Site of First Home in Texas Owned by General Sam Houston
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Erected in 1836 by John Forbes, Commissary General of the Army at San Jacinto. Purchased by General Houston April 10, 1839. Marked by the State of Texas 1936.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Erected in 1836 by John Forbes — commissary general of the army at San Jacinto — this Nacogdoches house became, in April 1839, the first home in Texas owned by Sam Houston, hero of the revolution and president of the young republic. The State of Texas marked the site in 1936 during the centennial of independence. It ties the towering figure of Houston to the East Texas town where so much of the revolution's leadership gathered.
Why it matters
The home site connects one of Texas's founding leaders to the everyday ground of Nacogdoches, a cradle of the independence movement.
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Related people
- · Sam Houston
- · John Forbes
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sam Houston's First Home in Texas
Nacogdoches, TX
When Sam Houston left Washington for Texas in late 1832, he chose Nacogdoches as his first home, drawn by fellow Tennesseans and Masons like Adolphus Sterne and Henry Raguet. He boarded with the Sternes, set up a law practice, and was baptized Catholic so he could own property under Mexican law. From here he was elected a delegate to the conventions that led toward revolution, and his lifelong friendship with Thomas J. Rusk — later a fellow Texas senator — was forged in this town.
Chas. Hoya Land Office
Nacogdoches, TX
Charles Hoya, son of a Prussian immigrant and longtime Nacogdoches County surveyor, built this land office in 1897 in an ornate Victorian style with Gothic Revival details. Designed by Houston architect Frank E. Rue, it was the first fireproof building in Nacogdoches and became a model for other local structures. The land office stayed in the family, run by Hoya's son-in-law until his death in 1966.
Nine Flags of Nacogdoches
Nacogdoches, TX
A frontier gateway for centuries, Nacogdoches has flown nine flags rather than the six familiar to Texas history. Beyond Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederacy, three short-lived banners rose from failed bids for independence: the emerald flag of the 1812-13 Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition, the star-and-stripes of James Long's 1819 republic, and the red-and-white flag of Haden Edwards's 1826-27 Republic of Fredonia. Each rebellion collapsed, but together they marked the town as a crucible of revolutionary ferment on the Texas frontier.
On This Site Stood for a Century an Old Stone House
Nacogdoches, TX
For roughly a century a stone house stood on this Nacogdoches site, thought to have been built about 1779 by town founder Antonio Gil Ybarbo and sold by him in 1805. It later served as headquarters for Indian traders William Barr and Samuel Davenport and, over its long life, did duty as trading post, warehouse, town hall, fort, barracks, church, tavern, and saloon before being demolished in 1902. A reconstruction rose in 1936 on the college campus.