Historical Marker
Selkirk Island
Matagorda County · Texas
Erected 1974
William Selkirk came to Texas as a silversmith. By 1814 he was foreman for a New York watchmaker, John Doty, and in the colony he drew one of the first maps of Matagorda County. His 1824 grant was a cluster of islands made by the Colorado, which a 1933 article names Wild Cow, Field and Dick's, about 4,030, 1,000 and 400 acres. His son James Henry took over, and the family held the land for five generations. In the late 1960s the Corps of Engineers cut thirty acres from it to make Exotic Isle, and lots sold from 1970.
What the plaque says
Selkirk Island William Selkirk (1792-1830), one of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old three hundred" settlers, came to Texas from New York in 1822. Selkirk was a surveyor for the Austin colony and served in the colonial Militia. He was part of a group sent (1824) by Austin to make a treaty with the Waco and Tawakoni Indians. His grant of land, known as Selkirk Island, was among the first issued by the Mexican government to American colonists in 1824. Ownership of the property has remained in his family since that time. Selkirk's descendants have been prominent civic and business leaders in Matagorda and Galveston counties. Originally Selkirk's land grant consisted of several islands formed by the branches and channels of the Colorado River. When the grant was surveyed in 1824, a log raft (fallen trees) blocked the river near Selkirk's property. This raft hindered navigation inland for many years. Recent dredging closed the channels so that the land is no longer divided into islands. In the 19th century a sawmill stood where Mill Creek once emptied into the now dry east bed of the Colorado River. According to legend, one of jean Lafitte's Pirates hid a treasure at the northern end of Selkirk Island. (1974)
Where it stands
28.76806, -96.00024 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 27 miA sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.