Burleson County
Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In rich Brazos River basin; had settlers early as 1825. Site in 1830 of Tenoxtitlan, one of 3 forts built by Mexico in Texas, situated above El Camino Real (The King's Highway) crossing on Brazos River. North of the road was Sterling Robertson's Colony; south, the colony of Stephen F. Austin. In 1840 on the Old Road, Civil Engineer George B. Erath (1813-1891) platted town of Caldwell, named for noted Indian fighter Mathew ("Old Paint") Caldwell. In 1846, Erath introduced in First Legislature of State of Texas a bill creating Burleson County out of land then in Milam and Washington counties. It was named for Gen. Edward Burleson (1793-1851), under whom many local men had fought in the Texas War for Independence and in Indian Wars. Gen. Burleson was a congressman, senator and vice president of the Republic of Texas; also was in first State Senate. Plantation system prevailed until Civil War (1861-1865). Burleson lost some area when Lee County was created in 1874. In 1880 the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway built into county; soon afterward, Houston & Texas Central added more rail mileage. This is fourth courthouse for county. Economy is based on farming, oil, and miscellaneous products. (1970)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Burleson County sits in the rich Brazos River basin, settled as early as 1825 along El Camino Real, the old King's Highway. Here in 1830 Mexico built the fort of Tenoxtitlan, between Sterling Robertson's colony to the north and Stephen F. Austin's to the south. Surveyor George B. Erath platted Caldwell in 1840 and later authored the 1846 bill creating the county, named for Gen. Edward Burleson — soldier of Texas independence, congressman, and vice president of the Republic. Plantation agriculture gave way after the Civil War, and railroads arrived in the 1880s.
Why it matters
The county's story compresses the whole arc of early Texas — Spanish road, Mexican fort, Anglo colonies, republic, statehood, and railroad — into a single stretch of the Brazos.
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Related people
- · Edward Burleson
- · George B. Erath
- · Mathew Caldwell
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Sterling Robertson
Related events
- · Texas War for Independence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
City of Caldwell
Caldwell, TX
Laid out in 1840 by surveyor George B. Erath on the Old San Antonio Road, Caldwell was named for Mathew 'Old Paint' Caldwell, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The site had already drawn San Jacinto veteran Lewis L. Chiles, who ran a nearby trading post. When Burleson County formed in 1846 the town became its permanent seat, and rail lines in 1890 and 1912 made it a major agricultural shipping center.
Town of Chriesman
Caldwell, TX
Originally called Yellow Prairie and settled by Alexander Thomson, Jr. — an early Texas patriot and partner of colonizer Sterling C. Robertson — this community relocated to the railroad tracks when the line came through in 1880. It was renamed in 1884 for Capt. H.C. Chriesman, a surveyor for Stephen F. Austin. Today it serves the surrounding ranches.
Cooks Point
Cooks Point, TX
Cooks Point took root about 1840 where a colonial road from the southeast met the old San Antonio Road, a natural crossroads in the earliest years of the Republic of Texas. Settler Gabriel Jackson kept a two-story log cabin trading post here, and the community took its name from surveyor Silas L. Cooke, who mapped much of the surrounding land. It endures today as a rural village.
Deanville
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Deanville grew up on the Texas prairie in the years after the Civil War, when merchant James L. Dean laid out a town in 1872 beside a branch of the great Chisholm Trail, the dusty highway up which millions of longhorns were driven to northern railheads. A post office followed in 1877, and when the Houston & Texas Central pushed its rails through in 1913 the little community gained a lifeline to wider markets. The Sons of Hermann lodge, organized in 1916, kept the town's social calendar alive with its long-running Fourth of July celebration.