On This Site Stood the Only Home Owned in Texas by Stephen F. Austin
San Felipe, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On this site stood the only home owned in Texas by Stephen F. Austin. It was burned, March 29, 1836, when San Felipe was set afire by Texans to prevent its falling into the hands of the advancing Mexican army under General Santa Anna.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
San Felipe de Austin was the unofficial capital of Anglo Texas, the seat of Stephen F. Austin's colony — and this was the only home Austin, the "Father of Texas," ever owned in the region. In March 1836, as Santa Anna's army advanced during the Texas Revolution, Texans deliberately burned San Felipe to deny it to the enemy, and Austin's house went up with the town. The scorched-earth retreat was part of the desperate "Runaway Scrape" that preceded the victory at San Jacinto.
Why it matters
The site ties the very father of Anglo Texas to the sacrifices of the Revolution, when settlers burned their own capital rather than surrender it.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
San Felipe de Austin, on the Brazos River, was the heart of Stephen F. Austin's colony in Mexican Texas. From the 1820s it served as the colony's administrative center. Land titles were issued here, settlers brought their business here, and political meetings gathered here. For Anglo Texans it was the closest thing to a capital.
In the early 1830s, relations between the colonists and the Mexican government soured. San Felipe became the setting for the conventions and debates where Texans argued over their grievances and their future. By late 1835 that argument had turned into the open warfare of the Texas Revolution.
In early 1836 the revolution hit its darkest stretch. The Alamo fell in March, and the Mexican army under General Antonio López de Santa Anna pushed east. Families fled ahead of the troops in the panicked exodus later called the Runaway Scrape. Towns along the line of march faced a terrible choice.
People & events
Stephen F. Austin, often called the Father of Texas, brought the first American colonists into Mexican Texas under an empresario contract and spent years managing his colony's affairs. This site held the only home he ever owned in Texas, a telling detail about a man who poured himself into the colony and was constantly on the move for its sake.
On March 29, 1836, the house was destroyed, burned by Texans themselves. As Santa Anna's army advanced, they set San Felipe on fire so the town wouldn't fall into Mexican hands with its supplies and shelter. Austin's home went up along with the community he had built.
Austin was not there to see it. He had been sent to the United States to seek support for the Texan cause. He returned to a Texas that had won its independence at San Jacinto, but he did not live long afterward. He died in December 1836, only months after the town he founded had been reduced to ashes.
Its place in the American story
The burning of San Felipe was a scorched-earth act, and Texans aimed it at their own most important town. Settlers chose to destroy their homes rather than let an invading army use them. The episode shows how high the stakes and how desperate the moment were in the weeks before San Jacinto decided the revolution.
The Texas Revolution in turn changed the shape of the United States. The independent Republic of Texas was annexed in 1845, which helped bring on the U.S.-Mexican War and the vast territorial changes that followed. Stephen F. Austin's colony was where that sequence began.
So this quiet spot links the founder of Anglo Texas, the sacrifice of the Revolution, and the westward expansion that redrew the continent.
If you visit
Nothing of Austin's house survives. It burned in 1836. What draws you here is standing on the ground itself, in the place where the colony was run and where Texans set their own capital on fire.
The area around San Felipe is preserved and interpreted as a state historic site, so it's worth exploring the surrounding grounds to understand the town's layout and its place on the Brazos. The quiet setting makes it easier to picture the hurried departure and the smoke of that March day.
San Felipe makes a natural stop on a Texas Revolution road trip west of Houston. It pairs well with other sites tied to the Runaway Scrape and the campaign that ended at San Jacinto.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Stephen F. Austin
- · Antonio López de Santa Anna
Related events
- · Burning of San Felipe
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Near This Site Stood a Town Hall
San Felipe, TX
Near this spot in the old capital of Anglo-American colonization stood a town hall built about 1830 that became a cradle of Texas self-government. Within its walls met the Conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835, and the provisional government operated here until Texas declared independence in March 1836. As the Mexican army advanced weeks later, the building and the town of San Felipe were burned to deny them to the enemy.
Captain Nathen Brookshire
Brookshire, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1793, Captain Nathen Brookshire took part in the storming and capture of Bexar in December 1835, one of the opening victories of the Texas Revolution, and served as a captain in the Texas Army in 1836. The community of Brookshire later carried his name. He died in 1853.
Martin Allen
Wallis, TX
Born in Kentucky in 1780, Martin Allen surveyed roads with his father before joining the ill-fated Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition to wrest Texas from Spanish rule in 1812–13 — a fight that cost the lives of his father and nephew at the Battle of Medina. In 1821 he came to Texas as one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" colonists, among the first to settle along the Colorado River. Later established at Eight Mile Point, the Allens ran a "Public House" frequented by a young William B. Travis, and Martin, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence, was buried nearby.
Elemelech Swearingen
Cat Spring, TX
Born in Kentucky in 1805, Elemelech Swearingen brought his family to Texas in 1831 and, when another applicant withdrew, became one of the very last additions to Stephen F. Austin's celebrated 'Old 300' colonists. He farmed near what became Millheim in Austin County, served as its first postmaster, and during the Texas Revolution fought as a second sergeant under Captain Amasa Turner before joining the ill-fated Mier Expedition. He and his wife Angelina raised nine children on the land where they are buried.