Kopperl is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northeastern Bosque County, Texas, situated near Farm Road 56 on the northwestern end of Lake Whitney along the Brazos River. The 2020 census counted 164 residents. The community lies about fourteen miles northeast of Meridian, the county seat, and roughly forty miles northwest of Waco. Kopperl was founded in 1881 as a direct result of railroad expansion, when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway purchased land that was surveyed into town lots. The settlement was named for Moritz Kopperl, a Galveston banker and president of the railroad. A rail-era community took shape around the depot, with a school, churches, and mercantile businesses serving the surrounding farms and ranches. For generations the population held steady at around 225, and the town was even memorialized in Stephen Fromholtz's "The Texas Trilogy," a song cycle about rural Texas life. Today Kopperl is a small, unincorporated community whose identity is tied to Lake Whitney, the Brazos River reservoir that borders it on the southeast. The lake, formed by Whitney Dam, is a major regional recreation draw, bringing fishing, boating, and camping activity to the area and supporting lakeside homes and weekend retreats. The local economy and daily life center on the Kopperl Independent School District, area churches, and rural businesses, with residents relying on nearby Cleburne, Hillsboro, and Waco for larger services. Kopperl suits those seeking a quiet, low-density Central Texas lifestyle with direct access to one of the region's most popular lakes. Its combination of railroad heritage, rural character, and lakefront setting defines a community that has remained small by design, offering a slower pace within an easy drive of Waco and the broader Central Texas region.