Historical Marker
Town of Eagle Lake
Eagle Lake, Colorado County · Texas
Erected 1970
The lake the town is named for covers some 1,400 acres, with the smaller Lower Lake below it, and both are privately owned. Gideon Lincecum studied its fish and wildlife as early as 1835, and snowy egrets, roseate spoonbills, white pelicans and alligators were still common there in 1990. The land around it was first granted to Patrick Reels in 1838, 2,391 acres. After the first railroad, four more lines reached Eagle Lake, and the town incorporated in 1888 with Capt. J. W. McCarty as its first mayor. Gravel pits west of the lake yielded ancient animal bones.
What the plaque says
Town of Eagle Lake Named for lake where in 1821 exploring party of Stephen F. Austin killed an eagle. In 1851 resident Gamaliel Good started a Houston-to-San Antonio Stage line with lakeside headquarters. In 1856, with D. W. C. Harris, Good platted Eagle Lake townsite. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad reached here in 1859. Early a cattle and farm market; after 1898 had rice production; later ranked as oil center and shipper of sand and gravel. Now fishing and goose hunting mecca. Home town of Gen. H. H. Johnson (born in 1895), military governor of Rome, Italy in the 1940s. (1970)
Where it stands
29.58887, -96.33418 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Rice Culture in Colorado County — steps away
- Lakeside Sugar Refinery — 1.6 mi
- Navigation of the Colorado River — 2.7 mi
- Garwood — 10 mi