A history of La Grange,
since 1837
Postcards, papers and photographs of La Grange from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗La Grange was the site of an early crossing of the Colorado River along La Bahía (Lower Road) of the El Camino Real (Kings Highway), during the Spanish period. The earliest Anglo-American settlers in the area were Aylett C. Buckner and Peter Powell, who lived slightly to the west. 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 (some sources cite 1826) as protection from the Comanche. The building is known as Moore's Fort and can be found today in nearby Round Top, having been moved there for restoration.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish La Grange’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewGeorg Carl Willrich (1798 Uelzen-…, 1850: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from La Grange
See all 19 →
La Grange, decade by decade
1920s
1990s
7 historic places in La Grange
7 places in La Grange are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Listed 1975Fayette County Courthouse and Jail
Listed 1975Kreische, Henry L., Brewery and House
Listed 1976St. James Episcopal Church
Listed 1996State Highway 71 Bridge at the Colorado River
Listed 2001Fayette County Courthouse Square Historic District
Listed 2019Mier Expedition and Dawson's Men Monument and TombListed 2010Nathaniel W. Faison HouseThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Georg Carl Willrich (1798 Uelzen-1876 Texas) (1850) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.