Skip to content

La Grange, Texas

Everything La Grange is known for

14 songs mention this city 3 artists from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through La Grange. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Sign up for the free newsletter Get the iPhone app

Music in La Grange

Songs About La Grange

truckstop in la grange
dale watson
90%
La Grange
Jamey Johnson
83%
"Bout that shack outside La Grange"
La Grange
ZZ Top
82%
"About that shack outside La Grange"
Truck Stop in La Grange
Dale Watson
81%
"Truck Stop in La Grange"
La Grange
Black Oak Arkansas
80%
"'Bout that shack outside La Grange"
truckstop in la grange
bastard sons of johnny cash
78%
La Grange
Hank Williams, Jr.
77%
"About that shack outside of La Grange"
My Hometown
Charlie Robison
55%
"But La Grange was too damn hot"
Hinnom, TX
Bon Iver
55%
"I got outta La Grange"
Corsicana Lemonade
White Denim
54%
"walk out to La Grange"
Northeast Texas Women
Willis Alan Ramsey
51%
"Down in old La Grange"
Fruits of my Labor
Lucinda Williams
50%
Sister of Pain
Vince Neil
50%
River Fever
Joe Ely
50%

Artists From La Grange

S
Season Ammons
americana
G
Gabbie Nolan
country
J
Josh Tiemann
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near La Grange

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near La Grange.

Texas Colorado River 6 songs Texas State Highway 71 2 songs Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs Guadalupe River 18 songs Brazos River 43 songs

Musical Heritage

Texas Czech Heritage and Culture Museum RoadyGoat

In La Grange, the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center keeps a whole world alive — the artifacts, the memorabilia, and the Texas Czech Village, a cluster of buildings that mean something to the families who settled this stretch of Fayette County. Locals voted it the county's best museum in 2023. But the day to catch it is May Fest — the slavnost kicks off at half past ten in the morning with a tribute to the Czech immigrants who came to Texas, then a fried chicken lunch, and then the whole afternoon turns over to live music from Donnie Wavra and Friends Orchestra. There's a kolache table, a classic car show, dancing, a country store. Come hungry. Stay for the accordion.

RoadyGoat →

The Chicken Ranch and La Grange's ZZ Top fame RoadyGoat

You already know how the ZZ Top song goes — that low, dirty shuffle, and word about a place in La Grange with, as the lyric puts it, a lot of nice girls. That place was real. The Chicken Ranch, a brothel just outside town, is La Grange's most famous export — the song's about it, and so is the musical and movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." But there's a whole other La Grange the song skips right past. Czech and German families settled here in the mid-1800s, and their descendants still fill these streets. The Fayette County Courthouse presides over a square lined with restaurants and boutiques. An hour from Austin, two from Houston or San Antonio. Come for the song. The town's got a longer story than three chords let on.

RoadyGoat →

Weikel's Bakery RoadyGoat

ZZ Top put La Grange on the map with three chords and a growl. But get here early, before that little Fayette County town wakes all the way up, and the thing worth stopping for is at Weikel's Bakery. The dough is Czech, honed by Jo Ann Schobel, whose grandparents came over and settled here a hundred-odd years back. The recipe came down from her mother, Nolie, and it stays a secret — don't bother asking. They turn out kolaches by the fistful, apricot and poppy seed in variety six-packs, and the meat-stuffed kind, which if you want to sound like you belong, you call klobasniky. Hundreds of Honey Bee Rolls come out of that oven from scratch every single day. Get the six-pack. Thank me down the road.

RoadyGoat →

The Town Behind the Song RoadyGoat

1973

If the name La Grange rings a bell even for people who have never set foot in Texas, you can thank a two-minute boogie classic. The little Texas blues-rock trio behind the song borrowed the town's name for a growling, foot-stomping single called simply La Grange, from their 1973 album Tres Hombres. The song winked at a long-standing local landmark out on the edge of town that everybody knew about and nobody talked about openly, a country house quietly tolerated for generations through an understanding with local authorities. The arrangement ran until a Houston television reporter named Marvin Zindler put it on the evening news in 1973 and the publicity forced it to close that same year. The story did not fade. It went on to inspire a hit Broadway musical and then a Hollywood film, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. Not bad for a quiet courthouse town: a rock anthem, a Broadway show, and a movie, all pointing back here.

History of La Grange

La Grange, TX RoadyGoat

La Grange, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the Spanish period. It was an early crossing point of the Colorado River along La Bahía of the El Camino Real. The first Anglo-American settlement on the city's present location was by Stephen F. Austin's band of colonists in 1822. John Henry Moore built a blockhouse in 1828 for protection from the Comanche, which is now known as Moore's Fort. The town was platted in 1837 during the Republic of Texas period as the county seat for Fayette County. Both the town and county were named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought with the Americans in the American Revolution. The town was also a major site of German and Czech settlement after the revolutions of 1848. In 1842, the Dawson Massacre occurred near San Antonio, and the remains of those killed were later reinterred in La Grange in a large common tomb. The Kreische Brewery, which became the third-largest brewing operation in Texas by 1879, was established in La Grange in 1860 by German immigrant Heinrich Ludwig Kreische.

La Grange, TX RoadyGoat

In 1842, the Dawson Massacre occurred near San Antonio, in which numerous Texas militia were killed by Mexican forces. The remains of those killed, along with those from the black bean death lottery of the Mier Expedition, were later exhumed and reinterred in La Grange in a large common tomb. A ceremony was held on September 18, 1848, at the location now known as Monument Hill, attended by more than 1,000 people, including former president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston.

RoadyGoat →

The Barrow Gang Men in the Fayette County Jail RoadyGoat

On the ninth of November, 1932, two men walked into the Carmine State Bank up the road north of here at about a quarter past eleven in the morning. They made the cashier Herbert Doerr, the bank president William Stuermer, a director named William Plueckhahn and two customers put their hands in the air while they scraped about fourteen hundred dollars off the counter, then backed out, got into a Chevrolet coupe and left. Sheriff Will Loessin and Deputy Jim Flournoy went straight for Carmine. Witnesses had the pair buying gas on the Ellinger road and then coming right through La Grange over the Jefferson Street bridge. The getaway car turned up abandoned in Smithville. The two were Raymond Hamilton, who ran with Clyde Barrow, and Gene O'Dare, and they made it all the way to Bay City, Michigan before they were arrested in December. A Fayette County grand jury indicted them both. O'Dare drew life for the Carmine job in February, with seven deputies around him as they walked him back to his cell. Hamilton was brought back here in May to stand trial, and the county doubled the guard on the jail, because he had a habit of getting out of jails and everybody was afraid Bonnie and Clyde would come for him. He got ninety nine years.

RoadyGoat →

The Black Bean Incident — Monument Hill, La Grange

1842

In 1842-1843, 17 Texian prisoners of war drew black beans from a clay pot and were executed by firing squad in Mexico — punishment ordered by Santa Anna for an escape attempt after the Battle of Mier. Their remains, along with those of the Dawson Massacre, were reinterred at Monument Hill in La Grange in 1848.

