When Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1870, three families owned the land in this area, including the family of nationally known political statesman Edward Mandell House. Known as Stringtown, the area was populous enough by 1893 that House donated an acre of land for a school. Settlers pooled their funds for a building and named the school and community Monadale in honor of House's daughter, but a clerical error led to the common spelling Monodale. The people of Monodale were cotton farmers, chiefly Swedish and Czechoslovakian immigrants, and the Monodale School District served local children until it was consolidated with Hutto in 1949.