Austin, the capital of Texas

Capitals of a new republic

Before independence, the seat of Stephen F. Austin’s colony was San Felipe de Austin, where the conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835 met. In 1836 the Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos declared independence, and the Republic’s interim government, under President David G. Burnet, moved from place to place: Harrisburg, Galveston and Velasco. Columbia, now West Columbia, became the first capital of an elected Republic government from October to December 1836, and Houston served as a temporary capital from 1837 to 1839.

Choosing Waterloo

A commission of the Republic bought land along the Colorado River around the hamlet of Waterloo, and on January 19, 1839, Congress approved the site as the capital. The new town was named Austin, and President Mirabeau B. Lamar and his cabinet arrived that October.

The Archives War

Austin’s hold on the title was soon tested. Fearing a Mexican attack, President Sam Houston moved the government to Houston in March 1842 and then, by executive order that September, to Washington-on-the-Brazos. His attempt to take the national archives from Austin set off the so-called Archives War. The Convention of 1845 met in Austin and named it the capital until 1850, when voters gave it a majority, and a second statewide vote in 1872 confirmed Austin over Houston and Waco.

The Capitol

The current Capitol was built from 1882 to 1888 to a design by Elijah E. Myers, in the Renaissance Revival style, of sunset red granite from Granite Mountain near Marble Falls. Rather than pay cash, Texas paid its builders with about three million acres of public land in the Panhandle. Measured from the ground at the south front to the star held by the Goddess of Liberty on top, it rises 302.64 feet, 14.64 feet more than the US Capitol in Washington.

Texas has paid for the land under the Capitol three times, most recently $20,000 in 1926 to heirs who proved an older claim. After a 1983 fire in the east wing, the State Preservation Board restored the building and added an underground extension, and the restored Capitol was rededicated on April 21, 1995. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Visiting

For visitor information and tours, see the State Preservation Board’s Capitol page.