DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about this place — and friend, it's a story worth hearing. Now picture Houston in 1836. A humid swamp, thick with sweet gum trees and coffee bean weeds.
Not exactly what you'd call a promising piece of real estate. But two brothers from New York looked out over that tangle and saw something nobody else did — the future commercial emporium of Texas. John Kirby Allen was born in 1810, grew up in New York, and made his way to Texas in 1832 alongside his older brother, Augustus Chapman Allen, who happened to be a professor of mathematics.
Augustus brought the learning. John Kirby brought something harder to teach — a magnetic personality, the instincts of a natural leader, and the sharp eye of an astute businessman. What they both saw was this: the land around Buffalo Bayou could readily become a major seaport.
And once they saw it, they moved fast. Immediately after the Battle of San Jacinto — April 21, 1836 — J. K.
Allen carefully chose the site of the future town. Then on August 24th and 26th, the brothers put down nine thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight dollars for six thousand, six hundred and forty-two acres of land. That land had originally been granted by Mexico to John Austin, a pioneer colonist.
And the price, well — for what would eventually become Texas' largest city, you might say they got a deal. They named the town for Sam Houston, leader of the Texas Army. Fitting, that.
Then they advertised their infant town in glowing words all across the United States, drumming up attention from every corner of the country. And J. K.
Allen didn't stop there. He was elected representative to the Texas Congress, and he worked unceasingly — that's the word on the marker, unceasingly — to make Houston the capital of Texas. He succeeded.
Houston served as capital from 1837 to 1839. But here's where the story turns quiet. John Kirby Allen was twenty-eight years old when he died of congestive fever.
Born in 1810, gone by 1838. He never got to see what that swamp of sweet gum trees and coffee bean weeds would become. The town he founded, though — it had other ideas.
It grew and kept on growing, all the way to becoming the largest city in the state of Texas. Twenty-eight years old. One vision.
And a city that's still here to prove he wasn't wrong.
What the marker says
(1810-1838) Co-founder of Houston) Houston in 1836 was a humid swamp overgrown with sweet gum trees and coffee bean weeds. In this spot, however, two brothers from New York recognized the future "commercial emporium of Texas." John Kirby Allen was born and lived in New York until moving to Texas in 1832 with his older brother Augustus Chapman Allen, a professor of mathematics. A natural leader with a magnetic personality, J. K. Allen was an astute businessman as well. He and his brother soon saw that the area around Buffalo Bayou could readily become a major seaport. Immediately after the Battle of San Jacinto (April 21, 1836), J. K. Allen carefully chose the site of future Huston. On August 24 and 26, the brothers paid $9,428 for 6,642 acres of land originally granted by Mexico to John Austin, a pioneer colonist. Fittingly, they named the town for Sam Houston, leader of the Texas Army. In glowing words, the brothers advertised their infant town all over the United States; and J. K. Allen, who was soon elected representative to the Texas Congress, worked unceasingly to make Houston the capital of Texas, as it became-- 1837 to 1839. At 28, J. K. Allen died of congestive fever, but the town he founded has since become Texas' largest city.