Columbus Oak
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Beneath this tree the first Court of the Third Judicial District of The Republic of Texas was held April, 1837 by Judge Robert M. Williamson ("Three Legged Willie").
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In April 1837, only months after Texas won independence, a district court convened here in the open air beneath a spreading oak, with the colorful frontier jurist Robert M. Williamson presiding over the Third Judicial District of the young Republic. Holding formal court under a tree was ordinary on a frontier that had few buildings and even fewer courthouses. The moment marked the extension of orderly law across a raw new nation.
Why it matters
It captures the improvised, ground-up way the Republic of Texas built the institutions of government before it had the towns to house them.
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Related people
- · Robert M. Williamson
Related events
- · First Court of the Third Judicial District of the Republic of Texas, 1837
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
District Court Tree
Columbus, TX
In 1837, when logs meant for the courthouse floated past on the swollen Colorado River and left the building unfinished, this oak stood in as a shade for Texas jurors. Presiding over the open-air court was Robert M. Williamson, famously nicknamed "Three-Legged Willie" for the wooden leg he wore beneath a drawn-up crippled one.
1890 Cornerstone Ceremony
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In July 1890, the small Texas town of Columbus threw itself a party. Some 3,000 people gathered for a barbecue in a grove north of town, then marched behind a brass band to the square where the Caledonia Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone of a new Colorado County Courthouse. The day ended with a grand ball at the Stafford Opera House, and the courthouse itself was finished the following February.
William Menefee
Columbus, TX
Born in Tennessee around 1796 and a veteran of the War of 1812, William L. Menefee brought his large family to Texas in 1830 and threw himself into the colony's turbulent politics. He served in the conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the provisional government, and on March 2, 1836, he was among the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Under the Republic he became Colorado County's first judge, sat in Congress, and helped choose the site of the state capital before decades more of public service.
Tumlinson Family
Columbus, TX
John and Elizabeth Tumlinson brought their seven children to Texas as members of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, settling on the Colorado River. John was elected the district's first alcalde and, in May 1823, helped organize the first official Texas Ranger company to defend settlers — only to be killed in an Indian attack two months later. His descendants carried the family legacy forward, with more than a dozen serving as Rangers and frontier lawmen across the following century.