DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling through Columbus, Colorado County, Texas — and friend, the ground beneath your wheels has a claim that turns heads: this is the oldest surveyed and platted Anglo-American town in the state of Texas. That's not a boast somebody dreamed up.
That's the record. Now let me walk you back to where it started. About Christmas, 1821 — and I love that this story begins at Christmas — Robert and Joseph Kuykendall and Daniel Gilleland settled right here.
Not exactly flat, featureless prairie either. They were planting roots in the vicinity of old Indian campgrounds, on the trail that ran all the way from Mexico to the Sabine River. This place had already been a crossroads before these men ever laid eyes on it.
Stephen F. Austin himself had noted the advantages of this spot even earlier. Then in 1823, Austin and the Baron de Bastrop came out and surveyed land here.
They had bigger plans in mind for it — relocated the capital somewhere else — but this little settlement didn't just wither and blow away. It held on. A grist mill went up.
A ferry started runnin'. Other improvements came along. The place took on the name Beason's, after Benjamin Beason, one of the settlers who stayed.
And the company he kept was no small thing. The men and women putting down roots here were members of Austin's legendary Old Three Hundred — the original colonists. You had Abram, John, Rawson, Thomas V., and William Alley.
You had Caleb R. Botick, David Bright, Robert Brotherton, James Cummins, W. B.
DeWees, Thomas Kuykendall, James McNair, James Nelson, Gabriel Strawn Snyder. Elizabeth, James, and John Tumlinson. Nathaniel Whiting.
And possibly others the record hasn't fully captured. In 1824, a man named Milton Cook opened a tavern here, and many a Texan stopped in over the years. By 1835, the village had officially been named Columbus.
And then came the war. In the Texas War for Independence, the buildings here were burned — burned by the Texas Army itself, to keep them out of the hands of Santa Anna. Think on that a moment.
The people who called this place home watched their own side put the torch to it, as a matter of strategy, as a matter of survival. That's a particular kind of hard. But on April 21, 1836, the victory came at San Jacinto — and Columbus rose again.
W. B. DeWees and J.
W. E. Wallace platted the new townsite in 1837.
The oldest surveyed and platted Anglo-American town in Texas — burned down and rebuilt, just like the story of Texas itself.
What the marker says
Oldest surveyed and platted Anglo-American town in Texas. About Christmas, 1821, Robert and Joseph Kuykendall and Daniel Gilleland settled at this place--in vicinity of old Indian campgrounds on Mexico-to-Sabine River Trail. Stephen F. Austin had noted advantages of this spot earlier. In 1823 he and the Baron de Bastrop surveyed land here. Although they relocated the capital, this site remained a hamlet with a grist mill, ferry, other improvements. Soon known as Beason's, community had as settlers, along with the first three men, many others of the "Old 300": Abram, John, Rawson, Thomas V., and William Alley; Benjamin Beason, Caleb R. Botick, David Bright, Robert Brotherton, James Cummins, W. B. DeWees, Thomas Kuykendall, James McNair, James Nelson, Gabriel Strawn Snyder; Elizabeth, James, and John Tumlinson; Nathaniel Whiting, and possibly others. In 1824, Milton Cook opened a tavern where many Texans stopped over the years. By 1835, village had been named. In Texas War for Independence, buildings here were burned by the Texas Army, to keep them out of the hands of Santa Anna. But after the victory at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, Columbus rose again. W. B. DeWees and J. W. E. Wallace platted the new townsite in 1837.