DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Harris County, and brother, there's a lot to say. Pull over if you have to — this one goes back a ways. Way back.
We're talkin' the 17th century, when the Karankawa and the Orcoquiza Indians inhabited this region long before anyone else had so much as drawn a map of the place. Spain took a long look at this territory in 1756 and considered it for the site of a Presidio de San Agustin de Ahumada. Considered it.
Didn't do it — but they thought about it, which tells you something about how the land reads, even just standing there. Permanent settlement had to wait until 1822, when the colonists of Stephen F. Austin put down roots here for good.
Two years later, in 1824, a man named John R. Harris received title to four thousand four hundred and twenty-eight acres sitting right at the junction of Buffalo Bayou and Braes Bayou. Harris was born in 1790, and he'd be gone by 1829 — but in that narrow window of time, he started a village and named it for his family, after Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which had been founded by his grandfather.
That detail right there — a grandfather's city echoing forward across a continent — well, the marker lets that one speak for itself, and so will I. Out in the colonial vicinity, other settlements were taking shape too: Cedar Bayou, Lynchburg, Midway, Morgan's Point, New Kentucky, Stafford's Point. A whole constellation of beginnings.
The first reach toward local government came in 1824 when Stephen F. Austin and the Baron de Bastrop sat down with colonists at the house of one William Scott over in Midway, and explained the colonization laws. A house meeting that helped set the framework for everything that followed.
By 1826, Harrisburg had grown enough to call itself a town — and not just any town. It became one of the original and most influential colonial municipalities, and when the Texas War for Independence came, Harrisburg had a major role in it. That war won freedom in 1836.
Before the year was out, on December 30th, 1836, the county of Harrisburg was created. It would later carry the name Harris. And for several years, the capital of the Texas Republic sat within its boundaries.
Let that sink in. Then came the Civil War, and from 1863 to 1865 this county served as a command and ordnance center for the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate Army. It has been growing ever since — into what the marker calls a center for world commerce.
From Karankawa and Orcoquiza territory, to a grandfather's name carried west, to a republic's capital, to where the world comes to do business. Harris County didn't just grow — it accumulated history like river silt, layer by layer, right there at the bayou junction where John R. Harris first set foot on his four thousand acres and thought, this'll do.
What the marker says
Inhabited during the 17th century by Karankawa and Orcoquiza Indians, and considered in 1756 by Spain for site of Presidio de San Agustin de Ahumada, this region was settled permanently in 1822 by the colonists of Stephen F. Austin. In 1824 John R. Harris (1790-1829) received title to 4,428 acres of land in Buffalo Bayou-Braes Bayou Junction area, and started village named for his family for for Harrisburg, Pa., founded by his grandfather. Colonial settlements in the vicinity were Cedar Bayou, Lynchburg, Midway, Morgan's Point, New Kentucky, and Stafford's Point. First step toward local government was taken when Stephen F. Austin and the Baron de Bastrop met (1824) with colonists at the house of William Scott, Midway, to explain colonization laws. Harrisburg, a town by 1826, was one of the original and most influential colonial municipalities, with a major role in Texas War for Independence, which won freedom in 1836. The county of Harrisburg (later Harris) was created Dec. 30, 1836. The capital of the Texas Republic was within its boundaries for several years. In the Civil War, it was a command and ordnance center (1863-65), of Trans-Mississippi Department, Confederate Army. It has since grown into a center for world commerce.