VOLENTE, TEXAS. Volente is on Lake Travis and Farm Road 2769, eighteen miles northwest of Austin in northwestern Travis County. Local tradition offers several stories regarding the origin of its name. One is that an early resident suggested it from a book she was reading at the time. Another story, more colorful but less likely, suggests that the name was an Indian word meaning "God willing." Actually, volente is from the Latin word meaning "to be willing." A post office was established at Volente in 1886 with Andrew J. Stanford as postmaster. The office was discontinued in 1909, and mail for the community was sent to Cedar Park in Williamson County. The area was partially submerged by Lake Travis in the 1930s, and residents had to relocate on higher ground. In the 1940s and early 1950s the community was called Dodd City, for a local realtor and restaurant owner, but later in the 1950s the name was changed back to Volente. The community population was estimated at 250 in 1959 and at 400 in 1989. In 1990 Volente had a church, a combination fire hall-community center, several businesses, and the Anderson Mill Museum.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986). Ellen Seals, ed., A Legend Collection: Fact and Fantasy (Austin, 1981).

Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl