Independence Trail Region

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THE OCTAGON

In the early 1840’s, German settler Alwin H. Soergel arrived in a fledgling community known, at the time, as Jones Post Office. The community, comprised of English settlers who had begun arriving at least twenty years before Soergel, served as one of the many early settlements in a pre-statehood Texas. With Soergel came additional Germans, providing the region with its distinct cultural influences. Soergel built a white house with an octagonal tower, an unusual architectural design that inspired community members to adopt the name “Round Top”. Today, Round Top is a leader in the state’s cultural environment. Its Round Top Festival Institute serves as an international center for the performing arts and education. The Institute features a state-of-the-art concert hall as well as historic and restored buildings relocated to Institute grounds including the William Lockhart Clayton House, built in 1885, and the Edith Bates Old Chapel, once the sanctuary of the Travis Street United Methodist Church of La Grange, built in 1883 and housing an 1835 Henry Erben pipe organ. Round Top is also considered by many antique “pickers” and collectors as ground zero for unusual and high-quality antiques. Antique festivals are scheduled year-round and offer a substantial selection of early Americana, Texas primitive, and European collectibles.