Historical Account →

Chicken Ranch

1844

The "Chicken Ranch" in La Grange, Fayette County, made famous by the Broadway musical and movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas , was perhaps the oldest continuously running brothel in the nation. Institutionalized prostitution in La Grange can be traced back to 1844, when a widow, "Mrs. Swine," brought three young women from New Orleans and settled in a small hotel near the saloon. Mrs. Swine became the first madam and began a tradition of interaction with the community and local lawmen that lasted almost 130 years. She and the girls and women who worked for her carried on a lucrative business, using the hotel lobby for entertaining and a room upstairs for services, until the Civil War , when she and a faithful prostitute named Tillie were run out of town as Yankees and traitors. After the war prostitution continued to operate in conjunction with the saloons in La Grange, but no official records were kept. By the end of the nineteenth century, prostitution had moved out of the hotels and into a red-light district on the banks of the Colorado River. There Miss Jessie Williams (born Faye Stewart) bought a small house soon after her arrival from Waco in 1905. She continued the custom set by her predecessor of good relations with the law and ran the only respectable house on the banks of the Colorado River; she admitted politicians and lawmen but excluded drunkards. Through her connections she learned of an impending crusade against the red-light district, sold the house she owned in Waco, and bought two dwellings and eleven acres outside of the city limits of La Grange and two blocks from the road to Houston. This became the location of the Chicken Ranch. In 1917 two sisters arrived at the house and were taken in and promoted to "middle-management" positions by Miss Jessie. They were in charge of public relations and sent packages and letters to local boys fighting in World War I . One of the sisters eventually married an older, wealthy customer and moved to San Antonio, where she became, as one author says, "a beloved benefactor and patron of the arts." The other sister stayed in her middle-management position until her death. As the war ended and America entered the twenties, automobiles made the establishment accessible to many more customers. New prostitutes came and necessitated more rooms and new furniture. The rooms were simply built onto the main house in a haphazard fashion as needed, a style that continued until the closing of the place. Miss Jessie stayed on good terms with the sheriff, Will Lossein, who visited every evening to pick up gossip and get information on criminals who had visited the whorehouse and bragged of their exploits. Many crimes in La Grange were solved in this way. While the sheriff kept a tight grip on criminals, Miss Jessie ruled the house with a firm hand. Nothing exotic was allowed, and none of the bedroom doors had locks on them. Miss Jessie would walk the halls, and if she heard a customer giving one of her girls a hard time she would chase him out of the room and house with an iron rod and perhaps never admit him again. As the Great Depression hit and the economy fell, Miss Jessie was forced to lower her prices. Though initially she still had plenty of clients, as times grew harder, customers were not so plentiful and the girls grew hungry. Miss Jessie therefore began the "poultry standard" of charging "one chicken for one screw." Soon chickens were everywhere, and the establishment became known as the Chicken Ranch. The girls were never hungry. Miss Jessie supplemented the income by selling surplus chickens and eggs. The economy began to turn around as the Civilian Conservation Corps began construction of Camp Swift near La Grange, and the shortage of men and money declined. The establishment used the same public-relations tactics in World War II as in the First World War, and the ranch began an economic recovery from the depression. As the war ended, Miss Jessie was confined to a whee

Tsha Handbook →

Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

1974

In 1974 Texas writer Larry L. King wrote an article about the notorious " Chicken Ranch ," an illegal but tolerated brothel in La Grange, Fayette County, Texas. The establishment operated from 1905 until 1973, when consumer-affairs reporter Marvin Zindler from KTRK-TV in Houston, ran an exposé on the ranch, which resulted in authorities closing it down. King and Texas-born singer and songwriter Carol Hall met by chance at the Cellar Door in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., where King was based at the time. The idea for a musical was born at this meeting, and in 1976 another Texan, Peter Masterson, an experienced Broadway actor, was brought in, and the idea was further developed. King and Masterson wrote the book, and Hall wrote the songs. The musical was performed as a workshop project at the Actors Studio in New York in October 1977. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was subsequently produced at the Entermedia Theatre, New York, in April 1978. This production was directed by Peter Masterson and fellow Texan Tommy Tune, with choreography by Tune, and featured Carlin Glynn as "Miss Mona" and Henderson Forsythe as "Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd." In June 1978 the musical moved to the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway. Over 3,000 hopefuls auditioned for the production, which ran for 1, 584 performances before closing in March 1982. Larry L. King made his first and last Broadway appearance when he took the stage, playing Sheriff Dodd for a two-week stint during the Broadway run. The show was described as "reasonably good, if raunchy..." and "offered the added attraction of a country-and-western style score" according to the Oxford Companion to American Theatre , while The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was a success "thanks to earthy Texan dialogue, skillfully etched characters" and "songs that combined Nashville with Broadway," stated Andrew Lamb in his book 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre . The show won a number of awards: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical-Henderson Forsythe (1979); Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical-Carlin Glynn (1979); Theatre World Award-Carlin Glynn (1978-79); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical-Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune (1978); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics-Carol Hall (1978); and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music-Carol Hall (1978). The "Aggie Song" was performed on the Tony Awards broadcast but was heavily censored because of the saucy nature of the lyrics and choreography. In 1979 The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened in Houston at the Tower and was the first Broadway musical to have an open-ended season in Texas. In 1982 Glynn and Hall were cast in "a return engagement." After nine previews, this production opened on May 31 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and ran for sixty-three performances. The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public , a short-lived sequel, was staged on Broadway in 1994. Ann-Margret starred in a national touring production in 2001. In 1982 a movie version of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas , filmed in Austin, was released by Universal, with a cast that included Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Charles Durning, Jim Nabors, Lois Nettleton, Noah Beery, Jr., and Barry Corbin. The movie was directed by Colin Higgins. Dolly Parton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), and the movie was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Charles Durning was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Tsha Handbook →

Monument Hill - Black Bean Episode

1842

Tomb at La Grange holding the remains of Texan soldiers killed by Mexican forces during the 1842 Dawson Massacre and the Mier Expedition's Black Bean Lottery of 1843.

La Grange - Czech Heritage and the Chicken Ranch

1831

Fayette County seat with deep Czech heritage and the dubious distinction of hosting the Chicken Ranch, the infamous brothel that inspired 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.'

Black Bean Episode

1843

The Black Bean Episode, an aftermath of the Mier Expedition , resulted from an attempted escape of the captured Texans as they were being marched from Mier to Mexico City. After an escape at Salado, Tamaulipas, on February 11, 1843, some 176 of the men were recaptured within about a week. A decree that all who participated in the break were to be executed was modified to an order to kill every tenth man. Col. Domingo Huerta was to be in charge of the decimation. The victims were chosen by lottery, each man drawing a bean from an earthen jar containing 176 beans, seventeen black beans being the tokens signifying death. Commissioned officers were ordered to draw first; then the enlisted men were called as their names appeared on the muster rolls. William A. A. (Bigfoot) Wallace , standing close to the scene of the drawing, decided that the black beans were the larger and fingered the tokens successfully to draw a white bean. Observers of the drawing later described the dignity, the firmness, the light temper, and general courage of the men who drew the beans of death. Some left messages for their families with their companions; a few had time to write letters home. The doomed men were unshackled from their companions, placed in a separate courtyard, and shot at dusk on March 25, 1843. The seventeen victims of the lottery were James Decatur Cocke , William Mosby Eastland , Patrick Mahan , James M. Ogden , James N. Torrey , Martin Carroll Wing , John L. Cash, Robert Holmes Dunham, Edward E. Este, Robert Harris, Thomas L. Jones, Christopher Roberts, William N. Rowan, James L. Shepherd, J. N. M. Thompson, James Turnbull, and Henry Walling. Shepherd survived the firing squad by pretending to be dead. The guards left him for dead in the courtyard, and he escaped in the night but was recaptured and shot. In 1848 the bodies were returned from Mexico to be buried at Monument Hill , near La Grange, Fayette County.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in La Grange

historical 24.8 mi away
The Fire That Nearly Took the Lost Pines

On September 4 2011 strong winds from a nearby tropical storm snapped trees onto power lines east of Bastrop. Three separate fires merged into the most…
quirky 0.4 mi away
The Chicken Ranch

