Bastrop Had to Begin Again After 1836 RoadyGoat

1834

Bastrop is one of those rare towns that effectively had to start over. A couple of years after it was founded, the settlement was renamed Mina, in honor of Francisco Xavier Mina, a Spanish-born soldier who had fought and died for Mexican independence. When the Texas Revolution broke out, the people of Mina were in it early, forming a local committee of safety, and Bastrop men fought at both the Alamo and San Jacinto. Then, in 1836, as Santa Anna's army pushed across Texas, families here joined the great panic eastward known as the Runaway Scrape, abandoning their homes and running for safety. When they finally came back, they found the town completely destroyed. They did not give up. They rebuilt, and in 1837 the Republic of Texas restored the old name, Bastrop. So this is not simply an old town. It is a town that was wiped off the map and then willed back into existence. (Source: Texas State Historical Association.)

Texas's First Licensed Woman Engineer Was From Here RoadyGoat

1938

Right here in Bastrop is the hometown of a quiet pioneer named Leah Moncure. In 1938 she became the first woman in Texas to hold a professional engineering license, a credential that for years carried her name almost alone on the state's roster of engineers. She was not a figurehead, either. She spent thirty-two years with the Texas Highway Department, doing the real work of building a state: research, planning the right-of-way for new roads, and road design itself, in an era when engineering was treated as a closed door for women. Her longtime home still stands on Main Street, and a Texas historical marker now tells her story to anyone who walks past. Every time you drive a smooth Texas highway, you are in part driving on the kind of careful engineering work she helped make ordinary. (Sources: Texas Department of Transportation; Texas Historical Commission.)

Bastrop Is Named for a Fake Baron RoadyGoat

1793

Bastrop is named for a European nobleman who was neither a nobleman nor originally named Bastrop. The man who called himself the Baron de Bastrop was really Philip Hendrik Nering Bogel, a Dutch tax collector born far away in Dutch Guiana. In 1793 he was accused of embezzling tax money back in the Netherlands, and with a reward posted for his capture, he fled, reinvented himself as Felipe Enrique Neri, and began presenting himself as a Dutch baron. He was, in plain terms, a wanted man wearing a fake title. And yet, here is the twist: the impostor turned out to genuinely matter. It was his intervention that helped Moses Austin win approval for the first Anglo colony in Texas, and he later issued land titles to Stephen F. Austin's settlers and served in the legislature of Coahuila and Texas. The town and county were named in his honor. So Bastrop carries the name of a tax-fraud fugitive who talked his way into becoming one of the most useful men in early Texas. (Source: Texas State Historical Association.)

The Gas Station

1974

The Gas Station, located on State Highway 304 in Bastrop, Texas, is a barbecue restaurant and horror movie tourist attraction site. The location is best-known for its appearance in the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . The Gas Station was established in 1960 and initially operated as a local gas station south of Bastrop. The location was featured in several scenes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974, but the building was eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair through the years. In 2014 the property was purchased by Roy and Lisa Rose, who moved from Ohio to Bastrop to restore the structure. The Rose family were fans of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise (the franchise and subsequent movie sequels spelled "chainsaw" as one word) and its filmmaker Tobe Hooper , who hailed from Austin, Texas. In 2016 the restoration project for The Gas Station reached its conclusion, and the owners procured various 1970s items, including an antique gas tank and Coca-Cola machine, to replicate those seen in the movie. It retained its original overhang signage: "We Slaughter Barbecue." The Gas Station was publicly unveiled in 2016 during an opening ceremony attended by actors Edwin Neal and Ed Guinn who appeared in the 1974 movie. Neal is known for his portrayal of the hitchhiker character, while Guinn is recognized for his role as a truck driver. In 2022 the owners were sued for copyright infringement by Vortex, Inc., holders of copyright for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, for the sale of a number of items without a licensing agreement. As of 2024 The Gas Station operated as a pit-stop barbecue restaurant and included a motel, multiple campsites, and a gift shop. The business (also referred to as the Last Chance Gas Station) is a popular tourist attraction in Bastrop County, and many fans of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise visit The Gas Station every year.

