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New port of Velasco officially opens
On this day in 1891, the U.S. secretary of the treasury officially
opened the new port of Velasco near the site of Old Velasco, on the
Brazos River a few miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. The former
town, one of the oldest communities in Texas, saw its heyday between the
early Anglo settlement of Texas and the Civil War. The first Austin
colonists landed there in 1821. Velasco was important during its early
days as the site of the battle of Velasco, as a temporary capital of the
Republic of Texas, and as the place where Santa Anna signed the treaties
that ended the Texas Revolution. But the old town, subsequently a
resort, declined after the Civil War and was mostly blown away by a
hurricane in 1875. The new town of Velasco was laid out in 1891 and
promoted throughout the Midwest. With its new deepwater port, it
flourished--complete with railroad connections, two weekly newspapers, a
lively shipping industry, and a population that reached 3,000--until
another hurricane, the catastrophic Galveston Hurricane of 1900, wiped
the place out again. Afterward, recovery was slow and uncertain until
diversion of the Brazos River and the formation of a tidal estuary deep
enough to accommodate large vessels in the old river channel gave life
to both Velasco and the new town of Freeport. The two towns were
incorporated under the name Freeport in 1957, when the population of
Velasco was about 4,000. The Velasco post office became Velasco Station.
The entire area is now part of the Brazosport industrial and port area.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- VELASCO, TX
- BRAZORIA COUNTY
- FREEPORT, TX
- SURFSIDE BEACH, TX
- BRAZOSPORT, TX
- VELASCO, BATTLE OF
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- New republic staves off old adversary (1842)
- Border businesswoman attends ceremony at Big Bend National Park (1960)
- Gritten keeps Gonzales loyal to Mexico (1835)
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