Brazos Trail Region
Anderson
RADIANT RED Have you ever taken a ride in a 19th century stagecoach? The Texas Brazos Trail community of Anderson delivers your chance. The “Radiant Red”, or Red Concorde Stagecoach, an authentic…
Brazos Trail Region Cities
Search for Texas cities and towns in the Brazos Trail Region
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Brazos Trail Region
Bastrop
RIVER BARON Bastrop, first established in 1804 as Puesta del Colorado – a fort built along the banks of the Colorado River – acquired its official name later from Stephen F. Austin…
Brazos Trail Region
Belton
MA AND THE SISTERS Often the first site visitors see once arriving in Belton is the Bell County Courthouse, perhaps one of the most elaborate in the Renaissance Revival style. This structure…
Brazos Trail Region
Bryan
TRACKING HERITAGE Bryan got its start as a railroad town when the H&TC line arrived in 1867. Quickly becoming an agricultural and commercial center and seat of Brazos County, the downtown district…
Brazos Trail Region
Caldwell
KOLACHES AND CULTURE A century after Czech immigrants came to Caldwell, their descendants worried that Czech language, music, and customs were disappearing. Their answer was to create the Kolache Festival, a showcase…
Brazos Trail Region
Calvert
VICTORIAN PAST, 21ST CENTURY RENOWN Calvert owes its prosperity to railroads and cotton, and its name to a descendant of Lord Baltimore, founder of the Maryland Colony. Robert Calvert was a plantation…
Brazos Trail Region
Cameron
The beautifully restored Milam County Courthouse (a participant in the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program) with its perfectly manicured grounds welcomes guests to this charming community. For a glimpse into the past…
Brazos Trail Region
Centerville
TEMPLE OF JUSTICE ON A SMALL-TOWN SQUARE Leon County was named for Martin De Leon, founder of Victoria —though local lore attributes the name to a yellow wolf called the “leon.” This…
Brazos Trail Region
Clifton
WHERE HISTORY AND THE ARTS MEAN BUSINESS Few small towns can crow about a prehistoric past, a royal visitor, nationally recognized artists, and a bustling downtown where antiques shops, restaurants and galleries…
Brazos Trail Region
College Station
AGGIELAND It’s difficult to separate the identity of College Station from that of Texas A&M University. The city’s name alone signifies its origin, selected as a site in 1871 for the location…
Brazos Trail Region
Cranfills Gap
The first Norwegian settlers arrived in 1854, the year the county was established. Clifton’s 1923 Bosque Memorial Museum preserves the community’s distinct heritage with artifacts from Norwegian pioneer Jacob Olson. The descendants…
Brazos Trail Region
Dime Box
A quiet little country town, Dime Box (pop. 250) was originally called Brown’s Mill after the local gristmill that gave the settlement its start. The U.S. Post Office requested the name change…
Brazos Trail Region
Elgin
BRICKS AND SAUSAGE Elgin, a Texas Main Street city, has been manufacturing both bricks and sausage commercially for over one hundred years. Exactly how many bricks and pounds of sausage is that…
Brazos Trail Region
Fairfield
Surrounded by ranchland and peach orchards dotted with farm stands, Fairfield offers heritage attractions downtown and recreational opportunities at nearby Fairfield Lake. The Freestone County Historical Museum is housed in the 1879…
Brazos Trail Region
Franklin
A LIBRARY WITH LONGEVITY Franklin, first known as Morgan, was established in 1872 along the right-of-way of the International Railway Company. By 1879 there were 200 residents, three stores and a depot…
Brazos Trail Region
Gatesville
Rolling farmland with wooded breaks along the Leon River marks the approach to Gatesville. In the town square, the magnificent Beaux Arts courthouse is easily recognized by its soaring cupola with clock…
Brazos Trail Region
Georgetown
RED POPPY CAPITAL The mid-1800s saw two groups attracted to the future site of Georgetown with its abundance of timber and clean water: pioneering settlers, both American and European, and the Tonkawa…
Brazos Trail Region
Giddings
GONE WITH THE “WEND” Giddings, a Texas Brazos Trail Region community established in 1871, constructed main thoroughfares of up to one hundred feet in width and side streets eighty feet wide in…
Brazos Trail Region
Granger
Granger is a charming and historic town small town located 48 miles northeast of Austin and just 15 miles east of Georgetown. Granger is the self-proclaimed "Gateway to the Good Life", and…
Brazos Trail Region
Groesbeck
Texas county seats frequently moved from their original sites to more-centralized locations, often along rail lines. That’s what happened in Limestone County, established in 1846 with Springfield as its seat. When the…
