Bastrop, Texas
Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAS : Bastrop, Texas
Bastrop is the county seat of Bastrop County, Texas, and is located about thirty miles southeast of Austin, Texas. By 2005, the city had an estimated population of 7,297, up more than 35% from the 2000 census figure of 5,340; its population has doubled since the early 1970s.
History
Bastrop was first occupied in 1804, when a fort was established where the Old San Antonio Road crossed the Colorado River and named Puesta del Colorado.Bastrop's namesake, Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, a self-styled Dutch nobleman, obtained permission from the Spanish to found a German colony and selected the site in 1823, but the baron failed to actually establish a settlement. Also, the "Baron" was not actual nobility but a flamboyant imposter.
In 1827, Stephen F. Austin located 100 families in the area under contracts he had obtained from Mexico earlier. Austin kept the name Bastrop in honor of the baron. From there, the settlement slowly took hold.
On June 8, 1832, the town was platted along conventional Mexican lines, with a square in the center and blocks set aside for public buildings and officially named Bastrop, but two years later the Coahuila y Texas legislature renamed it Mina in honor of Francisco Xavier Mina, a Mexican martyr and hero. The town was incorporated under the laws of Texas on December 18, 1837, and the name changed back to Bastrop.
Overlooking the center of the town is the Lost Pines Forest. Comprised of loblolly pine, the forest is the center of the westernmost stand of the southern pine forest. As the only timber available in the area, the forest contributed to the local economy. Bastrop began supplying Austin with lumber in 1839 and then San Antonio, the western Texas frontier, and into Mexico.
The first edition of The Bastrop Advertiser and County News (now just The Bastrop Advertiser) was published on March 1, 1853, giving it claim to being the oldest continuously published weekly (semi-weekly since September 5, 1977) in the state of Texas.
In 1979, the National Register of Historic Places admitted 131 Bastrop buildings and sites to its listings. This earned Bastrop the title of the "Most Historic Small Town in Texas."
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.9 km² (7.3 mi²). 18.8 km² (7.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.68% water.
Three miles (5 km) northeast of the town, Lake Bastrop is a 906 acre (3.7 km²) reservoir operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority since it impounding in 1964. Although primarily used as a cooling pond for the Sim Gideon Power Plant, the lake is also used for recreation, and the LCRA maintains two public parks on the lake.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there are 5340 people in Bastrop, organized into 2034 households and 1336 families. The population density is 283.6/km² (734.8/mi²). There are 2,239 housing units at an average density of 118.9/km² (308.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 72.34% White, 17.00% African American, 0.99% Asian, 0.73% Native American, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 7.02% from other races, and 1.91% from two or more races. 17.75% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.There are 2,034 households out of which 32.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% are married couples living together, 15.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% are non-families. 29.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 12.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.46 and the average family size is 3.05.
In the city the population is spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 97.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $40,212, and the median income for a family is $49,258. Males have a median income of $34,388 versus $27,582 for females. The per capita income for the city is $19,862. 11.7% of the population and 10.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.6% of those under the age of 18 and 13.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Economy
According to the [Bastrop Economic Development Corporation] as of 2004, the area's three largest employers are the Bastrop Independent school district, Wal-Mart, and the Bastrop County government. Also, The Hyatt Lost Pines was recently added to the area and has given a huge boost to employment in the area.Film industry
Several movies were at least partially filmed in Bastrop, including Lovin' Molly (1974), the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Home Fries (1998) and the 2004 remake of The Alamo. Projects not yet released include Everybody Loves Mandy Lane and Elvis and AngelaTrivia
- The community of Cedar Creek near Bastrop is the home of WWE wrestler The Undertaker. Bastrop is also the home of Professional Bullrider Sid Steiner, and former Texas Supreme Court Judge Tom Phillips.
References
- [Bastrop] from the Handbook of Texas Online
External links
- [Bastrop's official website]
- [Community information] from a former City Council member
- [Maps and aerial photos]
- * Street map from [Google Maps] or [Yahoo! Maps]
- * Topographic map from [TopoZone]
- * Aerial image or topographic map from [TerraServer-USA]
- * Satellite image from [Google Maps] or [Windows Live Local]
| State of Texas Texas Topics | History | Republic of Texas | Geography | Government | Politics | Economy | Texans |
|---|---|
| Capital | Austin |
|
Regions | Arklatex | Big Bend | Brazos Valley | Central Texas | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex | Deep East Texas | East Texas | Edwards Plateau | Galveston Bay | Golden Triangle | Greater Houston | North Texas | Northeast Texas | Permian Basin | Piney Woods | Rio Grande Valley | Texas Hill Country | Texas Panhandle | Llano Estacado | Southeast Texas | South Texas | West Texas |
|
Metropolitan areas | Abilene | Amarillo | Austin–Round Rock | Beaumont–Port Arthur | Brownsville–Harlingen | Bryan–College Station | Corpus Christi | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington | El Paso | Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown | Killeen–Temple | Laredo | Longview–Marshall | Lubbock | McAllen–Edinburg–Mission | Midland–Odessa | San Angelo | San Antonio | Sherman–Denison | Texarkana | Tyler | Victoria | Waco | Wichita Falls See also: List of Texas counties |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.