Brazoria Townsite
Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established 1828 by John Austin, friend of Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas". Site of tavern of Jane Long, widow of Dr. John Long, who had tried in 1819 to free Texas from Spain. Port, social center, market for colony. Burned by enemy during Texas Revolution, was rebuilt. County seat, business center till 1897. (1964)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1828 by John Austin, a friend of colonization leader Stephen F. Austin, Brazoria grew into a port, market, and social center for the young Anglo colony. Here Jane Long — widow of the filibuster Dr. John Long, who had tried in 1819 to wrest Texas from Spain — kept a tavern that anchored the town's public life. Burned during the Texas Revolution and rebuilt, Brazoria served as a county seat and business hub until 1897.
Why it matters
As one of the earliest Anglo-Texan towns, Brazoria stood at the crossroads of colonization, revolution, and the strong-willed frontier figures who shaped the birth of Texas.
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Related people
- · John Austin
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Jane Long
- · John Long
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Don Carlos Barrett
Brazoria, TX
A Vermont-born newcomer to Texas, Don Carlos Barrett sat on the General Council of the 1835 Provisional Government during the opening months of the Texas Revolution. That body named him judge advocate general of the army with the rank of colonel, placing him at the legal heart of the fledgling war effort. He died in Texas in 1838, having helped shape the institutions of the emerging Republic.
Site of Jane Long's Tavern
Brazoria, TX
Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long, sometimes called the "Mother of Texas," opened a boarding house on this site in 1832 after years on the Gulf frontier. Her tavern at the busy port of Brazoria became a hub of Anglo-American political life: she hosted a benefit for Stephen F. Austin in 1835 after his release from a Mexican prison, and in 1836 a ball attended by President Sam Houston and the adjourned Congress of the Republic. She later moved on to run a hotel in Richmond.
Site of the Home of John Austin
Brazoria, TX
John Austin lived at the turbulent birth of Anglo Texas. He rode with the ill-fated Long Expedition of 1819, settled among Stephen F. Austin's colonists, and served as alcalde of Brazoria before commanding at the 1832 Battle of Velasco, one of the first armed clashes between Texas colonists and Mexican troops. He signed the Turtle Bayou Resolutions that same year, declaring the colonists' grievances, and died in 1833 — just before the revolution he had helped set in motion.
One-Eighth Mile South to Peach Point
Jones Creek, TX
A short distance from here stood the home of Emily M. Perry (1795–1851), the only sister of Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas." After the town of San Felipe burned on March 29, 1836, during the turmoil of the Texas Revolution, Austin regarded Peach Point as his home. The plantation tied the family of Texas's chief colonizer to the coastal plains of Brazoria County.