Smithville is a city in Bastrop County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River.

[4] Thomas Jefferson Gazley arrived in 1827 and set the pace of development for Smithville by building the first house and establishing the first store, which served incoming settlers.

They also owned a store and were early influences on the area, including the naming of Smithville where about seventeen families lived on the south bank of the Colorado River.

Local businessman, Murray Burleson, persuaded the approaching railroad to erect a terminus here and the TB&H steamed through in 1887.

This population created markets for homes, stores, and other necessities as it grew from a frontier village to a town.

Partnerships of prominent men involved in land-based activities united the Bueschers, Powells, Cooks, Eaglestons, Turneys, Rabbs, Buntes and others to establish cotton gins, general stores, drugstores, lumber and brickyards and to develop numerous churches and fraternal organizations such as the Masons and the Oddfellows and to provide medical care for this now flourishing community.

[13] The record breaking "man" measured over 20 feet (6.1 m) long and weighed 1,308.5 lb (593.5 kilograms).

The pan used in the baking now stands as a monument at the James H. Long Railroad Park in Smithville.