Bend is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Lampasas

Lampasas County, Texas

Lampasas County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 17,762. Its seat is Lampasas. The county is named for the Lampasas River....

 and San Saba

San Saba County, Texas

San Saba County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Western Central Texas. In 2010, its population was 6,131. Its county seat is San Saba. It is named for the San Saba River, which flows through the county.-History:...

 Counties in Western Central Texas

Central Texas

Central Texas , is a region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is roughly bordered by San Marcos to Fredericksburg to Waco, and to Brenham, and includes the Austin–Round Rock, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Bryan-College Station, and Waco metropolitan areas...

. It is located on Farm to Market Road 580 at a horseshoe-shaped bend in the Colorado River

Colorado River (Texas)

The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....

. The Lampasas County portion of Bend is part of the Killeen

Killeen, Texas

Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, The United States. The population was 86,911 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, Killeen had 119,510 people. In 2010 Killeen's population shot to 127,921...

–Temple

Temple, Texas

Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...

–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area

Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area

The Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area in Central Texas that covers three counties - Bell, Coryell, and Lampasas...

.

History

Settlement of the area began in the mid-19th century. In 1854, the community took the name Schleicher's Bend, after an early settler Gustav Schleicher

Gustav Schleicher

Gustav Schleicher was a German-born Democratic United States Representative from Texas. He was an engineer who served briefly in the Texas legislature, and was a veteran of the Confederate Army.-Early life:Schleicher was born in Darmstadt in the German principality of Hesse in 1823...

. By 1856, it was called McAnelly's Bend after Robert Daugherty McAnelly, a landowner on the Lampasas side of the river.

When the application for a post office on the San Saba side of the river was made in the late 1870s, the names Little Breeches and Bend were submitted; the Bend Post Office opened in 1879 and has continuously operated ever since. Bend had a population of approximately 400 in 1890. For most of the 20th century, however, the community recorded 100 to 125 residents.

Jumbo Hollis

In the early 20th century, extensive pecan orchards were planted in the area. By mid-century, the Hollis native pecan had become the region's cash crop

Cash crop

In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...

. Bend boosters consider the Jumbo Hollis, a tree whose name is derived from its unusually large fruit and its first owner - Thomas I. Hollis, to be the world's most productive pecan tree. When other native pecan trees averaged 70 to 80 nuts per pound, Jumbo's averaged 33. At the 1904 World's Fair

Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...

, Jumbo Hollis pecans won the bronze medal for being the largest displayed. The tree's record year was 1919, when it produced 1,015 pounds of nuts.

Education

The San Saba County portion of Bend is served by the San Saba Independent School District

San Saba Independent School District

San Saba Independent School District is a public school district based in San Saba, Texas .In addition to San Saba, the district also serves part of the community of Bend.The district's mascot is the Armadillo....

, while the Lampasas Independent School District

Lampasas Independent School District

Lampasas Independent School District is a public school district based in Lampasas, Texas that serves about 3,350 students.In addition to Lampasas, the district also serves the city of Kempner and part of the Bend community...

serves the Lampasas County portion of the community.