City of Elgin Centennial, 1872-1972

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some towns just sort of happen. A crossroads, a creek, a stubborn man who wouldn't move.

But Elgin, out here in Bastrop County, came into being the way a lot of Texas towns did: a railroad showed up and changed everything. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad built through this area in 1871, and the very next year, 1872, the town was platted. They named it for Robert M.

Elgin, born 1825, died 1913, who served as land commissioner for the H. and T. C. So right from the start, this place had railroads, land, and a man whose name would outlast him by more than a century.

That's not a bad deal for a land commissioner. Now here's where the story gets its texture. In 1882, a man named Thomas O'Connor, born 1846, died 1937, started making brick.

Hand-molded, sun-dried brick. No factory hum, no industrial machinery roaring away. Just hands and clay and Texas sun.

And something about this ground, this particular stretch of Bastrop County earth, turned out to be very good at becoming brick. And tile. Elgin grew into a name widely known for exactly that, brick and tile, and it has been the chief product of this place ever since that first sun-dried batch back in 1882.

Other manufacturing and agricultural products have bolstered the economy through the years, but brick is the word most people reach for when they reach for Elgin. What the marker wants you to know, though, is that the economy is only part of the story. Settlers of six ethnic origins made their lives here, built homes, raised churches, opened schools, and shaped a city the marker calls a center of cultural richness.

Six different threads, woven into one place, over one hundred years. The centennial marker was put up in 1972, exactly a century after that first platting. A railroad came through in 1871.

A town took shape in 1872. A man pressed clay into brick in 1882. And a hundred years later, Elgin was still here, still firing kilns, still standing on ground that turned out to be worth naming after somebody.

What the marker says

After Houston & Texas Central Railroad built through this area in 1871, town was platted (1872) and named for Robert M. Elgin (1825-1913), H. & T. C. land commissioner. Brick and tile, for which Elgin is widely known, have been chief products here since 1882 when Thomas O'Connor (1846-1937) made hand-molded, sun-dried brick. Other manufacturing and agricultural products bolster the economy. Settlers of six ethnic origins have made the city a center of cultural richness, with good homes, churches and schools. (1972)