A brothel outside La Grange operated continuously from the 1840s until Houston television reporter Marvin Zindler exposed it in 1973 -- one of the…
food 15.5 mi away
Royers Round Top Cafe

Bud Royer's pie-mecca on the Round Top square — buttermilk, pecan, and a daily rotation of about ten flavors. Statewide-famous and the anchor of the…
music 16.2 mi away
Festival Institute

Festival Hill: a 210-acre classical-music campus on Jaster Road hosting summer concerts, recitals, and a renowned festival in its grand concert hall.
food 11.2 mi away
Hruska's Bakery & Store

Family-run Czech bakery on Highway 71 in Ellinger since 1912. Kolaches, klobasniky, and a roadside-store side hustle for travelers between Houston and Austin.
food 15.4 mi away
Round Top Brewing

Nanobrewery and kitchen on the square pouring house-made craft beer.
food 15.4 mi away
Il Cuculo

Italian restaurant and cocktail bar inside Hotel Lulu, just off the square on Mill Street.
historical 15.4 mi away
Henkel Square Market

A restored village of 1800s German-Texan buildings on the square, now home to boutique shops, makers, and a market hall.
day trip
Day Trip to La Grange 🍺 (FULL EPISODE) S4 E3

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Everything Near La Grange

501 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • La Grange, TX

    La Grange, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the Spanish period. It was an early crossing point of the Colorado River along La Bahía of the El Camino Real. The first Anglo-American settlement on the city's…

  • The Barrow Gang Men in the Fayette County Jail

    On the ninth of November, 1932, two men walked into the Carmine State Bank up the road north of here at about a quarter past eleven in the morning. They made the cashier Herbert Doerr, the bank president William…

  • What It Cost to Close the Chicken Ranch

    Everybody gets told the Chicken Ranch closed in 1973 because a Houston television reporter put it on the news. That part is true. What does not get told is how badly this town took it. Marvin Zindler ran the story on…

  • The Texas Capital That Almost Was

    La Grange came within one signature of changing the map of Texas. In 1838, when the young Republic of Texas was hunting for a permanent capital, a site commission rode out and picked a tract on the Colorado River right…

  • Texas Czech Heritage and Culture Museum

    In La Grange, the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center keeps a whole world alive — the artifacts, the memorabilia, and the Texas Czech Village, a cluster of buildings that mean something to the families who settled…

  • The Chicken Ranch and La Grange's ZZ Top fame

    You already know how the ZZ Top song goes — that low, dirty shuffle, and word about a place in La Grange with, as the lyric puts it, a lot of nice girls. That place was real. The Chicken Ranch, a brothel just outside…

  • Weikel's Bakery

    ZZ Top put La Grange on the map with three chords and a growl. But get here early, before that little Fayette County town wakes all the way up, and the thing worth stopping for is at Weikel's Bakery. The dough is Czech,…

  • The Reward That Only Paid for Dead Ones

    Two months after the Carmine bank was robbed, three strangers showed up in Carmine and the town noticed. People phoned Deputy Flournoy. He watched them, figured they would do it that day, and when they came back the…

  • The Top Ten Fugitive and the River Valley Apartments

    On the thirtieth of May, 2021, a man named David Wayne Harrison Junior was shot and killed at the River Valley Apartments here in La Grange. That evening he had argued with a young woman. She called her father, Charles…

  • The Sheriff Ran a Private Line Out to the Chicken Ranch

    Everybody knows there was a house out on the edge of La Grange, and everybody knows a band from Houston made it famous. The part that gets left out is what the sheriff got out of it. Jim Flournoy took office in 1946 and…

  • La Grange - Czech Heritage and the Chicken Ranch · Historical Marker

    Fayette County seat with deep Czech heritage and the dubious distinction of hosting the Chicken Ranch, the infamous brothel that inspired 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.'

  • The Fort the Town Grew Up Around

    Before La Grange was a town, it was a fort. In 1826, decades before the courthouse or the railroad, a frontiersman named John Henry Moore built Moore's Fort right here, a twin blockhouse of squared logs, on what is now…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Named for a French Hero’s Country Estate

    The name La Grange comes straight out of the French Revolution era, by way of an American hero. When this county was organized in 1837, it was named Fayette in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the young French…

  • The Years La Grange Nearly Came Apart

    No fighting ever reached this town during the Civil War, and then it very nearly tore itself apart after it. In May of 1865, with the war just over, Confederate veterans coming home through La Grange went at the German…

  • The Black Bean Lottery · 0.1 mi

    In March of eighteen forty-three, two hundred forty-three captured Texian soldiers were forced to draw beans from a clay pot held by a Mexican officer. One hundred fifty-nine beans were white. Seventeen were black.…

  • The Town Behind the Song · 0.1 mi

    If the name La Grange rings a bell even for people who have never set foot in Texas, you can thank a two-minute boogie classic. The little Texas blues-rock trio behind the song borrowed the town's name for a growling,…

  • Fayette County Jail · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the 1883 Fayette County Jail in La Grange. This impressive Victorian Gothic structure, designed by architects Wahrenberger and Andrewartha, featured 16 cells and living quarters for the…

  • Fayette County Courthouse · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Fayette County Courthouse in La Grange, a stunning example of Romanesque Revival architecture. Designed by James Riely Gordon, who would go on to design many other public buildings across Texas,…

  • Casino Hall · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're rolling past the Casino Hall in La Grange, a building that's been a cornerstone of community life since 1880. Designed with a striking Italianate style, it wasn't for gambling, but for social gatherings,…

  • Beer Office and Bottling Company · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Beer Office and Bottling Company, built between 1856 and 1859 as a hotel. In 1893, Fritz Presun bought it for brewery sales, adding a bottling operation called The Crown Soda Factory in 1897. His…

  • Birthplace of the SPJST · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Fayette County Courthouse in La Grange, the very place where a piece of Czech-Texan history was forged. On December 28, 1896, twenty-five immigrants gathered right here to create something new.…

  • Twin Blockhouse · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Twin Blockhouse, built around 1828. This wasn't just a home; it was a fortress. John Henry Moore, a famous Indian fighter and commander at the Battle of Gonzales, built and owned this…

  • John Henry Moore · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the marker honoring John Henry Moore, a name you should remember. He was a legendary Indian fighter and the man who commanded the Texians at the Battle of Gonzales on October 2nd, 1835. That was the…

  • First Roadside Park in Texas · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the very first roadside park in Texas, established way back in the fall of 1933. A local highway official built tables and benches here, encouraging travelers to stop and rest. Texas was a pioneer in…

  • City Library Building · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the La Grange City Library, a building with a long and fascinating history. It started life in 1852 as the home of J. C. Stiehl, built in the traditional German 'fachwerk' style. Look for those…

