Museum and Visitor Center
of the Bastrop County Historical Society
Calendar
March 2 - BCHS Community-wide Garage Sale “Sneak Peek”, 6 to 8 pm, at the Bastrop Independent School District (BISD) West Campus Building, 1602 Hill Street in Bastrop. Admission is $10.
March 3 - Please join us at a community-wide garage sale Saturday, March 3, 2012, from 7 am to 3 pm, at the Bastrop Independent School District (BISD) West Campus Building, 1602 Hill Street in Bastrop! As we prepare for the big day, please donate items to the garage sale. See below for donation dates and times.
April 19 - BCHS Quarterly Meeting and Presentation, “BEN THOMPSON AND THE WILD WEST April 19, 7 pm (Join us early for refreshments at 6:30 pm.)
Please join us at the next BCHS Quarterly Meeting 7 pm, Thursday, April 19, at the Bluebonnet Electric Coop Headquarters, 650 Highway 21E, Bastrop.
Our April speaker will be our own Anne Beck on her ancestor Ben Thompson. Thompson, 1843-1884, was an Indian fighter, Civil War Calvary man, gambler, gunfighter and Marshal of Austin, Texas. Newspaper reporters during his time wrote more about his character and episodes than any other gunfighter. Yet, his notoriety hasn't lasted into modern times.
Come hear a Thompson relative speak for the first time about Ben Thompson and decide for yourself if the names “desperado” and “outlaw” should be used to describe Ben Thompson. Anne will reveal a balanced picture of Ben Thompson’s life on center stage. She wants people to know that he possessed many more good qualities than bad.
Anne was born in Bryan, Texas, to Ralph Trigg Price and Vera Brieger Price on September 24, 1937. She graduated from the University of Texas in the summer of 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. On September 3, 1960, she married an architect, Marvin E. Beck, and settled in Dallas, Texas to raise their three children. She has been a community activist all her life, serving on PTA committees, textbook committees, library boards, fundraising committees, park boards and historical society boards.
Texas has always been her home and now she is living only 29 miles from Austin, the hometown of Ben Thompson. She is the only descendant who has been willing to come forward to talk about the presumed outlaw.
For more information about these and other events, contact the Bastrop County Historical Society, 512-303-0057, 702 Main St., Bastrop, Texas 78602, bchs1832@sbcglobal.net
Or
The Bastrop Visitor Center, 512-303-0904, 1016 Main Street, Bastrop, Texas 78602, www.visitbastrop.org