San Felipe de Austin

San Felipe's rank as capital of the Department of the Brazos, which the plaque mentions in passing, came out of reforms in the Coahuila and Texas legislature at Monclova. A law of March 1834 drew the department from the land between the Lavaca River and the Brazos-Trinity divide, from the Gulf north to the Red River. Its political chief kept the peace, commanded the militia and enforced the laws. The reform years also gave Texas three seats in the legislature, allowed English in public affairs and promised jury trials, though the new superior court was never organized.

What the plaque says

San Felipe de Austin First Anglo-American capital of Texas. Came into being on July 26, 1828, as capital of the Austin Colony, by decree of the Mexican government. Father of Texas Stephen F. Austin had begun under the 1821 grant from Mexico the settlement of more than 1,000 families. The original colony ran from the coast on the south to the old San Antonio Road on the north, and from the Lavaca River on the west to the San Jacinto River on the east. In this first American town in Texas lived Austin, William Barret Travis, Sam Houston, David G. Burnet and Jane Long. All settlers crossed its threshold for land grants. After the organization of other colonies, this continued to be the recognized center of Texas. It was capital of the Mexican Department of Brazos, site of the Conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835 where Texans aired grievances and tried to reach understanding with Mexico. The provisional government created with Henry Smith as governor in 1835 functioned here until it gave way to the convention declaring Texas independent of Mexico on March 2, 1836. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site — 1.9 mi
  Stephen F. Austin's colonial capital on a Brazos bluff, the town of the Consultation and the first Texas newspapers, burned by its own garrison in the Runaway Scrape of 1836.
• Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge — 13 mi
  Ten thousand acres of native coastal prairie northeast of Eagle Lake, kept for a critically endangered grouse, many of whose birds are hatched in captivity and released here.
• Stafford Opera House — 26 mi
  A cattleman's bank and theater of 1886 on the Columbus square, in a river town Sam Houston burned in 1836 and a county marked by a long feud and a 1935 lynching.

More markers nearby

• Frydek Catholic Cemetery — 1.0 mi
• San Felipe de Austin Cemetery — 1.4 mi
• J. J. Josey General Store — 2.0 mi
• Near This Site Stood a Town Hall — 2.0 mi