Brazos Trail Region
Hamilton
Architecture enthusiasts are kept busy exploring Hamilton history in several unique settings in this Texas Main Street city. First is the Hamilton County Courthouse, initially completed in 1887 of native limestone in…
Brazos Trail Region
Hearne
CROSSROADS OF HISTORY Hearne calls itself the “Crossroads of Texas” for good reason. Platted in 1870, the city sits where two railroad lines converge, and where U.S. Highways 79 and 190 and…
Brazos Trail Region
Hico
Originally established along scenic Honey Creek, in 1880 Hico residents moved two miles to the Bosque River to be near the railroad. Today, Hico attracts visitors with its charming, Wild West-themed two-block…
Brazos Trail Region
Hutto
History of Hutto Establishment of Hutto In 1848, the year of Williamson County's founding, Nelson Morey and Josiah Taylor both opened stores in Shiloh. There was a school and a church. Residents…
Brazos Trail Region
Killeen
THIS IS ARMY COUNTRY In 1882 the Santa Fe railroad roared through Killeen, transforming the farming community into a shipping point for cotton and other agricultural products. Early area residents were Anglo…
Brazos Trail Region
Lexington
Grazing horses create a pastoral scene and mark the approach to quiet, out-of-the-way Lexington, the oldest town in Lee County. Settled in 1850, it grew with the arrival of the railroad in…
Brazos Trail Region
Madisonville
CATTLE AND MUSHROOMS TO BOOT Watch out if you wear cowboy boots in Madisonville but don’t own at least two head of cattle. You might get dunked in a horse trough on…
Brazos Trail Region
Marlin
In 1892, a gusher blew in Marlin — not of oil but of hot mineral water. In a discovery that would change the face of the community, water shot 75 feet into…
Brazos Trail Region
Mexia
REMEMBERING THE CONFEDERACY Mexia was established in 1871 and named for the family that donated the town site. It’s pronounced Muh HAY uh, but residents call it “A great place no matter…
Brazos Trail Region
Navasota
VICTORIANA AND THE BLUES This Grimes County city grew from an 1848 stage stop, where historic La Bahia Road crosses the Navasota River, to a major agricultural shipping and marketing center with…
Brazos Trail Region
Rockdale
RAILROADS, A TOURIST CAMP AND A HISTORIC TRAIL High drama began in this area during the 1690s when Spain began using known American Indian trade routes as their thoroughfare from the Rio…
Brazos Trail Region
Round Rock
CATFISH TO FRISBEES A curious story surrounds the naming of Round Rock, established along the northern banks of Brushy Creek and first known as “Brushy Creek”. At the behest of postal officials…
Brazos Trail Region
Village of Salado
THE VILLAGE OF SALADO As a welcome break from travel on Interstate 35 between Austin and Waco or as a destination, downtown Salado rewards visitors with art galleries, antiques stores and restaurants…
Brazos Trail Region
Smithville
CINEMA CITY Smithville knows how to promote its period setting in motion pictures. If you’ve seen “Hope Floats,” The Tree of Life,” and “Doonby,” you’d recognize the city’s historic downtown and residential…
Brazos Trail Region
Somerville
Some Texas towns have the distinct smell of cattle or oil, but when old-timers wax nostalgic about Somerville’s early days, they recall a different scent: creosote, a wood preservative. A tiny railroad…
Brazos Trail Region
Taylor
BULLDOGGING AND BARBECUE The smoky aroma of barbecue drifts through downtown Taylor, where second-generation masters turn out nationally recognized brisket, ribs and sausage each day. In August, individuals and teams compete at…
Brazos Trail Region
Teague
A quiet hamlet today, Teague was a major railroad town at the turn-of-the-20th century –– the heyday of American passenger travel. As many as six trains a day arrived here, a main…
Brazos Trail Region
Temple
FROM MUD TOWN TO TEMPLE Although formally named “Temple Junction” in honor of chief railroad engineer Bernard Moore Temple of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, the townsite was once known…
Brazos Trail Region
Waco
BRIDGING THE PAST AND PRESENT The nicknames “Six-Shooter Junction” and “Athens of Texas” are contradictory, but Waco is where the Wild West met the Old South. Platted in 1849, the community grew…
Brazos Trail Region
Walburg
It began with a single store. In 1882, Henry Doering built his general store 33 miles northeast of Austin, just as the railroad was opening up more Texas land for new settlements…
Brazos Trail Region
West
HOME OF THE TEXAS STATE KOLACHE Who doesn’t love a sweet-filled pillow of puffy dough? Certainly not visitors to West, home of the official kolache, the Central European wedding desert perfected by…