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Bastrop - The Lost Pines

1832

Bastrop is surrounded by the Lost Pines, an isolated stand of loblolly pines separated from the East Texas pine belt by about 100 miles. The 2011 wildfire devastated the area.

Bunton, John Wheeler

1835

John Wheeler Bunton, patriot and statesman, son of Joseph Robert and Phoebe (Desha) Bunton, was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, on February 22, 1807. He was educated at Princeton College, Kentucky, and studied law in Gallatin, Tennessee. He arrived in Texas in 1833 and settled first in Austin's colony in San Felipe; soon thereafter he moved to Mina (Bastrop), where, on May 17, 1835, he was elected secretary of the local committee of safety. Such committees, newly organized for protection against the Indians, became the first step toward Texas independence. Bunton represented Mina at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence , and was a member of the committee to draft the constitution of the new republic. Bunton was first sergeant of Robert M. Coleman 's company of Mina Volunteers. For the siege of Bexar on December 5–10, 1835, he was transferred to Capt. John York 's company. After being honorably discharged, he rejoined the army, on March 28, 1836. At the battle of San Jacinto he served on the staff of Gen. Sam Houston in Capt. Jesse Billingsley 's company of Mina Volunteers. Afterward, Bunton returned to his home, and from October 3 to December 21, 1836, he represented Bastrop County in the House of Representatives of the First Congress of the Republic of Texas. In the spring of 1836 Bunton returned to Gallatin, Tennessee, and married his sweetheart, Mary Howell. In April the Buntons, accompanied by 140 friends and slaves, left for Texas. At New Orleans they boarded the Julius Caesar carrying a cargo valued at $30,000. Near the Texas coast on April 12 the vessel was captured by Mexicans and taken to Matamoros, where all of the passengers were imprisoned for three months. After release, the Buntons and other passengers returned to Tennessee. Bunton soon headed another group that traveled by boat and entered Texas at Indianola on Matagorda Bay. While residing in Austin County, he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Third Congress. He is credited for the bill that established the Texas Rangers , the bill providing postal service, and the bill outlining the judiciary system. In 1840 he settled on a farm on Cedar Creek in Bastrop County, where he resided for seventeen years. In 1857 he moved to Mountain City, where he engaged in the cattle business. Bunton originated the famous Turkey Foot brand, which was registered in Hays County. He joined the First Christian Church at Lockhart and was baptized in Walnut Creek in Caldwell County. He was a very tall man, and family members said it was necessary to dam the creek to get sufficient water to immerse him. He was a member of the Texas Veterans Association and a charter member of the Philosophical Society of Texas . The Buntons had five sons and a daughter. On September 16, 1862, Mary Bunton died. Bunton was married again on July 26, 1865, in Bastrop County to Hermine C. Duval. He died at his home on August 24, 1879, and was buried in the Robinson Cemetery beside his first wife. In recognition of his patriotic services in behalf of Texas, on Texas Independence Day, March 2, 1932, the remains of John Wheeler and Mary Howell Bunton were moved and reinterred in the State Cemetery in Austin under the auspices of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas .

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Davis, Robert Earl, Jr. [DJ Screw]

