Texian Land and Emigration Company

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now, out here in Dallas County, not far from Farmers Branch, there's a spot that doesn't look like much today. But stand still a minute.

Because right here, right on this ground, something was set in motion that would change the shape of North Texas forever. This is the site of the first agency of the Texian Land and Emigration Company. Opened January 1845.

And if that name doesn't ring a bell, well, most folks knew it by a simpler one: Peters' Colony. The man behind it all was William S. Peters.

In 1841, mind you, Texas was still its own Republic at the time; Peters secured a colonization contract from that Republic. A contract. A piece of paper with the weight of a whole frontier behind it.

And what did he do with it? He used it to bring people in. Not a handful.

Not a town's worth. More than ten thousand settlers, spread across seventeen counties of North Texas. Seventeen counties.

Ten thousand people. All filtering through an operation that started right here at this first agency. That's not a footnote in Texas history.

That's a population. That's towns and farms and families and futures, all tracing a line back to one contract, one man, one cold January in 1845. Peters' Colony.

The name stuck. And so did the people.

What the marker says

Site of the first agency, January 1845 Generally known as "Peters' Colony" in honor of William S. Peters who, under a colonization contract secured in 1841 from the Republic of Texas, introduced more than ten thousand settlers to 17 counties of North Texas. (4 mi. E. Farmers Branch, Dallas County)