DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the San Felipe Town Hall — and friend, this building has seen some things. Now, San Felipe already had a town hall going back to 1828 — that one served the Ayuntamiento, which is what they called the town council in those days. And those walls heard some serious business.
The Convention of 1832 met there. Then the Convention of 1833. Then the Consultation of 1835.
Three gatherings, each one pushing a little harder, a little more urgent, each one leaning toward something bigger than any single town ought to hold. Those meetings were among the ones leading straight to the Texas Revolution itself. And then the Revolution came, and the 1828 hall didn't survive it.
Burned in 1836. That's the kind of ending a building gets when history decides it's done with you. But San Felipe wasn't done.
Around 1842, a two-story structure went up — the core of what you're looking at today. That two-story section may have served as the county courthouse all the way until 1847. May have.
The marker's careful about that, and so am I. Then, after 1900, somebody joined it to a one-story school. Two buildings, two lives, now one.
And then in 1915 the whole thing was picked up and moved to this very site. And here's the detail I want you to sit with before you drive on. By old custom — not law, not ordinance, just custom — the council meets each Saturday before the full moon.
Not every Saturday. Not a fixed date on a calendar. The moon decides.
Some things in Texas run on their own kind of clock, and apparently this town hall is one of them.
What the marker says
Successor to 1828 hall used by "Ayuntamiento" (town council). Conventions of 1832, 1833, and Consultation of 1835 -- leading to Texas Revolution -- met there. Burned during Revolution in 1836. Two story section of present structure was built about 1842 and may have served as county courthouse until 1847. It was joined to a one story school after 1900; moved to this site, 1915. By old custom, council meets each Saturday before full moon. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970