Bend is an unincorporated community in Lampasas and San Saba Counties in Central Texas. It is located on Farm to Market Road 580 on the western leg of a horseshoe-shaped bend in the Colorado River. The Lampasas County portion of Bend is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Three miles south of Bend, on the Colorado River, was the Victorian resort and spa of Sulphur Springs. It fell into disuse during the Great Depression, but was revived in the 1980s as a fishing resort.
In the early 20th century, extensive pecan orchards were planted in the Bend area. By mid-century, the Hollis native pecan had become the region’s cash crop. 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, 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.
reprinted from Wikipedia
