Leander

Leander's name has two stories. County histories credit Leander Brown, a railroad official and former mayor of Austin; the Handbook of Texas says the stop was more likely named for Karl Leander, the Austin and Northwestern station manager, since railroads often named stations for their managers. Lot sales began on July 17, 1882, and Wesley Craven and J. Sampley soon built cotton gins, later merged as the Leander Gin Company. Cedar fence posts shipped around the state. George Allen ran a small limestone quarry in 1894, and an Indiana firm opened a larger one in the 1930s.

What the plaque says

Leander Leander grew from the once thriving town of Bagdad, founded in 1854 (1 mi. W). when the Austin & Northwestern Railroad bypassed Bagdad in 1882, a new town was surveyed and named for railroad official Leander Brown (1817-89). Homes and businesses from the older community quickly moved to the new site along the rail line.The post office was brought here from Bagdad in 1882. The school started here in 1893 has grown into the largest school district in Williamson County. Originally in a rural area, Leander had boomed in recent years due to Highland Lakes development. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Inner Space Cavern — 10.0 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 11 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Williamson County Courthouse — 11 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge: Doeskin Ranch — 14 mi
  A free federal refuge north of Lake Travis kept for two songbirds that need old juniper and oak, with trails at the Doeskin Ranch unit near Bertram.

More markers nearby

• Leander United Methodist Church — 0.2 mi
• Leander Schools — 0.2 mi
• Leander Presbyterian Church — 0.2 mi
• Norton Moses Lodge No. 336, A.F. & A.M. — 0.6 mi