Kerr's Creek
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Commissioned to found a capital for colony of Green DeWitt, ex-Missouri state senator James Kerr settled here. He and six other men built homes on this stream--known ever since as Kerr's Creek. After a destructive Indian raid in 1826, the settlement was abandoned.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the 1820s, Mexico opened Texas to Anglo-American colonists through empresarios like Green DeWitt, who was granted land to plant a colony. James Kerr, a former Missouri state senator, was commissioned to lay out its capital and settled with six other men along this stream, which has carried his name ever since. A destructive Indian raid in 1826 forced the fledgling settlement to be abandoned.
Why it matters
It marks one of the earliest Anglo footholds in Mexican Texas, part of the fraught colonization effort that would soon lead to Texas independence.
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Related people
- · James Kerr
- · Green DeWitt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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