Washington, better known as Washington-on-the-Brazos, is best known as the location of the drafting and signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
As the meeting place where the Ad Interim government of the Republic was formed, it thus became the first temporary capital of the Republic. The town again became the capital of the Republic in 1842 when the government was moved from Houston. By 1845, however, the government returned to Austin.
Today, the original site at Washington-on-the-Brazos is a historical park adjacent to a small farming settlement.
