A Brief History of Bastrop, Texas

Nestled amid pine-covered hills along the wooded banks of the Colorado River, Bastrop grew from a small frontier settlement into one of Central Texas’s oldest and most historically significant communities. Its story reflects the meeting of Indigenous traditions, Spanish and Mexican rule, early Anglo-American colonization, and the gradual emergence of a distinctly Texan town shaped by the river, the land, and successive generations of settlers.

Stephen F. Austin’s colonists began settling near present-day Bastrop in 1827, drawn to the fertile river valley and surrounding timber stands. The fledgling settlement became known as Austin’s Little Colony, recalling his original petition to establish a community of 100 settlers. It was later named Bastrop in honor of Philip Hendrik Nering Bögel, a Dutchman who adopted the title “Baron de Bastrop.” Through his influence and knowledge of Mexican law, he helped Austin navigate the new government’s colonization requirements.  His name endures in Bastrop County and in the towns of Bastrop, Texas, and Bastrop, Louisiana.

Bastrop was formally laid out as a town in 1832, when land commissioner Miguel Arciniega granted 17,713 acres for its establishment along the Colorado River. From this survey, the town developed through decades of settlement, civic growth, and cultural change. The timelines below trace significant 19th-century milestones, from the founding of the Little Colony to the organization of the Bastrop Ladies Reading Circle in 1897, and the significant development of Bastrop’s Public Library.