Preston Rose Austin, born in Harrison County and raised in Victoria County, became a prominent stock raiser and later a partner in the Refugio Land and Irrigation Company, which acquired large landholdings in this area in 1902. Through a series of agricultural experiments, he determined that the land was best suited to cotton, and the company divided the property into small cotton farms for sale to German and Bohemian farmers. Austin founded two market towns to serve these settlers: Tivoli, platted in 1907 by J.W. Ward, and Austwell, named for Austin and his partner Jesse McDowell of Pennsylvania, platted in 1912 by L.A. Gueringer. The company equipped each community with a church, school, store, hotel, cotton gin and mill, electricity, and a telephone system. Austin and his associates also financed a branch line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, completed in 1912, that connected Tivoli and Austwell with Victoria. His energetic ventures led to extensive settlement in northern Refugio County.