This was published Friday in REAL magazine.
There’s no denying that Old Bastrop is old. It is one of the oldest continuously settled spots in Central Texas.
“We wanted a town that was growing and still had a small-town feel,” says insurance agent J.R. Krcmar, whose offices are on Main Street. “And we found lots of good neighborhoods for families here.”
As early as the 17th century, the natural fords on the Colorado River here served the middle fork of the Camino Real from San Antonio to Nacogdoches.
The Spanish planted a fort, Puesta del Colorado, here as early as 1805. Stephen F. Austin coursed through the fertile valley that spread below high piney hills — part of his “Little Colony” — in the 1820s.
The town itself — named after a shady Belgian man of influence with the Mexican government who called himself the “Baron de Bastrop” — is seven years older than Austin. Founded in 1832, it was also briefly called Mina.
Among its most colorful early citizens were Gen. Edward Burleson, the first person buried in the Texas State Cemetery, and Josiah Wilbarger, a pioneer who survived a harrowing American Indian attack.
Easier to reach by water and blessed with nearby building material, Bastrop showed more promise than the buffalo hunting camp Waterloo, which, at the behest of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, became Austin and the capital.
Today, Old Bastrop lies among the Colorado River, Texas 71, Texas 95 and the railroad tracks. Although Old Bastrop sits high atop green banks, periodic floods have reached the town, especially before the impounding of the Highland Lakes in the 1930s.
The town was destroyed during the Texas Revolution, then burned to the ground again in 1862. In 1869, the highest flood in recorded history forced the evacuation of the whole town.
“It’s been flood, fire, flood, fire for our whole history,” says Cindye Wolford of the Bastrop Museum and Visitors Center. As a result of these disasters, few structures date back to Bastrop’s earliest days.
The core of Bastrop reflects, rather, the late 19th century and early 20th century. The tightly spaced, mostly brick commercial buildings are packed with character, as are the gracious houses planted on enormous lots shaded by ancient trees.
The arrival of the railroad in the 1870s and the opening nearby Camp Swift in the 1940s marked two periods of economic booms for Bastrop. Another permanent gift was Bastrop State Park, which grew out of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the piney woods.
The rescue of this physical history — as elsewhere in Central Texas — is partly credited to artists, hippies and others who, by the 1980s, had staunched the decay and opened cafes, shops and boutiques as well as the revived Bastrop Opera House, which continues to operate as a theater.
Even older is the Casino, a tiny 1850s brick structure that served as a German social and performance hall. Recently moved to the corner of Farm and Fayette streets, it might be the oldest extant theater structure in the state.
Not far away are the Bastrop County Courthouse and Bastrop County Historic Jail, a double-decker throwback to days when prisoners were hung from a hook in the ceiling. “It’s Bastrop’s most ignored tourist attraction,” says Jimmie Ann Vaughan, a former teacher and Bastrop real estate agent for the past 30 years.
One relatively recent addition along the river is the Bastrop Brewhouse, which extends over the steep banks through a series of decks. The Brewhouse is nestled in the Crossing, a group of old structures moved to ledges above a riverwalk.
“Now you can really enjoy the the river,” says Vaughan.
Not all has been bucolic in Bastrop’s past. An outpost of the Old South, it was strictly segregated and racist groups maintained a presence here well into the modern age. Recently, the Bastrop school district underwent a federal civil rights investigation for its treatment of Hispanic and African American students and employees.
The town is home to several gorgeous churches, none more elegant than the Bastrop Christian Church, a 1895 reminder of New England architecture on Church Street.
Some of the key Old Bastrop businesses are Deep in the Heart Art Foundry, Baxters on Main, Cindy’s Downtown, Maxine’s on Main and Abri Gallery Fine Persian and American Art.
Debi Moore has worked more than 12 years at Liberty Glenn Home Decor, a cornerstone of the current business boom.
“There are not many people who can say they’ve been right down on Main Street working every day,” Moore says. She says a key factor in the rise of Old Bastrop is the Downtown Business Alliance. “They put us on the map in many ways.”
The addition of a stoplight on Texas 71, the help of the national Main Street Program and the arrival of the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort also lifted Old Bastrop.
“So many small Texas towns are drying up and withering away,” says Julie Hart, who owns what was the Magnolia Inn and is now her residence. “We’re lucky. Bastrop is not.”
Controversy still pops up. Currently, some business leaders have promoted the idea of reserving a block of Main Street for pedestrians and to create more parking. Opponents point out that such efforts in other towns have led to stagnation.
The past 20 years have seen plenty of growth outside Old Bastrop as the town became more of a bedroom community for greater Austin.
“Our most valuable asset is our people,” Vaughan says. “Everybody says this is the friendliest place they’ve ever been. What sealed the deal for us was a little teenage girl at the Whataburger who was so nice. I mean, even the teenagers are nice!”