Peters Colony

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, back in 1841, the Republic of Texas had a problem, and the solution they came up with would eventually shape a quarter of the entire state's population. The Republic set aside a reservation of land under what's called an Empresario contract.

The purpose was straightforward enough: get colonists out into this area, and get them there fast. Under the first of four contracts, a man named W. S.

Peters and nineteen partners made a promise. They would introduce six hundred families in three years. And not just drop them on the prairie and wish them luck; they agreed to furnish each family with seed, shot, and a cabin, and to survey the land on top of it all.

In exchange, each family would receive six hundred and forty acres of land, free. Each single man, three hundred and twenty acres. And the company?

It could take half of all that for its services. Half. You heard right.

Three later contracts came along and altered the terms somewhat, and if you think a land arrangement that profitable sailed along without trouble, well, you don't know Texas. The land company went through several internal upheavals along the way. But here's the thing about stubborn people and hard ground: by 1848, there were approximately eighteen hundred colonists and their families in the area.

Eighteen hundred. Out of what had been frontier. Now, all that resentment over the company's share of land had been building like a summer storm, and it finally broke in 1852.

That's when settlers drove out the company's unpopular agent, a man named Henry O. Hedgcoxe, in what history remembers, with no small amount of wry affection, as the Hedgcoxe War. Because of its success in opening a large stretch of the frontier, and because of its lasting effect on Texas land and immigration policy, the law that established Peters Colony was considered one of the most important ever passed in the Republic.

In spite of unusual tumult and hardship (and there was plenty of both), the final Peters Colony area today stretches across five counties and encompasses one-fourth of the state's population, including its largest combined metropolitan area. Started with a contract, nineteen partners, and a promise of seed, shot, and a cabin. Turned into one-fourth of Texas.

That's not nothing.

What the marker says

(within area encompassed by) A reservation of land made under an Empresario contract by the Republic of Texas, 1841. Its purpose was to introduce colonists into this area. Under the first of four contracts, W. S. Peters and 19 partners agreed to introduce 600 families in three years, to furnish each with seed, shot, and a cabin, and also to survey the land. Each family was to receive 640 acres of land free and each single man, 320 acres. Of this, the company could take half for its services. Three later contracts altered terms somewhat, and although the land company underwent several internal upheavals, by 1848 there were approximately 1,800 colonists and their families in the area. Resentment over the company's share of land climaxed in 1852 when settlers drove out the unpopular agent, Henry O. Hedgcoxe, in the so-called "Hedgcoxe War." Because of its success in opening a large area of the frontier and its later effect on Texas land and immigration policy, the law establishing this colony was one of the most important in the Republic. In spite of unusual tumult and hardship, the final Peters Colony area today extends over five counties and encompasses one-fourth of the state's population, including its largest combined metropolitan area. (1970)