DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, most towns don't have a birthday you can point to on the calendar. Houston does.
But to get there, you've got to start at the beginning — and the beginning is a long way from Texas. John Kirby Allen was born in Canasareaugh, New York, in 1810. Whatever it was that called him south and west, he answered it, and by 1832 he had come to Texas.
He was young, he was moving fast, and Texas in those days had a way of rewarding men who moved fast. By 1836, John K. Allen was sitting in the first Congress of the Republic, representing Nacogdoches County.
The Republic itself was brand new, still catching its breath after San Jacinto, and here was Allen already in the middle of it — legislating by day and, apparently, scheming something considerably larger on the side. Because on August 25, 1836 — and mark that date, it matters — John and his brother Augustus C. Allen purchased a league of land from a Mrs.
T. F. L.
Parrott. The price: five thousand dollars. Four days later, on August 29, 1836, on that very ground, the two brothers founded a town.
They named it Houston, in honor of the hero of San Jacinto. Four days from purchase to founding. That is not deliberation.
That is a man who already knew exactly what he was going to do. John Kirby Allen did not have long to watch what he'd set in motion. He died in Houston on August 18, 1838.
The town he'd named and planted was still barely two years old. Some men build things that outlast them by a little. John K.
Allen built one that outlasted him by a whole lot.
What the marker says
Born in Canasareaugh, New York 1810. Came to Texas in 1832. Died in Houston August 18, 1838. John K. Allen was a member of the first Congress of the Republic (1836-1837) from Nacogdoches County. He and his brother, Augustus C. Allen, on August 25, 1836 purchased a league of land from Mrs. T. F. L. Parrott for five thousand dollars, on which on August 29, 1836 they founded the town of Houston named in honor of the hero of San Jacinto.