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Waterloo approved as new capital of Texas
On this day in 1839, Waterloo (soon to be renamed Austin) was approved
as the new capital of the Republic of Texas. In 1836 Columbia (now West
Columbia) had become the first capital of an elected government of the
republic. It remained capital for three months. The city of Houston was
then selected as a temporary capital until 1839. A capital-site
commission selected a site near La Grange in 1838 and Congress passed a
bill to build the capital there, but President Sam Houston vetoed it.
Mirabeau B. Lamar, Houston's successor as president and a proponent of
westward expansion, instructed the commission to inspect a site he had
visited on the Colorado River. Impressed by its beauty, abundant natural
resources, and central location, the commission purchased 7,735 acres
comprising the hamlet of Waterloo and adjacent lands. Because the area's
remoteness from population centers and its vulnerability to attacks by
Mexican troops and Indians displeased many Texans, including Houston,
political opposition made Austin's early years precarious ones. In 1842,
during his second term as president, Houston ordered the government to
return to the city of Houston, and issued an executive order making
Washington-on-the-Brazos capital. The order spawned the Archive War. The
Constitution of 1845 provided that Austin be capital until 1850, when a
vote was required to choose the permanent capital. The city received
majorities in that election and a subsequent election in 1872.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- CAPITALS
- WATERLOO, TX
- AUSTIN, TX
- REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
- HOUSTON, SAMUEL
- LAMAR, MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE
- ARCHIVE WAR
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Mosqueda robs railroad, becomes hero (1891)
- German school chartered in Austin (1858)
- Huge state park opened to public (1991)
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