Along this stretch of County Road 312 a couple of ancient farm houses and barns weather silver in the Texas sun. Otherwise what was once Corn Hill is now green pastures and the tumbling down remains of a clap board hotel used by stagecoach travelers in the late 1800s.

In 1847 one of Corn Hill’s first settlers - Daniel Harrison - arrived. He set up a homestead and farm on the prairie.

Harrison, a veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Civil War, will be honored Saturday with a plaque dedication at the Corn Hill Cemetery.

From 1855 until the turn of the century, Corn Hill was a vibrant rural community that grew by 1885 to a population of about 250 with four churches, three gin mills, a weekly newspaper (The Express), the Corn Hill Academy, feed stores, general stores and a cafe.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online, between 1900 and 1910 its population grew from 350 to 500. But in 1909 when it became clear the Bartlett and Western Railway would bypass the little village, commerce in Corn Hill picked up its skirts and moved north to the newly laid out town of Jarrell.

The U.S. Post Office, the Masonic Lodge and many other of the businesses along Main Street made the move to the new location.

There are tales of homesteaders relocating to Jarrell by simply moving their abodes like turtles carrying their shells. By 1920 Corn Hill was virtually abandoned.

It joined countless other Texas ghost towns that only a few old timers - the descendants of its original inhabitants - remember.

Mary Hodge, 82, of Salado said she descends from three generations of Corn Hill pioneers.

Harrison is her great grandfather. He and his wife were among five other families who first arrived in the area. Soon more families joined them. Among them was Judge John E. King. Mrs. Hodge said King could probably be called the father of Corn Hill.

“The town was laid out and built on land he provided and the first post office was established at his home up on a hill near where Interstate 35 passes today,” she said.

The town was not laid out in lots but in acres and half acres along the main road with occasional alleys in between.

King operated a kind of rooming house from his home for overnight travelers. His home became a stagecoach stop on the line connecting Georgetown and Fort Gates. In 1855 King had an application approved to establish a post office there.

He applied for the name Prairie View to go with his mail service application but it was turned down since the name was already taken by a town in East Texas.

“The countryside was rolling prairie in those days - hardly a tree anywhere,” Mrs. Hodge said.

She said King was discussing the dilemma of a name with some visitors he had put up for the night.

“The next morning one of them remarked about the fine samples of corn hanging on his front porch and asked if it was raised locally,” she said.

“The man noted the countryside was hilly and that King lived at the top of a hill and suggested he name the community Corn Hill - which he did.”

Later J.D. Black set up business for overnight guests at the hotel on the main street and travelers began staying there.

King donated land for a Methodist Church. It was used by all denominations. He also donated the land for Corn Hill College.

In 1886 a two-story building was erected on a four-acre campus, Mrs. Hodge said. It had four classrooms and a large auditorium with stage and anterooms.

“Every little town in Texas had a college in those days,” Mrs. Hodge said.

Mrs. Hodge said Harrison came to Texas in 1830 through Galveston.

“He was a member of the Texas Militia and fought for Texas Independence,” she said. “He rode to fight at the Battle of San Jacinto but when he arrived the battle was over.”

She said Harrison fought for the South in the Civil War. He died of consumption about five years after returning from the war.

“All the early settlers from Corn Hill are buried here,” Mrs. Hodge said of the cemetery.

The public is invited to Saturday’s dedication ceremony that will be followed by a reception at the Methodist Church in Jarrell.

Headed southbound on Interstate 35 take exit 274 and stay on the access road through Jarrell to the overpass. Turn left and marker signs will direct visitors to the cemetery.