Elgin Commercial Historic District

Elgin's historic commercial core is a fourteen-block area of brick storefronts, industrial buildings and railroad-related sites in Bastrop County, Texas. The Houston & Texas Central Railroad platted the town in 1872, and the oldest surviving building is its freight depot. Buildings along Main Street, Depot Avenue and Central Avenue are mostly one- and two-story commercial blocks, many with Italianate touches, built from 1872 to 1947. Red brick was used in earlier buildings and buff brick after about 1910, laid up with corbelling and dentil courses. Landmarks include the 1906 Bassist Opera House, the Union Depot of about 1903 and the 1923 Elgin National Bank. Cotton-related industrial buildings lie along the Katy rail line to the east. The district was listed because the railroads and the cotton and lumber trade built Elgin's mercantile center, and because the brickwork reflects the town's brick industry. About 67 of its 80 resources contribute to that history and retain their integrity.