1971

Rapper, disc jockey, and producer Robert Earl Davis Jr., known as DJ Screw, was born in Bastrop, Texas, on July 20, 1971, the son of Robert Earl and M. Deary Davis. His popularity was based largely on the unique style of music he performed, which was known as "screwed" or "screwed down" music, because it involved slowing the tempo of songs to half their normal speed or less. His nickname grew out of his practice of taking two records and "screwing" them together, using this method of changing the music's tempo. He was considered a pioneer in Houston's burgeoning rap scene, and a number of his musical associates went on to achieve their own notable success. As a child Davis lived in Smithville, Texas, and Los Angeles, California. At the age of five he began collecting records. By the age of ten, when he moved to Houston to stay with his truck-driver father, Davis dropped out of school to concentrate on music. He began his career as a disc jockey in 1989. He often stayed up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning working on tapes for which he skillfully gathered a handful of local artists and had them perform. DJ Screw made a major breakthrough in the music scene in 1993 with his album All Screwed Up! . Among his best sellers were June 27th , Hellraiser , Plots and Schemes , and The Final Chapter . Other albums included three volumes of 3'N the Mornin , and No Work, No Play . In 1996 he opened the Screwed Up Record and Tapes store and record label in Houston. He also organized the Screwed Up Click, a crew of local rappers who provided him with rhymes to complement his beats. He died of a drug overdose in the restroom of his Houston recording studio on November 16, 2000, just as the Bayou City was becoming nationally recognized as a mecca for Southern rap. After DJ Screw's death, his father Robert Earl Davis, Sr., founded the DJ Screw Foundation to honor and carry on his son's musical legacy. In 2006 DJ Screw: The Untold Story , a CD/DVD on the rap artist, was released by Double Platinum Entertainment. The first annual DJ Screwfest, held in Pasadena, Texas, in July of that year, celebrated the rapper's music and hosted popular rap performers and a car show. M. D. Anderson Library at the University of Houston hosted an exhibit, DJ Screw and the Rise of Houston Hip Hop , in 2012.

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Bastrop, Baron de, Monument

1821

Erected in recognition of the distinguished service to Texas of Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, 1770-1829. Pioneer Red River empresario, land commissioner of Austin's colony, member of the Congress of Coahuila and Texas. Through his aid, Moses Austin secured from the Spanish government in 1821, the first contract for the Anglo-American colonization of Texas. In his honor, the name of this town and that of this county, a part of Austin's 1821 grant, known as the municipality of Mina in 1834 and the County of Mina after March 17, 1836, was changed on December 18, 1837 to Bastrop. Let this name bring to mind the friend and advocate of the pioneer in a foreign land.

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Leah Moncure, P.E.

1904

(June 7, 1904 - January 17, 1972)
 As the Texas Highway Department's first female engineer, Leah Moncure, P.E., broke barriers at a time when the engineering field was dominated by men. Leah was born in Bastrop to Cassius Lee (C.L.) Moncure, a Bastrop County Surveyor and a civil engineer, and Hattie Nuckols Moncure. The family moved into a house on Main Street in 1911. At an early age, Leah showed an interest in the surveying profession and became familiar with tools, materials and methods, often acting as a draftsman for her father. Early on, doctors predicted that Leah would not grow into adulthood as she was born with a congenital heart defect. However, Leah persevered. She graduated in 1925 from Baylor University with high honors and a double major in mathematics and education. As she looked for an engineering opportunity, she found her options limited. Moncure taught in Houston for a year before working for a consulting firm.
 Realizing that she needed a degree in civil engineering to pursue the career of her dreams, Leah enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), School of Engineering and graduated in 1937. On April 22, 1938, Leah Moncure became Engineer No. 2250, the state's first woman to register as a professional engineer and the only licensed female for a number of years. Moncure also became the first female life member of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Moncure worked for the Texas Highway Department for 32 years, specializing in research, right-of-way, and road design in east Texas and Austin. Leah retired in 1964 and moved back to her childhood home on Main Street. In 1965, a scholarship for female engineering students at UT Austin was established in her name. Moncure died in 1972 and is buried in Bastrop's Fairview Cemetery. (2020)

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Bastrop, Texas

Music in Bastrop

Songs About Bastrop

Artists From Bastrop

Rivers & Roads in Song near Bastrop

History of Bastrop

Bastrop Had to Begin Again After 1836 RoadyGoat

Texas's First Licensed Woman Engineer Was From Here RoadyGoat

Bastrop Is Named for a Fake Baron RoadyGoat

The Gas Station

Bastrop - The Lost Pines

Bunton, John Wheeler

Davis, Robert Earl, Jr. [DJ Screw]

Bastrop, Baron de, Monument

Leah Moncure, P.E.

Things to Do in Bastrop

Everything Near Bastrop