History of Bastrop, Texas (& Cedar Creek, McDade, Paige, Red Rock, Rockne, Rosanky, & Camp Swift)

of Bastrop, Texas
and Surrounding Communities

Bastrop, Texas

BASTROP, TEXAS, is the county seat of Bastrop County, and is located about thirty miles southeast of downtown Austin. The town is at the junction of State highways 71, 21, and 95, and on the Colorado River. The site was first occupied in 1804, when a fort was established at the strategic Colorado River crossing of the Old San Antonio Road and named Puesta del Colorado. CONTINUE

View pictures of Main Street in Bastrop from the early 1950's

Cedar Creek, Texas

CEDAR CREEK, TEXAS (Bastrop County). Cedar Creek is beside the creek for which it is named eleven miles west of Bastrop in west central Bastrop County. The area was settled as early as 1832, when Addison Litton was granted a league of blackland prairie on both sides of the creek. CONTINUE

McDade, Texas

McDADE, TEXAS, on U.S. Highway 290 eight miles southeast of Elgin in northern Bastrop County, was established in 1869 in anticipation of the arrival of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Two years later the first train reached the site, and the town was officially platted and named after James W. McDade, who lived in Brenham. CONTINUE

Paige, Texas

PAIGE, TEXAS. Paige is on U.S. Highway 290 forty-four miles east of Austin in northeast Bastrop County. The Old San Antonio Road, now State Highway 21, borders the north side. Paige was established at the site of a railroad water tower on the newly built Houston and Texas Central Railway in 1872 and named for Norman Paige, a civil engineer, who had laid out the route of the railway. CONTINUE

Red Rock, Texas

RED ROCK, TEXAS (Bastrop County). Red Rock, twelve miles southwest of Bastrop in southwestern Bastrop County, is said to have derived its name from a red rock used in building the chimney of first settler James Brewer's house in the early 1850s. CONTINUE

Rockne, Texas

ROCKNE, TEXAS. Rockne, twelve miles southwest of Bastrop in southwestern Bastrop County, has its origins in the Meuth community, established by Andrew Meuth in 1846 between the sites of String Prairie and present Rockne. CONTINUE

Rosanky, Texas

ROSANKY, TEXAS,on Farm Road 535 eleven miles south of Bastrop in southern Bastrop County, is named for Ed Rosanky, member of a pioneer Prussian family who settled in the area in 1854. The loosely organized community that grew up in the area was first known as Snake Prairie. CONTINUE

Camp Swift, Texas

CAMP SWIFT. Camp Swift is bordered by U.S. highways 95 and 290 twenty-eight miles east of Austin and seven miles north of Bastrop in Bastrop County. It was built in 1942 on 55,906 acres and initially had 2,750 buildings designed to accommodate 44,000 troops. CONTINUE

The above information is taken from The New Handbook of Texas published by The Texas State Historical Association in 1996.

Bastrop High School Class Reunions

of Bastrop, Texas and Surrounding Communities

Bastrop, Texas

of Bastrop, Texas
and Surrounding Communities