There’s a story in Texas folklore about a freed slave, Celia Allen, who ran a small bread bakery in a settlement called San Felipe de Austin, named after Stephen F. Austin who came to settle a new land back in 1824. Three hundred families followed him to a country on the cusp of revolution.
San Felipe de Austin was a bustling place where settlers received their land grants and headed out into the wilds of Texas. The revolution caught up with them, and in 1836, settlers burned the entire town during the Runaway Scrape so Santa Anna could not set up camp there or find any provisions.
San Felipe de Austin faded from Texas history as settlements like Washington-on-the-Brazos and the Alamo took a more prominent place in the books.
In the 1920s, the community decided to preserve and highlight the importance of San Felipe. According to Bryan McAuley, the San Felipe de Austin State Historical Site Manager, locals started building up the site.
We learned these facts, and much more, when we drove over to San Felipe de Austin State Historical Site 35 miles west of Rosenberg. There I saw two familiar faces from Fort Bend County – Anise Divin and Shelley Wong – and their knowledge about this area is quite interesting.
A boisterous tavern and a general store welcomed new settlers, and one of the earliest Texas newspapers printed from San Felipe from 1829 to 1832.The paper was the unofficial voice of the Texas revolution movement.
Standing on the quiet prairie surrounding a huge granite statue of Stephen F. Austin, it’s hard to picture the area as a gateway boom town to the new frontier. The on-site museum, modeled after the Josey General Store that once served the community, is deceiving. The outside appears simple and plain, but the inside is chocked full of first-rate educational posters and artifacts.
There’s a replica of the original land grant book, and I was grateful when Shelley showed me the painstakingly neat land book. Copies of paintings of the early days of San Felipe are on display as are toys children love figuring out.
Shelley and Anise kept us entertained with stories about the early settlers, especially of the women who played an important part in Texas history. They also knew some of the descendants of those early settlers, and many of the names are still prominent in current Fort Bend County community endeavors.
Reluctantly we left the museum and wandered over to a log cabin. Built in the shot-gun style, a room on one side of the breezeway has a big box of Lincoln Logs where children can build their own log cabins.
Behind the log cabin is a field separated from the property by a wooden fence built in the same style the early Texans used. The field beyond the fence was dotted with vibrant wildflowers and yellow butterflies, and I wondered how many people had stood in this same spot, looking at an open land filled with possibilities and opportunity.
The historical site is located at 15945 FM 1458 just south of Interstate 10 east of Sealy. There are plans to build an Austin Colony Museum across the street and to fill it with artifacts from the site.
Do yourself a favor. Take a leisurely drive north on State Highway 36 and enjoy the open farmlands and prairies along the way. So much has changed in Texas, and it’s easy to think skyscrapers and shopping malls have taken over the land.
Until you look out over an open meadow in San Felipe and see the dream that called so many to this wide-open land we call Texas.