One of the most photographed spots in Texas is its majestic State Capitol building, with its walls and dome rising tall over the city of Austin and the Colorado River. However, the location of Texas’ capital and its name went through many controversial changes during the Republic of Texas days.
Known in 1810-1835 as Tejas, the lands were the northern part of the Mexican state, Coahuila-Texas. Beginning early in the 1800s, Anglo-Americans were exploring and settling in Tejas. Moses Austin, a former Spanish subject in the Louisiana Territory, became a Spanish empresario in 1821, dying the same year — a year that also brought Mexico’s independence from Spain. Moses’ son, Stephen F. Austin, inherited his father’s work, bringing the first 300 families to his colony in Tejas. By 1835, revolution from Mexico’s rule was brewing. A group of colonists met at San Felipe, the headquarters for the Austin Colony. By the next year, the first Texas convention was held at Washington-on-the-Brazos, and on March 2, 1836, The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed. Henry Smith was elected governor, and Washington-on-the-Brazos was the capital of the newly formed Republic of Texas.
War predictably ensued, and on the day the Alamo fell, Sam Houston earned the honor of commander of Texas forces during a Washington-on-the-Brazos convention. However, due to the fact that Mexican General Santa Anna was advancing on Washington-on-the-Brazos, the next delegates’ meeting was held at Columbia (on the Brazos), present-day West Columbia. It was proposed that Columbia or Buffalo Bayou (Houston), which was named for the general, be made the capital. Columbia retained the honor for three months before newly elected president, Sam Houston, moved the seat of government to Houston in 1836. It remained there for the next three years.
In 1838, Mirabeau B. Lamar succeeded Houston as the Republic’s second president. Many of his ideas won support but were in opposition to Houston’s desires. By 1839, a five-member commission charged with locating the “permanent” capital decided the site needed to be “between the Trinity and Colorado rivers, north of the old San Antonio Road,” thus geographically excluding the city of Houston.
As the legend goes, Lamar, while serving as Houston’s vice president in 1835, killed a buffalo in the Waterloo Valley (now Austin’s Congress Avenue) near the frontier settlement of Waterloo. As president, Lamar’s fond memories of the hunt may have influenced his appointed commission. The commission’s report favoring Waterloo was adopted in May 1839, even though few amenities awaited the politicians and their families. The name Waterloo was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, and the town was incorporated in 1839.
On January 19, 1840, the Republic of Texas Congress approved Austin as the permanent capital, although for safety reasons, it was, again, moved. In the spring of 1842, Sam Houston had once again become president. Mexican soldiers were invading the Republic and were threatening to reoccupy San Antonio. Houston became concerned about an advance on Austin, so he moved the seat of government to Houston, and then back to Washington-on-the-Brazos from 1842 until 1845. No Mexican army attack happened. Houston ordered the Republic’s archives to be moved, but the residents of Austin held firm, forbidding the removal in what became known as the bloodless “Archive War.”
When the Republic of Texas joined the United States as the 28th state in December 1845, Austin was again named as the capital. J. Pinckney Henderson was sworn in as the state’s first governor at the stockaded frame Austin State Capitol. A state election between Austin and Tehuacana in 1850 decided in favor of Austin.
Austin has since served as the Texas capital — through the turbulent times of the Civil War and Reconstruction, outlaws, bandits and Texas frontier Native American battles and ranchland feuds. In 1881, the original Austin Capitol building, constructed of limestone, was destroyed by fire. Many archived relics and papers of the Republic were lost.
Temporary quarters were quickly established on the original site. Plans were made to rebuild the Capitol of red granite from Llano and Burnet, modeled after the U.S. Capitol. The sale of over 3 million acres of public domain lands in West Texas financed the construction, which began in 1883.
The present Austin Capitol, opened to the public on April 21, 1888, was dedicated the following May 16. The circle from Texas as a Republic to Texas the state was completed when the Honorable Temple Houston, a state senator and son of General Sam Houston, accepted the building on behalf of all Texans. Having laid the cornerstone during construction, Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas representatives conducted the formal dedication.
Written by Virginia Riddle
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