Victoria is located on the Guadalupe River not far from the Texas coast. The town became the hub of the De Leon Colony, founded by Don Martin De Leon in 1824. Earlier, the site had been known as Las Sabinas, or Cypress Grove. De Leon renamed the town Victoria after Nuestra De Guadalupe De Victoria, … Read more
Velasco, located at the mouth of the Brazos River, is one of the oldest towns in Texas. In 1821, the schooner Lively brought the first of Austin’s colonists to the site, and over 25,000 settlers entered Texas at the port by the time the Texas Revolution had started in 1835. After the Battle of San Jacinto, President David … Read more
San Felipe de Austin was the site on the Brazos River chosen as the headquarters of the colony of Stephen F. Austin. As such, it became the unofficial capital of the region. By 1828, the town consisted of about 20 cabins. As friction with Mexico increased, Austin’s headquarters became a gathering place for meetings of the … Read more
The area around San Antonio was established in the early 1700’s. Its early history centers around several Spanish missions built during that period. The most famous of these missions, the Alamo, served as a fortress in the Texas Revolution at the Battle of the Alamo. Centrally located between the settlements of Texas and the interior of … Read more
Settled in 1716, Nacogdoches claims to be the oldest town in Texas. It was then that Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches was established as one of a series of Spanish missions in the area. The mission and the town were named for the Nacogdoches Indians, who originally inhabited the area. The missions were … Read more
Located on Matagorda Bay at the mouth of the Colorado River, the town of Matagorda lies near the site where French explorer LaSalle landed with some 200 colonists in February of 1685. It was there that LaSalle established the short-lived settlement of Fort St. Louis. The present town of Matagorda was founded in the late 1820’s following … Read more
La Grange is perhaps best known today as the home of the “Chicken Ranch” that provided the inspiration for the screenplay and movie “The Best Little Whore House in Texas.” The town got its start, however, because it was located at the crossing of the Colorado River and an old buffalo trail known as La … Read more
The above map shows the major settlements in Texas that date from the time of the Republic. Additional background information is available for each town by selecting the desired point on the map, or by selecting the name of the settlement from the alphabetical list below. Austin Bastrop Brazoria Columbia El Paso Galveston Goliad Gonzales … Read more
For millennia, various tribes of Native Americans occupied the region that is now Texas. They were as diverse in culture as the geography of Texas itself. The following is a very brief overview of the major tribes that existed at the time of the first European exploration: The Caddos in the east and northeast Texas … Read more
Carved out of a portion of the Austin colony grant of Richardson Harris, the town of Harrisburg was laid out in 1826. Located on Buffalo Bayou near present day Houston, it became an important trading center before the Texas Revolution. Before it was burned by Santa Anna a few days before the Battle of San … Read more