Cartoons, Cowboys & a Governor: Taylor's Famous Sons

For a town of its size, Taylor produced an astonishing roster of originals. Tex Avery, the wild-minded animator, grew up here before going to Hollywood and reinventing the American cartoon — his slapstick timing and hair-trigger gags shaped Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and gave the world Droopy Dog. Bill Pickett, a Black cowboy from Taylor, invented the rodeo event of steer-wrestling, or "bulldogging," and became the first Black inductee to the National Rodeo Hall of Fame. And Dan Moody, born just up the street, became the youngest governor in Texas history after breaking the Ku Klux Klan in a Williamson County courtroom. This short drive links the markers that honor them, plus a pioneering local physician and a period home, in the town that raised them all.