Why people move to Tolar
Tolar appeals to families seeking a peaceful, rural lifestyle while staying close to big cities and within a highly rated school district. Homes typically sit on spacious lots that support ranchettes and a wide variety of outdoor recreation. This Hood County town is also near lively parks and reservoirs along the Brazos River, Texas's longest river. While residents have to commute for work and daily errands, easy highway access and light traffic keep cities like Granbury and Fort Worth just a short drive away.
House styles, lot sizes and what they cost
Tolar has ranch-style and New Traditional homes, many of which sit on large lots. “I’ve seen houses on everything from a quarter-acre of land to 20 acres,” says Steve Berry, a Realtor with Keller Williams Brazos West who has sold several homes in the area. That amount of land opens the door to all kinds of rural lifestyles. “Some people with huge parcels will have one or two cows, maybe a horse,” Berry says. “Others will just use it for hunting deer and riding around on ATVs.” The median sale price in Tolar is around $355,000, which is slightly lower than Granbury's median of about $370,000. Houses on smaller lots typically cost between the lower $200,000s and the upper $400,000s, while homes on larger lots usually range from the mid-$400,000s to the upper $800,000s. Some homes on more than 5 acres of land can reach the mid-$1 millions.
What schools are like in the Tolar Independent School District
The Tolar Independent School District includes Tolar Elementary School, Tolar Junior High School and Tolar High School. The district stands out for its small class sizes, serving a little less than 900 students overall, and its strong athletic program, represented by a mascot known as the Rattlers. “Kids get really great one-on-one attention, and they have a chance to be on a high school football team that’s usually pretty good,” Berry says. “It’s just really well-rounded, so a lot of newly married, first-time homebuyers will look for houses with a Tolar address to make sure they’re in that district before they have kids.”
Getting from Tolar to bigger cities
U.S. Route 377 runs through the center of Tolar, offering easy commutes and light traffic. “You won’t sit in gridlock traffic like you do in a big city, which is great because you do have to drive outside of town for things like going to work or running errands,” Berry says. The highway connects with places like:
- Granbury, the seat of Hood County, about 10 minutes away
- Stephenville, the seat of Erath County, about 20 minutes away
- Fort Worth, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, about an hour away
- Dallas, the third-largest city in Texas, about two hours away
Reservoirs and parks along the nearby Brazos River
With the Brazos River flowing just east of Tolar, residents are less than 20 miles from several recreation hubs, including:
- Lake Granbury, an 8,000-acre reservoir with a public beach and several marinas
- Wheeler Branch Park, which offers kayaking and fishing on a small reservoir
- Big Rocks Park, where you can climb boulders towering over the Paluxy River, a tributary of the Brazos
- Dinosaur Valley State Park, known for its visible sauropod and theropod tracks when the water is clear
Shopping and dining in Tolar and Granbury
A few convenience stores, including Dollar General, and locally owned eateries, like Triple G Café and Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, sit along U.S. Route 377. For bigger shopping trips and more restaurants, people typically drive to Granbury, which has major grocery stores, like Aldi and Walmart Supercenter, and a historic town square with boutiques, bistros and wine shops.
