BlockFrom the record
One of 71 National Register listings published here for Washington County · listed in 1991 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Dr. Charles Laas House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Listed as. Laas, Dr. Charles, House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
- Address. NE corner of Live Oak and Colorado Sts., Burton, 77835
- When was it listed? June 1991
- Category. building
- Also known as. Burton MPS
- Census division. Burton
- Architectural style. Queen Anne style architecture in the United States
- National Register reference number. 91000717 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
49 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 49 fires within 5 miles of Dr. Charles Laas House between 1998 and 2020, burning about 170 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 21 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 9501 290 WEST |
| 4 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 502 S. MAIN ST. BURTON |
| 4 September 2011 | Smoking | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 8500 290 WEST |
| 16 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 76 BRIAR CREEK ROAD |
| 15 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 290 W / BRIAR CREEK |
| 14 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | BRIER CREEK ROAD |
| 3 August 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
| 26 August 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | 958 FM 1948 N |
Storms near this property
26 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Burton, the town this property stands in, in 26 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 10 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 4 deaths. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2016 | Flash Flood | Burton | 4 killed, $10,000,000 | Flood waters inundated homes and there were numerous water rescues in the town of Brenham and around the county. Sections of Highway 36 were impassable due to water over the roadway from Brenham and Somerville. FM 2935 at New Year's Creek was closed due to flooding. All of FM 390 from Burton eastward to FM 105, as well as SH 36 at Highway 290, was closed. There were four fatalities in Washington County. Over 20 inches of rain was measured at one gauge. Damages are estimated. |
| June 2002 | Lightning | Burton | $30,000 | Lightning caused fire that destroyed 25 to 50% of Carmine Feed and Fertilizer in Carmine. |
| July 2010 | Lightning | Burton | $20,000 | Oil tank fire due to lightning strike. Two houses evacuated due to heavy smoke. Shelter in place warning issued for Burton. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Burton | $15,000 | Severe thunderstorm produced baseball sized hail southeast of Burton near Old Mill Creek Road, with an additional report of golf ball sized hail north of town. High winds also toppled some trees in the Burton area. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | $10,000 | Trees down. |
| April 1997 | Hail | Burton | $10,000 | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Burton | $7,000 | Tornado near Ledbetter. |
| April 2007 | Hail | Burton | $5,000 | Quarter size hail reported near Tomlinson Creek. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | $5,000 | TexasDOT signs blown down across the city. |
| December 2002 | Tornado (F0) | Burton | $5,000 | Tornado in Burton. |
| September 1996 | Hail | Burton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | $3,000 | A severe thunderstorm damaged several large trees, moved a cargo trailer, and destroyed a metal carport along FM 390 W north of Burton. A NWS survey team estimated these winds at 85 to 90 MPH. |
| March 2007 | Hail | Burton | $3,000 | Nickel size hail. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | $3,000 | Trees blown down. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Burton | $1,000 | Golf ball sized hail was observed on the west side of Burton. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | $1,000 | 65 mph wind gust along US 290. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Burton | - | Broadcast media sent a picture from a viewer showing ping-pong sized hail near Burton short stop and Burton ISD. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | - | Trees were downed across the western part of the county. |
| March 2018 | Flash Flood | Burton | - | Approximately twenty-five roads were flooded across the county. |
| August 2017 | Flash Flood | Burton | - | Sections of FM 2780 south of Lake Somerville and the town of Union Hill were closed due to flooding. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burton | - | There were numerous reports of damage through much of the southern half of the county from near Carmine to Brenham to the Brazos River as a series of severe thunderstorms moved eastward across the county. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Burton | - | A trained spotter observed quarter sized hail in Burton. The report was received through social media. |
| March 2013 | Hail | Burton | - | Golf ball size hail was reported by law enforcement. |
| March 2013 | Hail | Burton | - | Ping pong size hail was reported by a trained spotter. This storm's southern flank later produced nickel to just under quarter size hail that fell twenty to thirty minutes in the Brenham area. Five hours later, this hail was still on the ground. |
| June 2004 | Flash Flood | Burton | - | Flooding on the 4000 block of FM 390 in Burton. |
| September 2004 | Funnel Cloud | Burton | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Kneip-Bredthauer House | under 500 feet | 1991 |
 | Herbert Nienstedt House | under 500 feet | 1991 |
 | Burton High School | 0.2 miles | 1991 |
 | William Nienstedt House | 0.2 miles | 1991 |
 | Burton Commercial Historic District | 0.2 miles | 1991 |
| Hodde Drugstore | 0.3 miles | 1991 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 91000717 in Record Group 79. |
| Washington County | All 71 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.