Harris County
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Inhabited during the 17th century by Karankawa and Orcoquiza Indians, and considered in 1756 by Spain for site of Presidio de San Agustin de Ahumada, this region was settled permanently in 1822 by the colonists of Stephen F. Austin. In 1824 John R. Harris (1790-1829) received title to 4,428 acres of land in Buffalo Bayou-Braes Bayou Junction area, and started village named for his family for for Harrisburg, Pa., founded by his grandfather. Colonial settlements in the vicinity were Cedar Bayou, Lynchburg, Midway, Morgan's Point, New Kentucky, and Stafford's Point. First step toward local government was taken when Stephen F. Austin and the Baron de Bastrop met (1824) with colonists at the house of William Scott, Midway, to explain colonization laws. Harrisburg, a town by 1826, was one of the original and most influential colonial municipalities, with a major role in Texas War for Independence, which won freedom in 1836. The county of Harrisburg (later Harris) was created Dec. 30, 1836. The capital of the Texas Republic was within its boundaries for several years. In the Civil War, it was a command and ordnance center (1863-65), of Trans-Mississippi Department, Confederate Army. It has since grown into a center for world commerce.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Home to the Karankawa and Orcoquiza peoples and once eyed by Spain for a presidio, this region was permanently settled in 1822 by Stephen F. Austin's colonists. John R. Harris founded a village he named for his family and for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and it grew into one of the most influential colonial municipalities, playing a major role in the Texas War for Independence. The county was created in 1836, briefly held the Republic's capital, served as a Confederate command and ordnance center, and eventually grew into the world-commerce hub of Houston.
Why it matters
Harris County's arc—from Indigenous homeland to Austin's colony to Confederate depot to global port—traces the sweep of Texas history in a single place.
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Related people
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · John R. Harris
- · Baron de Bastrop
- · William Scott
Related events
- · Texas War for Independence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of the First White House of the Republic of Texas
Houston, TX
On this Houston ground once stood the executive residence of the young Republic of Texas. Sam Houston, the republic's first elected president, lived here from November 1837 to December 1838, followed by his successor Mirabeau B. Lamar through October 1839. The state marked the site in 1936 during the Texas Centennial.
Christ Church Cathedral
Houston, TX
On March 16, 1839, thirty-nine men — led by a missionary priest and the Houstonian Colonel William Fairfax Gray — gathered to organize what became the second Episcopal parish in the Republic of Texas, with some early services held in the Republic's Capitol. A succession of wooden and brick churches rose on this site, the present building dating to 1893, and in 1949 the parish became the cathedral of the Diocese of Texas.
Site of Old Houston Academy
Houston, TX
Houston Academy opened in 1856 and quickly felt the Civil War's pull, losing most of its young men to the Confederate army and serving as a military hospital in 1864–65. In 1867 the building held the lying-in-state of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, the Texas Republic secretary of war and career soldier killed at Shiloh. The school was later reborn as Clopper Institute and, within Houston's public system, as Central High and Sam Houston High School.
Site of Confederate Prison Compound
Houston, TX
A Buffalo Bayou shipping warehouse on this site was pressed into service during the Civil War as a compound for Union prisoners of war, holding some 350 Federals captured in early 1863 by General John B. Magruder's Confederate forces. Houston was a vital Confederate center, home to training fields, hospitals, foundries, and rail lines, and served as headquarters for the Military District of Texas. The city's several prison compounds were part of that wartime machinery.