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Company chartered to build road from Houston to Austin
On this day in 1841, the Houston and Austin Turnpike Company was
chartered by the Congress of the Republic of Texas to lay out a road
from Austin to Houston. Capital stock of $125,000 was to be divided into
625 shares, with the seven directors to own at least five shares each.
Tolls were allowed on condition that the toll gates be at least forty
miles apart. The work was to start within twelve months and be completed
in five years. The road was to start at Houston, cross the Brazos River
within five miles of San Felipe de Austin, and continue from the river
on the most practical route to Austin. This initial turnpike company was
followed by the chartering of some fifty such companies between 1841 and
1905. Early roads often were mere rocky trails or mud streams. Courses
were longer and less efficient as they went around hills, large trees,
and boulders. The early roads zigzagged, had right-angle turns, and held
water. At the beginning of the twentieth century very few roads in the
United States had any kind of hard surface. The advent of the automobile
in the early 1900s led to a dramatic change in attitude toward highway
development in the nation and in Texas.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- HOUSTON AND AUSTIN TURNPIKE COMPANY
- HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT
- REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Governor grasps at federal straw to stay in office (1874)
- Confederate veterans create orphanage (1867)
- Texas Memorial Museum opens (1939)
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