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is a city in Travis and Williamson Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. From a population of 5,161 in 1990, Cedar Park grew to a population of 26,049 as of the 2000 census. The city is a major suburb of Austin. The center of Austin is approximately 16 miles to the southeast, although Austin directly borders Cedar Park at the latter's southern extent.
Before the arrival of European settlers in the 1800s, the Cedar Park area was inhabited by various Native American tribes including the Tonkawa, the Lipan Apache, and the Comanche. A paleo-American archaeological site (named the Wilson-Leonard site) was discovered in Cedar Park in 1983 that showed evidence of continual habitation of the area since circa 5000 BC.
In the mid-1800s the community was known as Running Brushy, named after a spring that formed the headwaters of a creek of the same name. In 1873 George and Harriet Cluck, after having run cattle up the Chisholm Trail for many years, bought 329 acres of land that included the Running Brushy spring. Their ranch formed the core of the community that would one day become Cedar Park.
Ten years later, the railroad came through. The Austin & Northwest Railroad, which connected the state capitol with the cities of Burnet and Lampasas to the north, was finished in 1882 and passed through Running Brushy and the Cluck ranch. The community was at this point renamed Bruggerhoff, after a railroad company official. However, the name was generally disliked by locals, being both hard to spell and pronounce. Five years later, Emmett Cluck (son of George and Harriet) changed the community name to Cedar Park. In 1892, a half-acre "strolling park" was built near the train depot. Austinites would ride the train to Cedar Park for day trips to the park.
Cedar Park changed little until the 1950s and 1960s when housing subdivisions began to be built, spurred by the growth of nearby Austin. On February 24, 1973, the citizens of Cedar Park voted to incorporate.