Leander

History

Leander was established in 1882 on land sold by the Austin and Northwestern Railroad Co. to prospective citizens. The town was named in honor of Leander "Catfish" Brown, one of the railroad officials responsible for the completion of the line. Tumlinson Fort, the first Anglo-American settlement in Williamson County, was established in early January 1836 at the headwaters of Brushy Creek, four miles south of present-day Leander. With the purpose of protecting settlers from attacks by the Comanche, a company of Texas Rangers occupied the post until late February, when the invasion of Santa Anna made abandoning the post necessary, soon after which it was burned by the Comanche. The Webster Massacre occurred near present-day Leander in August 1839, when a party of about 13 settlers traveling westward through the area was attacked by a band of Comanche, and all but three were killed. Near Leander, the Leanderthal Lady, a skeleton dating back 10,000 to 13,000 years, was discovered; the site was one of the earliest intact burials found in the United States. In August and September 2011, destructive wildfires swept through two central Leander neighborhoods, burning a total of and destroying 26 homes.

Geography

Leander is located at the intersection of Ranch to Market Road 2243 and U.S. Route 183, about 22 miles northwest of downtown Austin. Georgetown lies five miles to the east on Route 2243. According to the City of Leander, the city has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  29,685
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  23,088
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,484
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  19,821
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  19,576
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  18,312
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  15,571
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  14,528

Largest nearby schools

• WESTWOOD H S
  High · AUSTIN · 2,820 students · 16.8:1 ratio
• VISTA RIDGE H S
  High · CEDAR PARK · 2,646 students · 16:1 ratio
• LEANDER H S
  High · LEANDER · 2,218 students · 15:1 ratio
• GLENN H S
  High · LEANDER · 2,063 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• LIBERTY HILL H S
  High · LIBERTY HILL · 2,001 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• CEDAR PARK H S
  High · CEDAR PARK · 1,952 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• ROUSE H S
  High · LEANDER · 1,943 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• FLORENCE W STILES MIDDLE
  Middle · LEANDER · 1,503 students · 15.8:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2015-09-03
  7 km NNE of Leander, Texas