  • Kaulbach Home · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Kaulbach Home in La Grange, built in 1885 by H.B. Kaulbach, an insurance agent. Notice the Victorian style, with its two-story gallery and graceful arches. This house actually incorporates five…

  • Lenert House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Lenert House in La Grange, a beautiful example of high Victorian Italianate architecture. <break time="400ms"/> Albert and Amelia Lenert, who both came to Texas from Germany as children, built…

  • Hermes House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hermes House in La Grange, a Folk Victorian beauty with a story stretching back to 1855. That's when Dr. William Hermes, a German immigrant, arrived to practice medicine. In 1892, he gifted this…

  • Kallus House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Kallus House, built between 1885 and 1886. It became home to Frank J. Kallus, a Moravian immigrant who taught school and practiced law here in La Grange. The house stayed in the family for…

  • St. James Episcopal Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. James Episcopal Church in La Grange, still serving Fayette County after all these years. The parish was formed way back in 1855, but this building wasn't completed until 1885, on land donated by…

  • Plum Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Plum Grove Baptist Church, a place that served its community from 1870 until about 1904. This cemetery is all that remains of that congregation. They built their sanctuary in 1870,…

  • The Chicken Ranch · 0.4 mi · Things to Do

    A brothel outside La Grange operated continuously from the 1840s until Houston television reporter Marvin Zindler exposed it in 1973 -- one of the…

  • Faison House, The · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Faison House, built starting in 1841. It began as just two rooms of local pine. In 1855, S. S. Munger acquired it and enlarged the home. But the most dramatic story belongs to N. W.…

  • Robson, W. S. · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former home of William Sion Robson, a man who wore many hats in Fayette County. Born in Georgia in 1851, Robson came to Texas as a child, eventually settling near La Grange. After trying his hand…

  • Chicken Ranch · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The "Chicken Ranch" in La Grange, Fayette County, made famous by the Broadway musical and movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas , was perhaps the oldest continuously running brothel in the nation. Institutionalized…

  • Best Little Whorehouse in Texas · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    In 1974 Texas writer Larry L. King wrote an article about the notorious " Chicken Ranch ," an illegal but tolerated brothel in La Grange, Fayette County, Texas. The establishment operated from 1905 until 1973, when…

  • Black Bean Episode · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The Black Bean Episode, an aftermath of the Mier Expedition , resulted from an attempted escape of the captured Texans as they were being marched from Mier to Mexico City. After an escape at Salado, Tamaulipas, on…

  • Cox, Thomas Washington · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, where preacher Thomas Washington Cox once stood. He was a leader among early Texas Baptists, even moderating the first state Baptist convention in <say-as…

  • Dawson, Nicholas Mosby · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, where a tragic event unfolded in the fall of 1842. Nicholas Dawson, a veteran of the Texas Revolution, organized a company of about fifty men to join the Texas…

  • Faison, Nathaniel W. · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County right now, and maybe you're passing La Grange. Back in 1842, a local surveyor and merchant named Nathaniel Faison joined Captain Nicholas Dawson's company of volunteers, eager to…

  • Highsmith, Benjamin Franklin · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, where Benjamin Highsmith settled his family way back in 1823. Highsmith was just fifteen when he first saw San Antonio, and he jumped right into the fight…

  • Moore, John Henry · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, and you're passing through the stomping grounds of John Henry Moore, a true Texas Revolution veteran. He arrived in Texas back in 1821, joining Stephen F. Austin's…

  • Kreische Brewery-Monument Hill State Historic Sites · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near La Grange, and right here on this bluff overlooking the Colorado River is a place with a dual history. In 1848, this was chosen as a final resting place for Texans lost in the Dawson Massacre and the…

  • Eastland, William Mosby · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    William Mosby Eastland, soldier, was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on March 21, 1806, the son of Thomas B. and Nancy (Mosby) Eastland. As a child he moved with his family to Tennessee where he was reared and…

  • Torrey, James Nash · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    James Nash Torrey, son of Jacob N. and Laura (Kilburn) Torrey, was born in Ashford, Connecticut, on January 3, 1821, and came to Texas at the age of twenty to join his brothers John F., David K., and Thomas S. Torrey .…

  • Dancy, John Winfield Scott · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here in La Grange is where John Winfield Scott Dancy spent his final years. He wasn't just any legislator; Dancy was a true innovator. He introduced long-staple cotton to…

  • Gillespie, Robert Addison · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, perhaps near La Grange, where Robert Addison Gillespie set up shop as a merchant in 1839. But Gillespie wasn't just a businessman; he was a soldier through and through. He fought…

  • Ingram, John · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the heart of Texas, and right here, John Ingram was one of the very first settlers, arriving way back in 1821. He came seeking opportunity, but found constant battles with Native American tribes…

  • Ledbetter, Lena Dancy · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through La Grange, Texas, the birthplace of Lena Dancy Ledbetter. Born in 1850, she lived a life woven with music and civic duty. During the Civil War, her family's plantation here became a refuge for…

  • Murchison, John · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County right now, and the man who represented it in the Republic of Texas Congress, John Murchison, met his end on a historic journey. Murchison, who'd fought in the Texas army and…

  • Rabb, William · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, Texas, and right here is the site of an incredible feat of early Texas ingenuity. William Rabb, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, had a massive task: transport two…

  • Scallorn, Stephen · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, and right here is the site of Texas's very first Baptist church west of the Colorado River. It was organized in April of 1839 by Stephen and William Scallorn,…

  • Short, John · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, where the John Short family carved out a life in the mid-1800s. They were pioneers, yes, but also involved in something much darker. While some historians…

  • La Grange, TX · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through La Grange, a town with a history as dramatic as the Colorado River it sits on. Back in 1867, this community faced a devastating yellow fever epidemic. In just a few months, from August to…

  • Latimer, Albert Hamilton · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Albert Hamilton Latimer, legislator and judge, the son of Jane (Hamilton) and James L. Latimer , was born in Huntingdon, Tennessee, on May 25, probably in 1800. He was first married to Elritta Smith in Tennessee on…

  • Rabb, Thomas · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Thomas Rabb, farmer, Texas Ranger , Confederate captain, and stock raiser, was born to Andrew and Margaret Howell (Ragsdale) Rabb on January 26, 1831, in what is now Wharton County, Texas. His father, Andrew Rabb , one…

  • Meerscheidt House · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through La Grange, and to your right, you're passing the Meerscheidt House. Built in 1884, this home is a fantastic example of late Victorian architecture, a testament to the German immigrants who shaped…

  • Baylor, Henry Weidner · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, maybe near La Grange. Right here, a doctor named Henry Weidner Baylor served Texas. After studying medicine, he came to La Grange to practice. When the Mexican War broke out, he…

  • Burgess, George Farmer · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is the area around La Grange, where George Farmer Burgess began his remarkable career. Born in Wharton in 1861, Burgess moved to this area in 1888 to farm. He…

  • Burns, James Randolph · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, where James Randolph Burns lived. When Texas seceded, Burns was tasked with forming a cavalry battalion. By October 1863, his unit became the Thirty-fifth…

  • Fayette County · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, a place settled by pioneers who faced down Comanche raids and the harsh realities of the Texas frontier. Right here, settlers gathered at places like Wood's Fort and Moore's Fort,…

