HISTORY OF COLUMBUS

Montezuma, Beason’s Ferry, COLUMBUS – these are the names used in historical accounts to designate the Indian Village, the colonist’s settlement, and the town that developed here on the beautiful spot on the high west bank of the Colorado River. This place on the river is marked on an old Spanish map that now hangs in the Alamo by the name “Montezuma.” It is significant, historically, that there was a large enough Indian settlement here to be marked on this map. The Karankawas, a most ferocious tribe, endangered the lives and property of the Anglo settlers for many years. There were several reasons why the Spanish Government decided to allow colonization in Texas by Anglo-Americans; one was that the Indian danger in Texas would never end until the country between Bexar and the Sabine became colonized. Moses Austin and his son Stephen F. brought the first AngloAmerican colony to the country north of the Rio Grande.

Moses Austin died after making plans for colonization, and his son carried out these plans. The settlers who started the community one hundred and fifty years ago were the first Anglo-Americans to colonize Texas and were part of Austin’s first colony. These first settlers were known as the “Old Three Hundred” because the contract with the Mexican Government called for the introduction of three hundred families to the area. Austin’s rules for his colony provided that “no frontiersman who has no other occupation than that of hunter will be received, no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, no idler.” These rules were enforced.

In August 1823, Stephen F. Austin, the Baron de Bastrop, a surveyor, and some negro slaves surveyed 170 acres on the Colorado River 8 miles above the Atascosito crossing. This present site of Columbus was to be the capital of the colony and the headquarters for all of the Austin colony. Austin shortly abandoned the location and selected a similar spot on the Brazos River. The frequency of Indian raids in this section and the fact that most of his colonists were on the Brazos might have influenced him to make the change.

Austin’s contract with the Mexican Government provided that “the smallest quantity of land which a family that farms and raises stock will receive is one league square (4,428 acres), and the cost will be 12 ½ cents per acre.” However, the actual amount that the settlers paid was 3 cents per acre, and many of these notes were never collected by Austin and other empresarios. Austin paid the Mexican

Government prices, ranging from $35,000 to $60,000 per league, and the settlers paid or owed for a league the amount of $132.84 at the 3 cents per acre price. As a financial speculator, Austin did not come out very well for his years of service, travel, imprisonment, and hardships.

On April 6, 1830, Anastacio Bustamente, President of Mexico, signed a decree that prohibited further immigration to Texas of United States citizens. This law was a fundamental cause of the Texas Revolution. Many meetings among the various communities were held during the period of unrest at the years beginning of 1831. The Mexican Government regarded all of these meetings as an effort of the United States to get the colonists to secede from Mexico and join the United States. In 1833, Austin went alone to Mexico City petitioning the Mexican Government to give Texas, as a sovereign state of the Mexican nation, certain rights and guarantees. Austin was imprisoned there as an enemy of the Government for two years and four months.

The men folks at Gonzales were the first to organize military resistance to the Mexican Government and fired the first cannon that raised the curtain on the Texas War of Independence, on October 2, 1835. When General Sam Houston’s army retreated from Gonzales, following the fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, they pitched camp on the east bank of the Colorado River near the present site of Columbus. Here General Houston began to drill and train his army, and here the news reached the Texans that Fannin’s men had been massacred at Goliad. In the meantime, General Santa Anna and his army had followed, camping west of Columbus. In this situation, the armies remained for five or six days. Santa Anna’s force was augmented by the arrival of General Felisola’s army. This news created havoc among the Anglo settlers, and what ensued is known as the “Runaway Scrape.” Houston’s army retreated east, burning Columbus in its wake. It was a season of stark terror and suffering for those inhabitants of Texas fleeing ahead of the Mexican forces. Hundreds of men, women, and children, traveling in any possible manner, crossed the Colorado River at Columbus, eastward bound.

The Republic of Texas was organized in Houston in January of 1837. Since General Houston had burned all buildings in Columbus, the first district court was held under a century-old oak tree and presided over by Judge

R.M. Williamson, known as “Three-Legged Willie.” Judge Williamson had suffered a crippling disease in his youth, probably polio, that left his right leg permanently bent at the the knee, thus the nickname “Three-Legged Willie.”

In 1839 Colonel Robert Robson moved to Columbus from Dumfries, Scotland. He built a castle of homemade lime and gravel on the south bank of the Colorado River near the present north river bridge. The building was three stories in height, and most of the rooms were 20 by 20 feet in dimension, with a ballroom three times the length of the other rooms. The castle is said to have been surrounded by a moat and drawbridge. It was the first building in Texas to have running water, a tank or cistern on the roof into which water was pumped from the Colorado River and from there piped throughout the house. Some Episcopal services were held in the castle led by Dr. Lawrence Washington, a grand nephew of General George Washington, who lived on his plantation south of Columbus. The Robson house was undermined by a severe overflow of the river in 1869 and finally torn down in 1883.

The Colorado River played an important role in the development of Columbus. Rafts and barges floated downstream from Bastrop to Columbus carrying pine lumber used in building. The Moccasin Belle, the Flying Jenny, and the Kate Ward were three of several paddle wheelers that carried cotton from the Washington and Tait plantations south of Columbus to Matagorda and supplies on the return trip.

The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railroad was completed from Harrisburg to Alleyton in 1860. During the Civil War, Alleyton three miles east of Columbus was the terminus of the railroad and from there 48,000 bales of cotton a year were hauled by oxen and mule teams to Mexico for shipment to England.

During the 1870s the town of Columbus grew and prospered, businesses were established, cattlemen grew rich, farmers made a good living from the land, the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway extended its line through Columbus to San Antonio, and people built homes.

The 1880s and 1890s brought important changes to Columbus. A hospital built by Dr. R.H. Harrison of Columbus treated the employees of the railroad, a part of the Southern Pacific lines, from 1880 to 1886 when it was destroyed by fire. The Columbus, Texas Meat & Ice Co. was constructed near the Colorado River in 1883 on the ruins of Robson’s Castle and was, at that time, one of the three beef processing plants in the state of Texas. R.E. Stafford, millionaire, cattleman, and banker was President and principal stockholder. The plant operated until 1891. In 1886 Stafford built the Opera House, which became the center of cultural and social activities in the area for many years. The present Colorado County Courthouse was erected between 1890 and 1891.

The turn of the century found Columbus adjusting to a more modern world. The advent of the automobile brought its people into closer contact with the surrounding area. Columbus sent her boys into World War I with the Rainbow Division and celebrated Armistice Day in 1918 with a ceremony on the Courthouse Square.

The prosperous Twenties and the Depression Thirties rolled by with Columbus holding its own as the County Seat of Colorado County and a responsible community in the State. Again, in World War II, Columbus boys fought around the world, and when it was all over her citizens joined in the hope that global war would never be seen again. The post-war boom brought development to the area, and today, with the increase in population and the emphasis on recreational areas, Columbus is again experiencing growth brought about by a group of citizens dedicated to the advancement of the town.

Today Columbus is a busy, thriving community. Many merchants are taking pride in their old buildings and remodeling them in a way that is compatible with the heritage of Columbus. New homes are being built and old homes are being remodeled. The atmosphere of Columbus is that of change and promise for an alive future.