Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas

Washington-on-the-Brazos is a ghost town along the Brazos River in Washington County, Texas, United States. It was founded when Texas was still a part of Mexico, and the settlement became the site of the Convention of 1836 and the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The name "Washington-on-the-Brazos" was used to distinguish the settlement from "Washington-on-the-Potomac".

History

Washington-on-the-Brazos is known as "the birthplace of Texas", a distinction it earned when on March 1, 1836 it became the meeting place of the Texas delegates who formally announced Texas' intention to separate from Mexico and who drafted the constitution of the new Republic of Texas, organizing an interim government to serve until an officially elected government could be put in place. [http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/washington_on_the_brazos/hist.phtml Washington the Brazos State Historic Site] , Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Retrieved 2008-09-16.]

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Washington County was created by the legislature of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and organized in 1837 and Washington-on-the-Brazos became the county seat. Although the county seat moved to Brenham in 1844, the town continued to thrive as a center for the cotton trade until the mid-1850s, when the railroad bypassed it. The strife of the Civil War took another toll on the town, and by the turn of the century it was virtually abandoned.

The State of Texas purchased 50 acres (202,000 m²) of the old townsite in 1916 and built a replica of the building where the delegates met. The state acquired more of the site in 1976 and 1996. The area, located at 30.324° -96.153° between Brenham and Navasota off State Highway 105, is now a state historic site with a better replica of the meeting hall and a museum with a research library.

Notable residents or natives

* Felix Huston Robertson, the only native-born Confederate general in the Civil War.
* William Frank Buckley, Sr., lawyer, oil baron and father of William F. Buckley, Jr..

Names elsewhere

*In Houston, Washington Avenue was named after Washington-on-the-Brazos. It was the western route to Washington County. Following the present day road: Washington Ave; Hempstead Highway; US 290 (Northwest Freeway) then outside of Harris County US 290 is called Houston Highway.

Notes

References

*. Retrieved Apr. 12, 2005.
*. Retrieved Apr. 12, 2005.

External links

* [http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/washington_on_the_brazos/ Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site website]
* [http://www.starmuseum.org/ Star of the Republic Museum]