Leander ISD history

Marker Text: Here sleep the victims of the "Webster Massacre" of August 27, 1839.

The first settlers arrived in the area around 1845, receiving bounty land grants in exchange for service in the Texas Revolution.

During the 1850's, the town of Bagdad was surveyed and many businesses began opening.

Marker Text: The origin of the Leander school system can be traded to the 1855 school held in Bagdad, the pre-Civil War community that disappeared after Leander was founded along the railroad.

Bagdad Cemetery was established in 1857 with the burial of three-year-old John Babcock whose father gave the tract of land, where the cemetery now exists, to the community.

The first post office was opened in 1858.

The United Methodist church was established in 1860.

By the 1870’s, Bagdad had a hotel, school, several general stores, two blacksmith shops, and several churches.

In 1871, the first school was started in Bagdad by the Masonic Lodge; it was the only free school in the area.

First two rooms were built (1872) by J. C. and Nancy Bryson, of rock from San Gabriel River and Jenks Branch; hewn cedar logs and shingles from Bastrop area.

In 1883, the Leander Presbyterian Church was established.

In 1893, the first public schools were opened both in Leander and Bagdad.

On June 7, 1899, the Leander High School Association incorporated under Texas law.

Marker Text: Loafer's Glory Apostolic Church was organized in 1908 after Wesleyan Holiness preacher George Sutton conducted a revival at Loafer's Glory School on Wilson Atwood's farm.

The rear part features shiplap siding and the front exhibits milled siding and a five-bay facade. It remained in the Pickle family until 1913, when it was sold to Augusta K. and Sarah Zora Mason Davis.

The schools continued to grow and were consolidated with Pleasant Hill in 1928.

Students began graduating from Leander High School in 1931.

The new Bagdad school burned on June 24, 1938.

Three more churches were established during the 1940's, St Mary Margaret Catholic Church, Leander Church of Christ, and First Baptist Church of Leander.

Originally in a rural area, Leander had boomed in recent years due to Highland Lakes development. (1975)

On January 21, 1978, the City of Leander was incorporated.

As the city continued to grow into the 1980's additional schools were being built in the Cedar Park area.

As one of the earliest intact burials uncovered in the United States, the site is a valuable source of information on the nation’s prehistoric past. (1985)

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988. (1988)