Road, River, and Ol’ Boy Politics: A Texas County’s Path from Farm to Supersuburb

Winner of the 2006 National Council on Public History Book Award for the best work published about or growing out of public history, Road, River, and Ol' Boy Politics has quickly established its reputation as the definitive source on the subject of the growth of supersuburbs.

In 1946 Williamson County was profoundly rural, centered on an agricultural economy, ethnically diverse, and Democratic. Half a century later, it was one of the five fastest-growing counties in the United States, staunchly Republican, and culturally homogeneous.

Linda Scarbrough presents the story of how this came about through the machinations of a handful of local political and economic "bosses" who brought Williamson County two federal public works projects: Interstate Highway 35 and a dam on the San Gabriel River.