Town of Montgomery
Montgomery, Montgomery County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded in July, 1837 byW. W. ShepherdIncorporated in 1848Montgomery County was createdDecember 14, 1837James Mitchell, Pleasant Gray,William Robinson, Elijah CollardCharles Barnett, Joseph L. BennetDr. B. B. Goodrich, D. D. Dunham andHenry Fanthrop, Commissioners,Selected Montgomery as the CountySeat and it remained as suchuntil 1889Important trade centerbefore the Civil WarErected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in July 1837 by W. W. Shepherd during the days of the young Republic of Texas, Montgomery gave its name to the county created that December. A slate of commissioners chose it as county seat, a role it held until 1889, and before the Civil War it thrived as an important trade center for the surrounding country. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936 for the Texas Centennial.
Why it matters
Montgomery's story traces how frontier trading settlements anchored county government and commerce as Anglo-American Texans organized the new republic.
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Related people
- · W. W. Shepherd
- · Henry Fanthrop
- · B. B. Goodrich
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Charles Bellinger Stewart
Montgomery, TX
Charles Bellinger Stewart (1806–1885) came to Texas in 1830 and served as the young republic's first Secretary of State. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, he helped draft both the 1836 Republic constitution and the 1845 state constitution, and later served Montgomery County as district attorney and state representative.
Montgomery Baptist Church Building
Montgomery, TX
Baptists in Montgomery organized a fellowship in 1850 and bought this site the same year, calling their first full-time pastor, the Rev. Thomas Chilton, in 1853. The present vernacular Gothic Revival sanctuary went up in 1902 under Pastor O. P. Stark, who is said to have designed the building himself. A 1918 storm toppled the upper steeple, an education wing followed in the 1940s, and the congregation worshiped here until 1979.
Methodist Parsonage
Montgomery, TX
Montgomery became one of the first Methodist charges organized in Texas in 1838, during the days of the Republic, and built what is said to be the first parsonage of any Protestant church in the young nation. This second parsonage, serving the Montgomery congregation, was acquired in 1886. Together they trace an unbroken line of Methodist ministry in one of Texas's oldest towns.
N. H. Davis Cottage
Montgomery, TX
Judge N. H. Davis built this cottage in 1851 using timber from an 1831 log house he had received as a legal fee, and the home grew with a kitchen wing in 1880 and a south addition in 1895. From 1881 to 1891 it also served the community as the site of Texanna Snow's school, and the house has remained in the Davis family ever since.