  • Fields, Smallwood S. B. · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, right where lawyer and editor Smallwood Fields settled back in 1838, when this county was just getting organized. Fields wasn't just a lawyer and politician, serving in the Texas…

  • Franke, Louis · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, where a scholar, a Texas Ranger, and a state representative met a tragic end. Louis Franke, born in Germany, earned a law degree before immigrating to…

  • Killough, Ira Griffin · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is where Ira Griffin Killough settled down after the Civil War. He came to Texas in 1851, farming and raising stock near Clear Creek. But when the war broke out in…

  • Lane, Jonathan · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, Texas, and right here is La Grange, home of Jonathan Lane. Lane wasn't just any politician; he was a state senator, representing Fayette, Bastrop, and Lee counties in the late…

  • Moore, Littleton Wilde · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, heading towards La Grange. Right here is where Littleton Wilde Moore made his mark. A lawyer and a Civil War captain, Moore returned to La Grange after the war and became a…

  • Rabb, Andrew · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, where Andrew Rabb first settled in Texas back in the 1820s. He was part of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists, clearing land and facing down Indian…

  • Rodgers, M. M. · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here, M. M. Rodgers was a powerful force in Texas politics. Born in 1859, Rodgers was a businessman and a key figure in the Black self-help movement. He served as deputy…

  • Texas Monumental and Military Institute · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near La Grange, Texas, where in 1856, the Texas Monumental and Military Institute opened its doors. This wasn't just any school; it was built on funds originally meant for a monument to Texans killed in…

  • Webb, William Graham · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, where William Graham Webb made his home. This lawyer, soldier, and newspaperman arrived in Texas before the Mexican War, enlisting as a private in Jack…

  • Andrews, Reddin, Jr. · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, where Reddin Andrews Jr. was born in 1848. He was a preacher, a politician, and even the first Texas-born president of Baylor University. Andrews was a man of many…

  • La Grange Intelligencer · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, where back in the 1840s, a newspaper called the La Grange Intelligencer was trying to make its way in the world. Published starting in January 1844, its motto was…

  • Ledbetter, William Hamilton · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near La Grange, where William Hamilton Ledbetter practiced law. He was a Confederate lieutenant in the Civil War, fighting in Louisiana. He was captured in 1863 at the Battle of…

  • Nave, Royston · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, the birthplace of Royston Nave. Born in 1886, Nave became a painter who studied in New York under famous artists like Robert Henri. He served in World War…

  • Price, Larkin Foster · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here in La Grange, Larkin Foster Price made his mark. He wasn't just a lawyer and judge; Price was a state legislator, serving in both the Seventh and Ninth Texas…

  • Teichmueller, Hans · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, maybe even passing La Grange right now. This is the adopted home of Hans Teichmueller. He was born in Germany in 1837, and after a few detours, including a stint as a cabin boy, he…

  • The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas · 0.6 mi

    Just northeast of town, off the main highway, was a modest farmhouse that became a Texas legend. For decades, it was known as the Chicken Ranch, an illegal but openly tolerated brothel. It got its name during the…

  • Beer, a Bluff, and Buried Heroes · 0.6 mi

    Just south of town is a bluff with two incredible stories. At the top is Monument Hill, where a tomb holds the remains of Texans killed in the 1840s Dawson and Mier expeditions against Mexico, including those who drew…

  • The Engineering of a 19th-Century Brewery · 0.6 mi

    The ruins of the Kreische Brewery, built into a bluff by the Colorado River in the 1860s, are a marvel of early, place-based engineering. German immigrant Heinrich Kreische didn't just build a structure; he designed an…

  • The Black Bean Lottery · 0.6 mi

    The tomb at Monument Hill State Historic Site holds the remains of men who suffered one of the most infamous episodes in Texas history. In 1842, after a raid on San Antonio, Texans launched a retaliatory expedition into…

  • The Crown Jewel of the Square · 0.6 mi

    As you approach the center of La Grange, you can't miss the building that dominates the skyline. That's the Fayette County Courthouse, a masterpiece of Romanesque Revival architecture completed in 1891. James Riely…

  • Gateway to the Painted Churches · 0.6 mi

    While you're in La Grange, you're at the northern doorstep of one of Texas's most surprising artistic treasures: the Painted Churches. As Czech and German immigrants settled the countryside south of here, they built…

  • Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867 · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through La Grange, and right here, the town faced a devastating Yellow Fever epidemic back in August of 1867. The disease, whose cause was unknown and untreatable, swept through the community, killing…

  • Fayette County, C.S.A · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through La Grange, the heart of Confederate Texas during the Civil War. Though Fayette County residents voted against secession, they quickly began recruiting for the Confederacy in June 1861. This area…

  • City Cemetery · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past La Grange's City Cemetery, a place with a unique claim to fame. Burials started here as early as 1840, but it was in 1873 that fourteen local women did something remarkable. They formed the Ladies'…

  • Fayette County · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fayette County, Texas, a place named for a famous French nobleman. Marquis de LaFayette, a friend of George Washington, lent his name to this land. The county itself was officially formed in…

  • Lester, James Seaton · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through La Grange, and right here is the site of a true Texas hero. James Seaton Lester was a delegate to the pivotal 1835 Consultation, a crucial step towards independence. He then fought bravely at the…

  • La Fayette Masonic Lodge No. 34 A.F. & A.M. · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the La Fayette Masonic Lodge in La Grange. Organized in 1847, the lodge supported civic causes like education and laid the cornerstone for the Fayette County Courthouse in 1891. After…

  • Remembering Dr. King on the Road · 0.9 mi

    This road carries a local memorial name, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Highway. King was born Michael Luther King, Jr., in nineteen twenty nine, and later had his name changed to Martin. He graduated from…

  • Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites · 1.2 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    This seemingly peaceful bluff overlooking the Colorado River holds a tale of heroism and tragedy, intertwined with the story of a pioneering Texas brewery. In 1842, Texas soldiers were killed in two separate incidents:…

  • The Black Bean Incident — Monument Hill, La Grange · 1.3 mi · Historical Account

    In 1842-1843, 17 Texian prisoners of war drew black beans from a clay pot and were executed by firing squad in Mexico — punishment ordered by Santa Anna for an escape attempt after the Battle of Mier. Their remains,…

  • A Brewery Beside a Battlefield Grave · 1.3 mi

    On a high bluff a mile south of La Grange, two very different stories share the same patch of ground. Up top is Monument Hill, the solemn common tomb of Texans killed in the 1840s. And just down the slope is where a…

  • Monument Hill Tomb · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Monument Hill, the final resting place for some of Texas's earliest and most tragic conflicts. In September of 1848, the remains of Texans killed in the 1842 Dawson Massacre and the 1843 Black Bean…

  • Why Kreische Carved His Brewery Into the Hill · 1.3 mi

    Kreische cut his brewery into the side of that bluff, tunnels and all, instead of building it on flat ground, and there is a clever piece of science that explains exactly why. He brewed lager, and lager is fussy. Unlike…

  • Kreische Complex · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the Kreische Complex, a testament to German ingenuity right here in Fayette County. Heinrich Kreische, a stonemason by trade, arrived in Texas in 1849 and bought up land overlooking the Colorado…

  • Monument Hill - Black Bean Episode · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker

    Tomb at La Grange holding the remains of Texan soldiers killed by Mexican forces during the 1842 Dawson Massacre and the Mier Expedition's Black Bean Lottery of 1843.

