Bucareli
Midway, Madison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In this vicinity, at Paso Tomas on the Trinity, was the Spanish town Nuestra Senora del Pilar De. Bucareli (1774-1779) Indian troubles had caused Spain to move Louisiana colonists to Bexar (San Antonio). These people, however, pled to return to East Texas, and secured the consent of Viceroy Antonio Maria Bucarelo. Led by Gil Ybarbo (1729-1809), they built at the Trinity crossing a church, plaza, and wooden houses, and grew to a town of 345 people. But ill luck with crops, a few Comanche raids, and river floods sent the settlers farther east. Again led by Ybarbo, they rebuilt the old town of Nacogdoches, 1779.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1774 Spanish authorities resettled East Texas colonists—recently uprooted to San Antonio—at a Trinity River crossing, founding the town of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Bucareli under leader Gil Ybarbo. The community grew to some 345 people with a church, plaza, and wooden houses, but crop failures, Comanche raids, and floods drove the settlers away by 1779. Led again by Ybarbo, they moved east and rebuilt the old town of Nacogdoches.
Why it matters
Bucareli's brief life and the founding of Nacogdoches that followed show how Spain struggled to hold East Texas, and how determined colonists shaped the map of the province against official plans.
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Related people
- · Gil Ybarbo
- · Antonio María Bucareli
Themes & tags
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