History of Travis County and Austin, 1839-1899 (Waco: Texian Press, 1963). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).
