Houston incorporated by the Republic of Texas (1836–1839)

The settlement of Houston was incorporated by the Republic of Texas on June 5, 1837. Founded after the Allen brothers acquired land in 1836, the town grew from about a dozen residents to roughly 1,500 by May 1837, when the Texas Congress first convened there. In 1839 the Republic's capital was moved to Austin.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, real estate promoters who arrived in Texas in 1832, sought a new town site within the Galveston Bay navigation system. They acquired land at the junction of Buffalo and White Oak bayous in 1836 to establish a new town. One source dates the founding of the settlement to August 30, 1836, at a point now known as Allen's Landing, while another dates the city's founding to 1837, after the 1836 land acquisition.

Early Growth. At the beginning of 1837, about a dozen persons resided in the town. This number grew to about 1,500 by the time the Texas Congress convened in Houston for the first time in May 1837. The rapid population increase preceded the formal incorporation by the Republic of Texas.

Incorporation. The Republic of Texas granted Houston incorporation on June 5, 1837. The Texas legislature granted the incorporation on this date.

Capital Status. In 1836, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas before President Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston in 1837. On January 14, 1839, the capital had been moved to Austin, known as Waterloo at the time; other passages date the relocation to Austin to 1839.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.