At the site of an Indian village named Santa Dorota, a Spanish mission and presidio were first established at present-day Goliad in 1749. Known as La Bahia in the early 1800s, the town was renamed Goliad in 1829. After the Battle of Gonzales, the presidio at Goliad was captured in 1835 by the Texans under … Read more
Galveston Island on the Gulf coast of Texas was occupied by Karankawa Indians when it was first discovered by Europeans. It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that the first settlement was established by Jean Laffite in 1817. It was not until the early 1830s that the first settlements were established at Galveston. During … Read more
The most western of all Texas towns, El Paso also claims to be one of the oldest. The city has grown out of several early settlements, the oldest of which was formed by Juan Maria Ponce de Leon in 1827. The California gold rush in 1849, as well as the cattle drives and general movement … Read more
Now renamed and incorporated as the town of West Columbia, Columbia of the days of the Republic of Texas was located between the Brazos and San Bernard rivers in west central Brazoria County. It was founded in 1826 by Josiah Hughes Bell, who laid out the town two miles west of Marion (now East Columbia). … Read more
Located near the mouth of the Brazos River, Brazoria was first established in 1828 as a port and trading center for Austin’s colony. Although the town was burned in 1836 during the Runaway Scrape, it was rebuilt and served as an important trading center during the Republic. By 1840 claimed six newspapers. The decline of … Read more
One of the earliest settlements in inland Texas, Bastrop was located at the intersection of the Colorado River and the Old San Antonio Road. The settlement, originally called Mina, was first settled in the late 1820’s. Soon after the Revolution, the town was incorporated. Its name was changed to Bastrop, in honor of Baron de … Read more
Austin, the capital of Texas, was a barren hill on a bend in the Colorado River when the Texas Revolution was fought. Leaders of the newly formed government selected the site from a short list of sites considered by the Second Congress of the Republic of Texas. By 1839, however, the town was established and … Read more
In 1841, 35 delegates to the Union Baptist Association meeting voted to adopt the suggestion of Reverend William Milton Tryon and R.E.B. Baylor to establish a Baptist university in Texas, then a self-declared republic still claimed by Mexico. Baylor, a Texas district judge and onetime U.S. Congressman and soldier from Alabama, became the school’s namesake. … Read more