Central Square
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
James Kerr in 1825 was appointed to select and survey a capital for the Mexican land grant colony of Green DeWitt. Kerr named this Gonzales, for Don Rafael Gonzales, then governor of Coahuila and Texas. A 49-block square composed the inner town. This was Central Square.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1825, while Texas was still part of Mexico, the surveyor James Kerr laid out this town as the capital of Green DeWitt's empresario colony and named it for the governor of Coahuila and Texas. The plan set an inner town of forty-nine blocks, with this Central Square at its heart. It was one of the earliest Anglo-American colonial settlements in what would soon become a contested borderland.
Why it matters
Gonzales sits at the very origin of Anglo settlement in Texas and would become famous a decade later as the place where the Texas Revolution began.
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Related people
- · James Kerr
- · Green DeWitt
- · Rafael Gonzales
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
James W. Robinson
Gonzales, TX
Indiana-born James W. Robinson came to Texas in 1833 and was elected the Republic's first lieutenant governor in 1835, briefly serving as governor before shouldering a musket as a private at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. He later settled in Gonzales, sat as a district judge, and served on the state Supreme Court. The office he first held became the second-highest in Texas, wielding broad power over the Senate and legislation.
Gonzales Courthouse
Gonzales, TX
Gonzales County was organized in 1837, in the earliest days of the Republic of Texas, and after its first courthouse burned in 1893 this second one was raised between 1894 and 1896 at a cost of $64,450. Serving as a gathering place for Texas leaders and the setting for consequential court decisions, the building has anchored the civic life of a town already famous in Texas history. It remains a proud landmark of the county seat.
Andrew Ponton
Gonzales, TX
Andrew Ponton came to Texas in 1829, settled in Green DeWitt's colony, and by 1834 served as alcalde—mayor—of Gonzales. When Mexican forces demanded the town's cannon in 1835, his delay in surrendering it helped spark the "Come and Take It" fight now remembered as the opening battle of the Texas Revolution. He also helped rally the Gonzales men, the "Immortal 32," who answered Travis's call and died at the Alamo, and he later served the Republic of Texas as a legislator and judge.
Plaza
Gonzales, TX
When Gonzales was laid out as a four-league town tract, its inner city held 49 squares, seven of them reserved for public use. This particular square was meant for a municipal building but instead became a public plaza. Today it bears the name Texas Heroes Square, honoring the men of Gonzales who took up arms in the Texas Revolution.