San Felipe Cottage
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Oldest surviving house in Houston; built 1837 on land of Mrs. Obedience Smith, an early settler. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Raised in 1837 — the very year Houston was incorporated as capital of the young Republic of Texas — this cottage stood on land belonging to early settler Mrs. Obedience Smith. It survives as the oldest known house in the city.
Why it matters
As Houston's oldest surviving dwelling, it is a rare physical link to the founding of a Republic-of-Texas town that would grow into one of America's great cities.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Obedience Smith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sons of the Republic of Texas
Houston, TX
In the decades after Texas won its independence, descendants of those who fought for the Republic sought to keep that memory alive. A lodge organized in Richmond in 1893 grew days later into the statewide Sons of the Republic of Texas, and after lapsing around World War I it was revived in Houston in 1922 under Andrew Jackson Houston, son of Sam Houston himself. Open to male descendants of those who served Texas between 1820 and 1846, the society championed Texas Independence Day and San Jacinto Day and worked to preserve the records of the Revolution and Republic.
Houston City, Republic of Texas
Houston, TX
On November 30, 1836, the Congress of the new Republic of Texas chose this raw townsite at the head of Buffalo Bayou as its temporary capital. Into a "Houston City" of mud, tents, and cabins came President Sam Houston and his government in April 1837, meeting in a two-story plantation-style capitol that hosted Indian treaties, diplomacy, legislation, and even church services. The city held its first great social event that spring—a San Jacinto anniversary ball—before the capital moved on, and Mirabeau B. Lamar succeeded Houston here in 1838.
Founders' Memorial Park Cemetery
Houston, TX
This Houston burial ground is recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery, a designation reserved for graveyards that have served their communities for generations. Such early cemeteries hold the remains of the settlers, veterans, and civic founders who built the city in its formative decades.
Mrs. Rebecca Lamar
Houston, TX
Rebecca Lamar was the widow of John Lamar and the mother of Mirabeau B. Lamar, a poet, soldier, and second president of the Republic of Texas. She died at "Oak Grove" in Houston in July 1839, in the earliest days of the young republic.