Columbia (First Capital of Texas)
West Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1836 and 1837, the town of Columbia (now West Columbia) served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. Josiah Hughes Bell, a colonist with Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred, surveyed and platted Columbia in 1824 to serve as a center for shipping activities. In the mid-1830s, Columbia played an important part in the Texas War for Independence, as residents adopted resolutions for sovereignty. In July 1836, ad interim President of the Republic of Texas, David G. Burnet, named Columbia as the location for the country’s first capital. He selected the town because it had adequate housing for legislators and possessed a newspaper, the Telegraph and Texas Register. The first Congress of the Republic convened in Columbia, and Sam Houston, the first elected President, was inaugurated here on October 22, 1836. The new government addressed a number of important issues while in Columbia, including the reorganization of the Republic’s army and navy; the organization of a post office department and general land office; the establishment of a court system; and the approval of a national seal and national flags. The first Congress adjourned in December 1836, with plans to meet for a second session in the newly built city of Houston. Although Congress began to meet in Houston, the executive branch remained here, conducting official duties until April 1837, when President Houston moved his executive office to his namesake city. Although Columbia no longer served as capital, the legislation passed here in 1836 continued to play a vital role throughout the years of the Republic. Today, Columbia is revered as a historic community and first capital of the Republic of Texas. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Surveyed in 1824 by Old Three Hundred colonist Josiah Hughes Bell as a shipping center, Columbia became a stage for revolution as its residents adopted resolutions for independence. In July 1836 interim president David G. Burnet named it the first capital of the Republic of Texas, chosen for its housing and its newspaper, and here the first Congress convened while Sam Houston was inaugurated president that October. In its brief tenure the young government organized its army and navy, land and post offices, courts, and national symbols before Congress moved to the new city of Houston.
Why it matters
As the first capital of the Republic of Texas, Columbia is where an independent nation—later a U.S. state—first assembled the machinery of government, a pivotal chapter in westward expansion.
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Related people
- · Josiah Hughes Bell
- · David G. Burnet
- · Sam Houston
- · Stephen F. Austin
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Josiah H. Bell
West Columbia, TX
One of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists, Josiah Hughes Bell was a South Carolina-born hatter who befriended Moses and Stephen Austin in Missouri and served in the militia during the War of 1812. Granted permission to settle Austin's colony in 1821, he served as alcalde, constable, and judge, at times handling Austin's duties during the empresario's travels to Mexico. Bell laid out two towns, developed a sugar plantation, built the area's first hotel, and completed a family home that Stephen F. Austin often used as an office until his death in 1838.
Byrd Lockhart
West Columbia, TX
A surveyor who came from Missouri to Green DeWitt's colony around 1826, Byrd Lockhart laid out roads from Gonzales to the coast and San Antonio and organized frontier defenses against raids. In 1835-36 he served in the Texan army at the Siege of Bexar, helped raise the Gonzales rangers known as 'the immortal 32,' and left the Alamo on a supply mission before its final fall, later working as a spy for the army. He died in Columbia in 1839, and the town of Lockhart was named in his honor.
Perkins Family Cemetery
West Columbia, TX
Stephen William Perkins and his wife Anna came to Texas in 1840 and settled near Velasco, where they built a home and started a small family graveyard after the death of a child around 1843. Four of their five children, their mother, and a number of enslaved people were interred here. Perkins served the Republic of Texas Congress and later the state legislature and senate, spent twelve years as Brazoria County's chief justice, and captained a Texas volunteer company during the Civil War.
Site of Crosby's Landing
Freeport, TX
Thomas Phillip Crosby came from New York in 1830 and built a landing on the Brazos to serve the lower river's plantations, understanding that access to water was the key to commerce. Wounded at the 1832 Battle of Velasco, he returned to run docks, a store, a post office, a ferry, and even a voting precinct. When Stephen F. Austin died in 1836, the steamboat Yellowstone carried his body to Crosby's Landing on its way to burial at Peach Point Plantation.