Bastrop, Texas Events, News & Stories

Bastrop, Tx–A luncheon honoring retired African-American school teachers today at the Kerr Community Center kicked off a weekend of activities marking the June 19, 1865 announcement in Texas that slaves were free under terms of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by US President Abraham Lincoln. In Texas the day is still known as Juneteenth by descendants of those who benefited at the close of the Civil War.

According to US Census figures, roughly 40 percent of Bastrop County residents were slaves in 1860. They and their descendants have marked and celebrated Juneteenth ever since 1865.

Juneteenth activities in Bastrop this weekend are free and open to the public.

From 6-9 p.m. Friday in Kerr Community Park at Walnut and MLK Blvd. organizers will stage a Family and Friends gathering which features music, food vendors and related activities. Gospel singing and other entertainment begins at 7 p.m.

The traditional Juneteenth Parade kicks off at 10 a.m. Saturday from Fisherman’s Park, moves south along Main Street, then passes the Courthouse to end at Kerr Community Park. Ruby Johnson is this year’s parade marshall.

A more formal Emancipation Program begins at 11:30 a.m. in the park with proclamations and remarks from city, county and other officials and notables on tap. Singers, dancers and other entertainers will also perform.

Beginning at 8 p.m. Blue Mist will provide the music for a free street dance on Main Street between Pine and Chestnut Street. The stage will be erected in front of City Hall.

Bastrop, Tx–Public comments were restrained Tuesday when a design advisory group working with architect Mervin Fatter revealed the latest design ideas for a new Bastrop City Hall on Chestnut Street and a new convention center immediately across the street on the east side of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Officials declined to discuss the likely cost of either project. Mayor Terry Orr said other aspects of the proposed buildings will be discussed when the city council meets June 23.

The design panel includes Orr, City Manager Mike Talbot, Gary Schiff, former mayor Tom Scott, Dan Hays-Clark and Deborah Rogers. City hall plans were little changed from earlier iterations with features calculated to be reminiscent of railroad depot designs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The convention center plan reflects a more contemporary commercial style with the addition of a round stone tower topped with a metal section, possibly reminiscent of an elevated galvanize water tank. The depot and water tank elements are perhaps meant to suggest an earlier era when the intersection of Chestnut Street and the railroad became the hub of vital activities including cotton gins, warehousing, grain storage and shipping to distant regional and national markets. A rail line first reached Bastrop in 1886 and sparked a surge in economic activities of many kinds, many centered near the railroad.

Redeveloping the Chestnut Street corridor, including the convention center, can boost visitor and tourist traffic in Bastrop and provide a new stimulus to the historic business district centered on Main Street, proponents argue.

One wag at the Tuesday unveiling in the Kerr Community Center said the proposed convention center design reminded him of one of the new commercial buildings going up in the Burleson Crossing shopping center–with the addition of a tin water tank on top. The building exteriors will feature glass, stucco, native stone and brick, according to Fatter. Similar materials are planned to decorate the new city hall, he said.