  • The First U.S. Postal Rural Mail Route in Texas · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through La Grange, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of a Texas first! On August 1st, 1899, La Grange became the very first place in Texas to offer rural postal delivery. Imagine that –…

  • The Chicken Ranch · 2.6 mi

    Out this way, east of town off Rocky Creek Road, there used to be a plain farmhouse on about eleven acres that everybody in Texas eventually heard about. A woman named Jessie Williams started it around 1905 and moved it…

  • The Chicken Ranch · 2.9 mi · Historical Marker

    One of the oldest and most famous brothels in the United States, operating from the 1840s to 1973. Shut down by a Houston TV reporter. Inspired the musical 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.'

  • Adelsverein · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the heart of Texas, but imagine this: a whole society of German noblemen, back in the 1840s, decided to create a 'new Germany' right here on Texas soil. They called themselves the Adelsverein, and…

  • Alley, John C. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Fayette County, heading into a Texas that was still wild and untamed. Back in the fall of 1822, John C. Alley, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, was canoeing up the…

  • Baylor, John Robert · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once the Confederate Territory of Arizona, right here in the Mesilla Valley. In 1861, John Robert Baylor, a fiery frontiersman and politician, seized this area for the Confederacy. He…

  • Bluff, TX (Fayette County) · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near La Grange, and right here, overlooking the Colorado River, is the site of Bluff. This community owes its existence to a high bluff and a German immigrant named H. L. Kreische. In the late 1840s, he…

  • Buckner, Aylett C. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once the wild frontier of Texas, and right here, in the area that became Fayette County, lived a legend named Aylett C. Buckner. Nicknamed 'Strap' for his incredible size and strength,…

  • Burnam, Jesse · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here, you're passing through land once defended by Jesse Burnam. Burnam arrived in Texas in 1821, part of Stephen F. Austin's original settlers. He established a crucial…

  • Dawson Massacre · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near San Antonio, and right here, in what is now the heart of the city, a brutal chapter of Texas history unfolded. It's September 18, 1842. While Texan forces were engaged in the Battle of Salado Creek,…

  • Harrell, Milvern · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from where West Point stands today. It was here, back in 1842, that Milvern Harrell joined Captain Dawson's company, hoping to aid San Antonio. Instead, they were routed by…

  • Rabb, Mary Crownover · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, Mary Crownover Rabb was a pioneer who faced down dangers unimaginable. Born in North Carolina, she arrived in Stephen F. Austin's colony in 1823 with her husband,…

  • Robison, Joel Walter · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near Warrenton, where Joel Walter Robison lived out his days. He was a young man when he arrived in Texas from Georgia in 1831. Robison fought in the early Texas Revolution…

  • Rutersville College · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange. Right here, in Rutersville, was once the site of the very first chartered Protestant college in Texas. Founded in 1840, Rutersville College was the dream of…

  • Smith, Clinton Lafayette and Jefferson Davis · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, a land that was once wild and dangerous. Back on February 26, 1871, just west of San Antonio, two brothers, Clint and Jeff Smith, were herding sheep when they were captured…

  • Dubina, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Dubina, the first Czech settlement in Texas, is five miles east of Schulenburg in southern Fayette County. In November 1856 a group of Czech settlers found shelter from a strong north wind and hail under a grove of…

  • Hostyn, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Hostyn overlooks the Colorado River near La Grange in central Fayette County. In the 1830s the community, then called Bluff, was settled by German settlers. Father Michael Muldoon celebrated Mass in a dwelling at Bluff…

  • Williams, Clara Belle Drisdale · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Clara Belle Drisdale Williams, the first African American to graduate from New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (later New Mexico State University), was born on October 29, 1885, to sharecroppers Isaac…

  • Crawford, Robert · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here, you're driving through a landscape shaped by faith and the fight for Texas independence. Robert Crawford, a Methodist minister and a soldier, fought at the Battle of San Jacinto in <say-as…

  • Hawkins, Joseph H. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here, in what was then Mexican Texas, you're passing through a story of incredible financial risk. Joseph H. Hawkins, a friend of Stephen F. Austin, poured his personal…

  • Hill, Asa · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, maybe near Rutersville, and you're passing through a place that saw a bit of history during the Texas Revolution. Asa Hill arrived in Texas around 1834, joining the army by 1836.…

  • Manton, Edward T. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, right where Edward T. Manton found himself in September of 1842. He was part of Captain Nicholas Dawson's volunteers, chasing Mexican forces away from San Antonio. But on the…

  • Nassau Farm · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from Round Top. Right here, in 1843, was the site of Nassau Farm. It was established by German noblemen aiming to promote immigration to Texas, but it didn't quite work out…

  • Smalley, Freeman · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Pecan Point, Texas, a place that holds a significant spiritual first for the Lone Star State. In 1822, Freeman Smalley, a Baptist minister from Ohio, traveled here. He visited…

  • St. Martin's Church · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Warrenton, in Fayette County, and right here stands a tiny piece of Texas history: St. Martin's Church. This little building, just 18 by 14 feet, is a survivor. It was built in 1915 using…

  • Swiss Alp Hall · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from La Grange, and you might just pass right by Swiss Alp Hall. Built around 1901 by Charles Bruns, this place wasn't just a gathering spot – it was built specifically for…

  • Wilkins, Jane Mason · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, perhaps near Fayette County, and you're passing through the story of Jane Wilkins. She was one of the original Old Three Hundred colonists, arriving in Texas in 1822 by keelboat. Imagine…

  • Woods, Norman B. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near the site of present-day Flatonia, where Norman B. Woods settled with his family in 1828. He was a pioneer, a soldier, and a man who saw the harsh realities of early Texas. In…

  • Darden, Stephen Heard · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Stephen Heard Darden, public official and soldier, son of Washington Lee and Ann (Sharkey) Darden, was born in Fayette County, Mississippi, on November 19, 1816. He traveled to Texas in 1836 as a volunteer under Capt.…

  • High Hill, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    High Hill is on Farm Road 2672 fourteen miles southwest of La Grange in southwestern Fayette County. The area was originally part of the E. Anderson league and was settled in the 1830s. Around the late 1840s German…

  • Holman, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Holman is at the intersection of Farm roads 155 and 1965, fifteen miles southeast of La Grange in southeastern Fayette County. It was originally called Pecan because its site was on Pecan Creek. The community developed…

  • Nechanitz, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Nechanitz is at the junction of Farm roads 3011 and 2145, eleven miles north of La Grange in north central Fayette County. The area was settled in 1853 by Wenzel Matejowsky, the first settler from Bohemia to enter…

  • Praha, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Praha, on Farm Road 1295 three miles east of Flatonia in southern Fayette County, was originally known as Mulberry and Hottentot, the latter apparently referring to a band of outlaws. James C. Duff, William Criswell,…

  • Rutersville, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Rutersville is on State Highway 159 five miles east of La Grange in central Fayette County. It was founded by John Rabb and other members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the purpose of establishing a college. The…

