Bastrop Historical Museum

April 12, 2018

The Bastrop Historical Museum had one of the most interesting prehistoric artifacts we’ve seen.  It’s a fossil of the basal rear part of an American Mastodon skull found in the Colorado River near Bastrop in 1992.

The city of Bastrop was established in 1832 where the Colorado River crossed El Camino Real.  It was the westernmost Anglo settlement.

Baron de Bastrop had used his influence to help Moses Austin gain approval to bring settlers to the area and the town was named for him.  Moses Austin’s son Stephen chose Bastrop for his third colony.

The museum included some exhibits of items from Bastrop residents who were involved in the Texas Revolution.

This powder horn was used by W. H. Cordou at the Battle of San Jacinto

These spoons were made from coins taken from General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Bastrop was an important cotton-growing area.  An exhibit showed some ways cotton is used.

Field-picked cotton

Cottonseed hulls are used for feed mixes for livestock including goats, sheep, and cattle.

Cottonseed meal is used to make slow-release fertilizer.

A couple of blocks from the museum is Fisherman’s Park.  The city of Bastrop set aside some land on the river for a dock for fisherman.  In the 1950’s, a Ford dealer who owned an adjacent property gave customers who bought a new car each one square foot of that land. Deeds were recorded at the courthouse.  When an individual with a quit-claim deed tried to clear the land in 1985, citizens protested.  They thought the land was theirs.  The case was brought to trial and the citizens prevailed.

Deed for a square foot of “Fisherman’s Park”

The Colorado River viewed from Fisherman’s Park

We checked out some of Bastrop’s historical buildings after our visit to the museum.  The museum itself was the town’s first firehouse, then a jail, and then city hall before becoming a museum.

The building next door to the museum was built in 1897 and was used as a post office for fifty years.

An attorney occupies the space of the old post office now, but purchased furnishings from another post office and makes boxes available for rent.

This property has been a barbershop since 1891.

This building was constructed in 1855 and has been a drug store, complete with soda fountain, since 1905. It is known as Texas’s oldest drug store but we were sad to see it is now vacant and for lease.

The Bastrop County Jail served from 1892 to 1974.

The courthouse was built in 1884 and altered during the 1920’s.