|
Replica
of the First Capitol of The Republic of Texas in West Columbia today
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, July 2007 |
Historical Marker:
COLUMBIA
In September 1836
Columbia, now known as West Columbia, became capital
of the Republic
of Texas. This took place with the removal of the ad interim government
here from Velasco. After the election
called by ad interim President David G. Burnet, the first permanent
government of the Republic went into operation here in Columbia in
October. Inaugurated were President Sam
Houston and Vice-President Mirabeau B. Lamar. Under their leadership
the first duly elected Congress convened and the first Constitution
of the Republic was ratified. Citizens of this vicinity served the
Republic. Henry Smith
of nearby Brazoria prior of this
time has been the first Anglo-American governor of Texas, in the 1835-36
Revolutionary provisional government. In President Houston's cabinet
he was secretary of the treasury. Stephen F. Austin, colonizer and
Father of Texas, was secretary of state; under the heavy demands of
that office, his health broke and he died here on December 27, 1836.
In April 1837 at the wish of President Houston, the seat of government
was moved to more adequate quarters in the city of Houston.
(Corner of 17th and Bernard, West Columbia) |
 |
The First Capitol
of The Republic of Texas Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, July 2007 |
Historical Marker:
Near Site
of
The First Capitol of The Republic of Texas
About 1833 Leman
Kelsey built a story-and-a-half calpboard structure near this location.
When Columbia became capital of the Republic of Texas in 1836.
The building was one of two which housed the newly formed government.
The First Republic of Texas Congress convened in Columbia. Here Sam
Houston took office as Secretary of State. In 1837 the government
moved to Houston. The 1900
storm destroyed the original capitol. The Replica at this site
was built in 1976-72. |
First Capitol
of Texas, West Columbia, Texas
Postcard c1927, courtesy rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
by Mike Cox ("Texas
Tales" column)
Thanks to a developer’s donation of a 337- by 35-foot strip of land
along State Highway 35, the historic spot has been transformed into
Capitol of Texas Park. Dedicated on April 17, 2009, the park
features a path connecting a series of granite monuments telling the
history of the area.
That history goes back to 1824, when Josiah Bell settled on the nearby
Brazos River at a point soon known as Bell’s Landing. A community
at first called Marion and then East
Columbia eventually merged with the nearby settlement of Columbia,
later renamed West Columbia.
Since by the summer of 1836 Columbia had more buildings than any other
Texas town, not to mention two newspapers, the interim government
of the Republic of Texas decided it would be the capital city.
The nation’s business was done in several frame structures put up
a few years earlier. The House of Representatives met in a one-and-a-half
story structure built in 1833 previously occupied by a merchant named
Leman Kelsey. Across the road from the House, the Senate conducted
its august proceedings in a two-story store formerly used by the firm
of White and Knight.
The First Congress convened in those two buildings Oct. 3, 1836 and
worked through December, when the government removed itself to the
new town of Houston.
The rented government buildings reverted to private use, the structure
that had accommodated the republic’s upper house being torn down in
1888. The former lower chamber survived beyond that, but it had deteriorated
considerably.
It took more than 60 years before some Texans began to appreciate
that the old House building had historic value. A newspaper reporter
from Galveston came
to town and wrote a story about Columbia’s short-lived reign as a
national capital city and boldly contributed $25 toward purchase of
the property so it could be preserved as “a historic relic.”
In 1897, a Houston photographer named F.E. Beach took a picture of
the old structure – a gaping hole in its roof – and labeled it “First
Capitol of Texas.” He sold cardboard-mounted copies for 25 cents.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, saviors of the Alamo,
had their collective sights on the old building when the September
1900 Galveston
hurricane destroyed it. Fortunately, Beach’s image and several
other photographs survived.
In 1932, the DRT placed a granite historical marker at the site. Seven
years after that, the area was cleared and a series of businesses
went up along the street.
Those structures were razed in 2007 to make way for a new chain drug
store. When the existing pavement was ripped up, workers discovered
an old cistern and assorted artifacts. Boyd’s firm got hired to do
an archeological survey.
With help from the Brazosport Archeological Society, Prewitt and Associates
spent a week that December looking for traces of the government structures...
Boyd said more archeological work remains to be done in the area,
but that will have to wait on funding... Read
full article
© Mike Cox "Texas
Tales" column |
 |
Another view
of the Replica of the First Capitol of The Republic of Texas
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, July 2007 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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