  • Warda, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Warda is on U.S. Highway 77 on Rabb's Creek and its tributaries ten miles north of La Grange in northern Fayette County. This area is on the eastern boundary of the Lost Pines and was a source of lumber in the early…

  • Confederate Heavy Artillery · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving along the Texas coast, maybe near Galveston or Sabine Pass. Right here, during the Civil War, these waters were defended by some serious firepower: the Confederate Heavy Artillery. These weren't your…

  • Creuzbauer, Edmund · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is the area where Edmund Creuzbauer, a Prussian immigrant and former artillery officer, made his mark during the Civil War. In <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • Harveys Creek · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through southern Fayette County, near the town of Weimar. Right here, Harveys Creek flows east towards the Colorado River. This land, originally granted to Henry Austin way back in 1831, used to be prime…

  • Haynie, John · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Central Texas, perhaps near Rutersville, and you might be passing the very ground where John Haynie helped shape early Methodism in the Republic of Texas. He arrived in 1839, a preacher and…

  • Jones, John Rice, Jr. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Fayette County, and right here is where John Rice Jones, Jr., established his plantation, Fairland Farm, after moving to Texas in 1831. He was no stranger to leadership, having served…

  • Rabb, John · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what's now Fayette County, and right here is where John Rabb settled his prairie. Rabb was one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred colonists, arriving in Texas way back in 1822. He…

  • Rabbs Creek · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Rabbs Creek country, a place named for William Rabb. He settled here before Texas independence, and right here on this creek, he built the first gristmill in what is now Fayette County. Imagine…

  • Richardson, Chauncey · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, Texas, and right here is the site of Rutersville College, founded in 1839. Its first president was Chauncey Richardson, a Methodist minister who came to Texas after serving…

  • Timmons, Barnard · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, Texas, near LaGrange, where Barnard Timmons made his mark. He came here in 1856, a lawyer with a military education, even teaching math at the Texas Military Institute. But when…

  • Zapp, Robert · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is the area that became Waldeck. It all started back in 1859 when Robert Zapp, a German immigrant who'd fled political persecution, decided to start fresh. He bought…

  • Biegel, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Biegel was on Baylor and Cedar creeks in the Joseph Biegel league, eight miles east of La Grange in central Fayette County. Biegel, a German immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, received his league, originally granted to F.…

  • Breeding, John V. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    John V. Breeding, early settler, soldier, and sheriff, was born on October 16, 1807, in Virginia and came to Texas with his parents David W. and Sarah (Davis) Breeding in February 1833. He was in the Ranging Corps from…

  • Ledbetter, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Ledbetter is on the Southern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Highway 290 between the Brazos and Colorado rivers eight miles east of Giddings and a mile north of Cummings Creek in extreme north Fayette County. It was named for…

  • Ross Prairie, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Ross Prairie is a scattered farming community on the northern edge of Ross Prairie, two miles south of Fayetteville in east central Fayette County. Originally settled in the 1820s by James J. Ross, one of Stephen F.…

  • Waldeck, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Waldeck is at the junction of Farm roads 1291 and 2145, thirteen miles north of La Grange in northern Fayette County. The community is predominantly German and is named for and located on lands originally purchased in…

  • Walhalla, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Walhalla is at the intersection of Farm Road 1291 and County Road 209, fourteen miles north of La Grange in northern Fayette County. Its name originated with the first German settlers ( see GERMANS ), who arrived in the…

  • Warrenton, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Warrenton is on State Highway 237 between Spencer Pool and Coon Creek, twelve miles northeast of La Grange in northeastern Fayette County. It was founded by William Neese, who landed in Galveston in 1847 and named the…

  • Winedale, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Winedale was located in far northeastern Fayette County four miles northeast of Round Top. The original community began around 1870 as a German settlement named Truebsal, which grew up just across the line in Washington…

  • Crutcher, William Henry · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, maybe passing near LaGrange. Right here, back in 1847, William Henry Crutcher was campaigning for the Texas legislature. He was a lawyer, and on the campaign trail, he heard a…

  • Frazier, James · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Stephen F. Austin's colony, a land of opportunity for early Texas settlers. James Frazier arrived as early as 1822, becoming one of Austin's Old Three Hundred. He received land on…

  • Navidad River · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is the Navidad River. Its name comes from the Spanish for 'Nativity of Christ,' a nod to the season when it was likely first explored. This river is formed by the…

  • Tate, Frederick · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, near LaGrange, where Frederick Tate settled in 1851. He was a planter and a lawyer, but when the Civil War called, he answered. Tate raised a company of men called the "Dixie…

  • Von Bieberstein, Hermann Rogalla · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, not far from where Hermann Rogalla von Bieberstein first put down roots. He arrived from Prussia in 1846, landing in Galveston and making his way to Winedale. Von Bieberstein…

  • Ammannsville, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Ammannsville, on Farm Road 1383 nine miles southeast of La Grange in southeastern Fayette County, was settled during the 1870s by German and Czech immigrant farmers on lands originally allotted to the Fayette County…

  • Cistern, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Cistern is on State Highway 95 twelve miles northwest of Flatonia near the southwestern point of Fayette County. The community, first called Whiteside's Prairie and then Cockrill's Hill in honor of two early landowners,…

  • Kirtley, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Kirtley, once known as Primm, is on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad and State Highway 71 in west central Fayette County. The surrounding land was originally patented to William Barton in 1831 and used primarily…

  • Lena, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Lena was on Farm Road 154 and the Southern Pacific Railroad, four miles south of West Point in northwestern Fayette County. Prior to 1927 the name applied to a siding on a branch line of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass…

  • Moore, Thomas C. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Thomas C. Moore, planter and member of the Secession Convention , was born in Tennessee about 1816. He moved to Alabama with his parents as a child and attended school in La Grange, Kentucky, where he was a classmate…

  • Mullins Prairie, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mullins Prairie is located on Farm Road 155 about six miles southeast of La Grange in eastern Fayette County. Farmers first settled the fertile lands near the Colorado River in the late 1800s. Early pioneers in the area…

  • O'Quinn, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    O'Quinn is on Farm Road 609 seven miles southwest of La Grange in central Fayette County. The name is probably derived from that of an early Irish settler. One local legend, however, attributes it to an Indian chief by…

  • Rabbs Prairie, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Rabbs (Rabb's) Prairie is a farming community at the junction of Fayette County roads 162 and 163, about four miles northwest of La Grange in Fayette County. The area was first settled by the families of William Rabb…

  • West Point, TX (Fayette County) · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    West Point is north of State Highway 71 twelve miles west of La Grange in western Fayette County. It occupies lands originally granted to Montreville Woods and Thomas Alley in 1831 and was established during the 1880s…

  • From Camp Swift to Metz · 3.6 mi

    State Highway Seventy One east of Bastrop, out to County Road Three Twenty Nine, is the Ninety Fifth Division Memorial Highway. The legislature named it in two thousand eleven, in honor of the division's accomplishments…

  • Rabb's Prairie · 4.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Rabb's Prairie, named for William Rabb, a miller who came to Texas from Pennsylvania in 1821. He'd scouted this land on the Colorado River back in 1819. Rabb was part of Stephen F. Austin's first…

  • Cedar Cemetery · 4.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cedar Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the 1830s. The earliest marked grave here is Carl Huebner, laid to rest in 1857. Imagine, all the records were kept in German until…

