Independence
Independence, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Local legend tells of Dr. Asa Hoxey who, celebrating the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836, moved to change the name of Coles Settlement to Independence. Actual county records show an 1835 origin for the town of Independence, with C. Baker, J. G. W. Pierson, A. F. Burchard, and R. Stevenson, proprietors. The still-strong Independence Baptist Church was established in 1839 with Pastor T. W. Cox. Local resident Sam Houston was baptized in Little Rocky Creek in 1854. The wealthiest town in Texas by 1845, Independence won the bid for Baylor University, newly chartered by the Republic of Texas. J. B. Root became its first U. S. Postmaster in 1846. By the 1850s Independence had a hotel, jail, stagecoach depot, Masonic lodge, cemetery, and small commercial district. Both the city leaders and Baylor administrators refused to grant right-of-way to the Santa Fe Railroad. By the 1880s, trade was going to competing towns and Independence began to decline. Baylor University moved its schools to Waco and Belton in 1886. By the 1990s, Independence was a rural community with a population of 140. Remaining attractions include the Baptist church and numerous historical sites in the area. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in the 1830s and briefly renamed to celebrate the Texas Declaration of Independence, Independence grew into the wealthiest town in Texas by 1845, when it won the newly chartered Baylor University. Sam Houston was baptized in nearby Little Rocky Creek in 1854, and the town bustled with a hotel, stagecoach depot, and Masonic lodge. When its leaders refused right-of-way to the railroad, trade drifted elsewhere and Baylor departed in 1886, leaving a quiet rural community.
Why it matters
Independence shows how a single decision to spurn the railroad could turn a booming frontier town into a near ghost town, a fate shared across the American West.
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Related people
- · Sam Houston
- · Asa Hoxey
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church
Brenham, TX
Organized in 1846 as New Year's Creek Church at a schoolhouse in the Allcorn area, this congregation was founded by Judge R. E. B. Baylor, W. W. Buster, and Hosea Garrett. In 1848—the year the Texas Baptist Convention formed—Baylor University's first president, the Rev. Henry L. Graves, became its pastor. The church moved to Brenham in 1853 and took its present name, later rebuilding after a 1952 fire.
Christian Church Cemetery
Burton, TX
This burial ground served McClellan's Settlement, a Washington County community named for storekeeper and gin operator William B. McClellan. A congregation formed at the McClellan Schoolhouse in 1876 and dedicated a chapel here — later Bethany Christian Church — with the cemetery's first burial, young George McCausland, in 1877. When the church moved to nearby Burton in 1913 it kept caring for the pioneer graveyard it left behind.
Site of Independence School
Independence, TX
This town-square site traces the arc of public education in a small Texas community, from private schools in the 1830s through the arrival of tax-supported public schooling in the 1870s. Following the county court's 1870 order, precincts were split into separate districts for white and Black students, a stark record of the segregated schooling that shaped the post-Civil War South. A schoolhouse rose here in 1889, burned in 1939, was rebuilt, and finally closed in 1953 after the Gilmer-Aiken Law reshaped Texas school districts.
Old Baptist Church
Independence, TX
Organized in 1839 during the days of the Republic of Texas, this Baptist congregation at Independence holds a notable place in the state's history. It was here in 1854 that Sam Houston — hero of San Jacinto and former president of the Republic — experienced a religious conversion and was baptized in nearby Rocky Creek. The present church building was raised in 1872.