With family roots that run deep in Central Texas and 46 years of commercial real estate experience, Don Quick has a unique perspective on Round Rock’s history and its progress.

“What’s best for the future is occurring as we speak: it’s the City Council, school board [and] business owners all making very positive decisions that are recognized in the growth of the area,” said Quick, who is a founding member and past president of the Williamson County Association of Realtors and former chairman of the Round Rock Housing Authority.

Quick founded Don Quick & Associates in 1970 and developed it into the largest commercial real estate company in Williamson County.

Quick said his family has lived in Central Texas continually since the 19th century, except for two years when his father worked in Uvalde.

Quick’s grandfather Oscar Edward Quick left his native Sweden and journeyed to Texas in 1885. He bought 350 acres east of Round Rock, where he began ranching and farming. With two brothers, his OQ brand was registered in 1891—and the original now resides in Quick’s office among his extensive collection of early Texas memorabilia.

“I found that brand in the barn one day [when] I was out there at the farm,” Quick said. “I have been a collector of old documents and deeds and things for many years.”

Quick’s father, Eugene, was the youngest of 12 children of Oscar and his wife, Carolina. Eugene and his brother Clarence were pharmacists who owned and operated Quick Pharmacy.

With the intention of following in his father’s footsteps as a pharmacist, Quick first studied at Southwestern University, then went to Texas Lutheran College before flunking out. He was then drafted by the Army for two years.

“I came back, and I said, ‘I think I need to ... get serious,” he said. “So [for] the next period of time I studied nights, days and weekends.”

He then went to Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State University, in San Marcos.

His willingness to try a new career enabled Quick to take his first job selling real estate.

“I had come out of Southwest Texas with a degree in biology, so when I started in the real estate business, I knew about zip,” he said.

He learned quickly and became a broker, hired a team of agents, opened branch offices and continued to grow the business until the real estate market crashed in the late 1980s, he said.

“Business slowed to the point that we went back to just myself [and my wife, Jeanie,] working,” he said.

The company has since rebuilt, with a current roster of 12 agents, including son Darren Quick, who joined in 1996 and now serves as its president.

“[Don] has been a very strong advocate for saving the history of Round Rock,” said longtime friend Gary Bounds, a partner in the Austin accounting firm of Bounds, Chatelain and Pharr P.C. “He has probably got more knowledge and history in his head than anybody that I know of in the community.”