  • Czech Catholic Union of Texas · 4.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past La Grange, where a significant piece of Czech-Texan history unfolded. On March 24, 1889, a group of Czech immigrants gathered right here to form the Katolicka Jednota Texaska, or the Czech Catholic…

  • Czech Settlement, The Oldest · 5.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fayette County, heading past the site of the oldest Czech settlement in Texas. In November of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1856</say-as>, three families arrived here from Czechoslovakia.…

  • Brookfield-Evans-Cremer House · 5.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Brookfield-Evans-Cremer House, a place that saw some serious Texas history unfold. It all started back in 1835 when Samuel Brookfield bought this land. He died at the Alamo the very…

  • Asa Hill of Rutersville · 5.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Rutersville, where Asa Hill settled after coming to Texas in 1835. He served in the army in 1836, sent by General Houston to warn Texans of approaching enemies. By 1839, he'd made this area his…

  • Rutersville · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Rutersville, a town born from a dream of education in the Republic of Texas. It all started in 1838, when Dr. Martin Ruter, a Methodist missionary, recommended this very spot for a new college.…

  • Rutersville College · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Rutersville College, the very first institution of higher learning in Texas! It all started in 1837 when Martin Ruter recommended establishing a school. It was officially chartered as a…

  • Methodist Annual Conference in Texas · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a major moment in Texas religious history! Back in 1840, Bishop Beverly Waugh traveled all the way to Rutersville, right here in Fayette County. On Christmas Day, he gathered delegates at…

  • Bradshaw-Killough House · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Bradshaw-Killough House, a beautiful example of architectural evolution right here in La Grange. Built way back in 1886 for merchant Amzi T. Bradshaw, this home saw a major transformation. In…

  • Saints Peter and Paul Old Catholic Cemetery · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Saints Peter and Paul Old Catholic Cemetery in Plum. Established in 1899 when trustees purchased an acre of land, this cemetery is the final resting place for many Czech immigrant families who…

  • Plum, TX · 6.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is the community of Plum, which boasts a significant Texas 'first.' Back in the 1830s, settlers arrived, and the Hopewell Baptist Church was established. This church…

  • Routh, Eugene Coke · 6.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Plum, Texas, the birthplace of Eugene Coke Routh. Born in 1874, Routh became a prominent Baptist editor and pastor. He took the helm of the Baptist Standard in 1914, a period of…

  • Wertzner, Christian G. · 6.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the marker for Christian G. Wertzner, a man who truly put down roots in Texas. He fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, a key victory in the Texas Revolution. But that's not all – Wertzner was also…

  • Brandt Cemetery · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fayette County, near the community of Pecan, where a piece of German immigrant history lies. Eilert Brandt and his wife Sophie arrived from Germany in April of 1888, purchasing nearly 400 acres.…

  • Saint Peter Lutheran Church and Prairie Valley Cemetery · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Saint Peter Lutheran Church and Prairie Valley Cemetery, a testament to German immigrants who settled here. In 1896, sixteen families, led by Reverend R. Osthoff, organized this congregation. For a…

  • Oldenburg · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Oldenburg, a community founded in 1885 by German immigrants August Heintze and Gus Steenken. They named it after their hometown in Germany. This area was originally part of a Mexican land grant…

  • Black Jack Springs Cemetery · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Black Jack Springs Cemetery, a quiet resting place with a story stretching back to the 1860s. It began with a burial for Thomas Oeding, who died in 1867, on land donated by pioneer Charles Luck. The…

  • Burnam's Ferry · 8.6 mi

    You're driving past the site of Burnam's Ferry, the very first ferry in what is now Fayette County. About 1824, Jesse Burnam set up this crossing on the vital La Bahia Road, in a time when a river few men could swim…

  • Cedar Creek Cemetery · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cedar Creek Cemetery, established around 1875 by the African-American community. The African Methodist Episcopalian Church, organized nearby, received this land and built a church and cemetery. Look…

  • Philadelphia Evangelical Lutheran Church · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Philadelphia Evangelical Lutheran Church in La Grange. This congregation has a long history, dating back to March 24, 1867, making it the second oldest in its synod. Imagine the early…

  • Old Plum Grove Cemetery · 9.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Old Plum Grove Cemetery, a burial ground with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Texas settlement. It started as a family plot for John Y. Criswell, a pioneer who arrived with Stephen F.…

  • Ross, James J. · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of James J. Ross's home, a key figure in early Texas settlement. <break time="400ms"/> Born in South Carolina around 1787, Ross arrived in Stephen F. Austin's colony in late 1822 or early…

  • Stephen Williams · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker

    Hey road trippers! You're cruising past where Stephen Williams once farmed. This guy fought in the War of 1812, then headed west, landing in Texas in 1832. By 1843, he'd earned a land grant in Washington County. But…

  • Townsend-Bremer House · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Townsend-Bremer House in Warrenton. Nathaniel Townsend, an early arrival to Texas in 1830, built this home in the late 1830s. He even served as the Republic of Texas consul in New Orleans before…

  • Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Winchester, where freed slaves established communities after the Civil War. In 1867, ex-slaves gathered for prayer meetings in a brush arbor, forming Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. This church…

  • Shiloh Cemetery · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Shiloh Cemetery, originally the Winchester Colored Cemetery, bought by the black community in 1890. For decades, graves here were marked with rocks, trees, or homemade cement. It was renamed Shiloh…

  • Winchester Cemetery · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving by Winchester Cemetery, a burial ground in use since the site was gifted in 1971 by Colonel Nathan Thomas, a former Texas congressman and civic leader. The cemetery association itself was organized way…

  • High Hill Cemetery · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past High Hill Cemetery, a final resting place for many German immigrants who settled this part of Texas. The community itself got its name from a post office established around 1858. This six-acre…

  • The Jail That Ran Out of Room · 11.0 mi

    Winchester had its own jail once, a little lockup behind the courthouse that everybody here called the calaboose. It went up in the early nineteen hundreds. Court came through once a month for the misdemeanors, and most…

  • Robinson, Joseph C. · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where Joseph C. Robinson met his fate. He was captured during the infamous Dawson Massacre on September 18th, 1842. This brutal skirmish saw Texan defenders overwhelmed by Mexican forces.…

  • Woods Prairie Cemetery · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Woods Prairie Cemetery, a final resting place for some of Fayette County's earliest settlers. Zadock Woods, a veteran of the War of 1812 and one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arrived…

  • St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, established around 1854. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2008.

  • Hruska's Bakery & Store · 11.2 mi · Things to Do

    Family-run Czech bakery on Highway 71 in Ellinger since 1912. Kolaches, klobasniky, and a roadside-store side hustle for travelers between Houston and Austin.

  • Wertzner, Christian Gotthelf · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Fayette County, and right here, near Ellinger, is the unmarked grave of Christian Gotthelf Wertzner. He was one of the very first German settlers in this area, arriving in Stephen F. Austin's…

  • Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Ledbetter, Texas, near the site of the Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church. German families settled this area, and by 1885, a congregation had organized. In 1899, Pastor August Wenzel officially…

Explore La Grange on the Map
All music from Texas → Find another town Vote on city songs

Sign up for the free newsletter

Longer stories, research notes, photos, videos, and where the road goes next. Free, and no iPhone needed.

Subscribe free